School Psychology

© 2022 American Psychological Association 2023, Vol. 38, No. 1, 7–14

ISSN: 2578-4218 https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000516

Understanding African American Vernacular English and Reading

Achievement: Implications for the Science of Reading
Kyanna P. Johnson, Scott L. Graves Jr., Mark A. Jones Jr., Shanye Phillips, and Marcel Jacobs
School Psychology, Ohio State University

The purpose of this article is to discuss issues of language, specifically African American Vernacular
English (AAVE), as it relates to the reading performance of African American children. Previous research
on the science of reading provides a research-based framework that is a starting point for evidence-based
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

research that can be used to improve the reading outcomes of African American children. School
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

psychology literature is limited in its inclusion of issues posed by deficit perspectives of AAVE with
Black children and reading achievement. Given that practicing school psychologists spend significant
portions of their time conducting assessments related to identifying and remediating reading problems, an
increased awareness on how AAVE can impact African American children’s reading performance is
necessary. Implications for research and practice will be discussed, such as inclusion of instruments to
differentiate between reading difficulties and dialect differences (i.e., Diagnostic Evaluation of Language
Variation).

Impact and Implications

Black children comprise 14.98% of the school-aged population in the United States and are reported to
have some of the lowest reading achievement scores in the nation. Consequently, it is important that
school professionals understand language dialects, such as African American Vernacular English
(AAVE). This article provides a detailed discussion of AAVE that can be used to improve reading
assessment practices with Black youth.

Keywords: African American Vernacular English, science of reading, assessment

The quest for literacy has been an ongoing struggle for African technical skills (Aaronson & Mazumder, 2011; Albritton, 2012).
Americans (Span, 2005). For instance, antiliteracy laws in several While the value that African American families place on education
states (e.g., Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, Virginia) prohibited both is not in question, opportunity gaps have resulted from the structural
enslaved and emancipated African Americans from learning how to barriers (e.g., Jim Crow laws) that have consistently been placed in
read. Teaching African Americans how to read was met with harsh front of African American populations. Within the U.S. educational
consequences such as whippings, fines, and jail time (Cornelius, system, opportunity gaps have manifested themselves as the lack of
1991). In spite of these barriers, African Americans continued to progress on measures of academic performance on measures of
deliberately seek out educational opportunities to develop schools national reading assessments (i.e., National Assessment of Educa-
and universities. In the face of segregated schools, African tional Progress).
Americans helped to establish Rosenwald schools and Historically To improve these outcomes, policymakers have supported
Black Colleges and Universities in order to develop literacy and research that indicates there are five essential components of

This article was published Online First November 10, 2022. teacher and educator perceptions of Black children relate to their emotional
Kyanna P. Johnson https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9378-1237 and academic well-being.
Scott L. Graves Jr. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7680-422X SHANYE PHILLIPS is a doctoral student in the school psychology program at
Marcel Jacobs https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5491-1246 The Ohio State University. Her current interests include understanding how
KYANNA P. JOHNSON is a doctoral student studying school psychology at The parent involvement and gendered racial socialization influences behavioral
Ohio State University. Her interests center understanding cultural relativism in outcomes in schools.
regard to African American children and their behaviors in the classroom. MARCEL JACOBS is a second-year doctoral student in the school psychology
SCOTT L. GRAVES Jr. is an associate professor in the school psychology program at The Ohio State University. His research interests include
program at The Ohio State University and the director of the Positive Youth understanding how constructs such as motivation and academic self-efficacy
Development Lab. His research agenda is focused on identifying strengths in improve outcomes for Black youth.
African American children that lead to positive social–emotional and The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
academic outcomes. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Scott L. Graves
MARK A. JONES Jr. is a doctoral student in the school psychology program Jr., School Psychology, Ohio State University, 305 Annie and John Glenn
at The Ohio State University. He is currently interested in researching how Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, United States. Email: graves.388@osu.edu

