Developmental Aspects of Pupil Performance on Bidialectal Tests. Research and Development Memorandum No. 137.

The purposes of this study were to redefine, through further experimentation, previously developed instruments measuring bidialectal proficiency; to measure any possible developmental trends in bidialectal proficiency; and to establish the relation of proficiency in black standard English (BSE) and black nonstandard English (BNSE) to other measurements of reading and/or language ability. In order to assess developmental trends, the experiment was conducted with kindergarteners (20 subjects), first graders (23 subjects), third graders (24 subjects), and sixth graders (24 subjects). The results of the study are presented in both narrative and table form. (RB)