7
 8 JOHNSON, GRAVES, JONES, PHILLIPS, AND JACOBS

learning how to read: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, Table 1

vocabulary, and comprehension (National Reading Panel, 2000). African American Fourth-Grade Students’ National Reading Profi-
This body of research is commonly known as the science of reading ciency Rates (2009–2019)
(SoR). Although the SoR is an excellent framework to discuss
reading development, it is argued that it did not take language African American boys African American girls
development into account. As indicated by Aukerman and Below At/above Below At/above
Chambers Schuldt (2021), the SoR framework must begin to engage Year basic proficient basic proficient
in “trade-offs” (e.g., acknowledge literate dispositions, adapting 2019 57 15 47 21
reading standards) in order to make the socially just changes it needs 2017 54 18 45 22
for students outside of the dominant culture. Milner (2020) furthers 2015 53 15 44 21
this thinking by addressing how the SoR is racialized in that it does 2013 55 14 44 21
2011 57 13 45 20
not take into account the many perspectives of diverse constituents 2009 58 13 46 18
and their specific issues related to reading. One of these specific
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

issues that has been neglected in the study of the SoR is the
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

legitimacy of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) as a

distinct dialect. The use of AAVE is thought to be used by a majority AAVE, has posed issues and controversy related to reading
of African Americans in the United States, with use fluctuating and achievement.
varying by geographic region and dialectal differences. There are
various reported phonological differences between AAVE and AAVE
mainstream American English (MAE). There are 12 individual
phonological differences that exist between the two, including Often referred to by numerous names (e.g., Ebonics, Black
cluster simplification and the merging of the pen/pin sound English Vernacular, African American English), AAVE is com-
(Labov, 1968; Rickford, 2016). Additionally, the dialects differ monly used by African Americans with unique grammar, vocabu-
in various ways of speech such as grammar, sound, and vocabulary. lary, and accents, which differ from mainstream English (ME; Grant
As phonics and vocabulary are both essential components of et al., 2009). Rather than being seen as a deficit, AAVE is now
reading, it is important to study these differences as they relate acknowledged by many as a distinct form of the English language
to the SoR and assessment practices. (Seymour et al., 1998). The history of AAVE has its origins in the
Within the discussion of the SoR, addressing the unique linguistic Southern United States, being established by enslaved Africans.
character of AAVE is a social justice issue. As AAVE has not been According to Winford (Winford, 2015), African and Caribbean-
directly taken into consideration in the SoR, traditional measures of born slaves communicated through pidginized forms of English as a
reading achievement have wrongly penalized its use. Incorporating result of the variations in their native languages.
AAVE into discussions about the SoR allows the use of cultural African Americans’ use of AAVE is also attributed to their unique
dialects within reading measures to be normalized. Thus, the experience of explicit discrimination that prohibited access to
purpose of this article is to give an overview of AAVE and its institutions that reinforce the mainstream culture, including schools
relation to reading achievement for Black children. (Stockman, 2010). Throughout history, this form of communication
has remained a part of African American culture regardless of
socioeconomic status, age, or gender with an estimated 80% of
African American Children and Reading Performance all African Americans using AAVE at some point in their lifetime
(Horton-Ikard & Miller, 2004). Two distinct theories exist as to how
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also AAVE developed (Louden, 2000). The first of these is coined the
known as the Nation’s Report Card, is a database of the continuous creolist perspective, which states that AAVE is a descendent of the
academic achievement of what students in the United States know in creolized version of English used by enslaved Africans within the
various academic subjects. The purpose of NAEP is to measure United States. Within this theory is the idea that this form of English
achievement and track progress of fourth, eighth, and 12th grade developed because enslaved Africans did not have a common
students throughout the country. While individual schools are not form of language to use. The second theory, known as the dialect
reported, results can be broken down by demographic characteristics perspective, posits that AAVE developed as a result of the social
of the student (e.g., race, gender, disability status). As indicated in interactions that first-generation enslaved Africans had with
Table 1, a majority of African American children in the fourth grade Whites from the southern regions of the United States. It is
read at the Below Basic level from a national standpoint. This believed that as these Africans came to learn the multiple forms
statistic indicates that more than half of African American children of English spoken by Whites, AAVE became the common form of
in the United States cannot read text appropriate for their grade level English used. Specifically, the similarity between Southern White
and stage of development. In 2019, 57% of African American boys Vernacular English and AAVE is used as a supporting argument
and 47% of African American girls read at the below basic level in for this theory (Louden, 2000). The large prevalence of African
comparison to 27% of White boys and 21% of White girls. Although Americans using AAVE is due to the Great Migration of African
some progress has been made over time, as indicated in Table 1, this Americans moving from the rural south to northern metropolitan
has been a persistent issue in the lives of African American children areas (Wolfram, 2004).
(Harris & Graves, 2010; Tatum et al., 2021). This is unfortunate There are two main perspectives related to the current use of
because fundamental reading skills are the basis for all academic AAVE by African American children (Harris & Schroeder, 2013).
activities. The presence of various dialects in language, such as The deficit perspective supports the idea that users of the dialect
 AFRICAN AMERICAN VERNACULAR 9

demonstrate inadequate language and literacy skills, essentially literature base on this topic among linguistic researchers (Charity
viewing AAVE users as intellectually inferior. In comparison, et al., 2004). Previous studies suggest an increased likelihood to
the difference perspective legitimizes the use of this form of English, struggle with reading skills for students who do not decrease their
as academics point out that students have different speech patterns use of AAVE after first grade; however, this is not the case for
but still follow rules of language (e.g., semantics, syntax). The children who frequently code-switch (Craig & Washington, 2004,
differences that exist in nonmainstream American English (NMAE) 2006). This code-switching is frequently referred to as the dialect
are due to its users’ social contexts. Harris and Schroeder (2013) shifting–reading achievement hypothesis, which states that African
state that African American children who communicate with AAVE American children who use AAVE but shift to use ME in literacy
follow similar developmental trends in language learning as White tasks will perform better than students who do not shift their dialect
children that speak ME. Although the working memory structure of (Craig et al., 2009).
African American children that use AAVE is similar to that of ME Research consistently supports the dialect shifting–reading
users (Harris & Schroeder, 2013), challenges may still exist with achievement hypothesis. For instance, Terry et al. (2016) examined
information processing during code-switching in environments that how the continual use of AAVE in second grade relates to achieve-
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

consider AAVE to be inappropriate. ment. Their results showed that the more students used AAVE, the
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

Given the normalized expectation of speaking ME, typical school lower their overall reading performance (e.g., comprehension,
professionals tend to look at AAVE speakers from a deficit per- vocabulary, language, and nonrepetition skills). Additionally, stu-
spective (Harris & Schroeder, 2013). However, the use of AAVE dents who frequently used AAVE but increased their dialect-shift
should be regarded as a strength. In fact, individuals who frequently over the course of the year saw significant improvements in their
use AAVE are described in the speech pathology literature as reading comprehension. A more recent study conducted by Puranik
bidialectal, which indicates that these individuals can code-switch et al. (2020) found that the high dialect density scores of AAVE
and have the ability to use ME dialect or AAVE depending on the resulted in negative impacts in reading and writing estimates for
context. This type of dialectical variation was seen in Terry et al.’s elementary and middle school students, including slowed literacy
(2010) examination of dialect variation and literacy skills by school growth. In their examination of dialect density on the growth of
context in 1st grade. Their results indicated that students’ measured reading in African American children, Washington et al. (2018)
vocabulary and NMAE were shown to have a negative and nonlin- found that dialect density decreases about 5% each year of school
ear relationship. Explicit teaching of dialect shifting is beneficial for between kindergarten and second grade, which is related to an
children who speak dialects other than ME such as AAVE. Research increase in reading comprehension. Similar associations between
by Johnson et al. (2017) indicated that Dialect Awareness, a dialectical variation and reading were found in Terry et al.’s (2012)
program that teaches dialect shifting, is effective in promoting examination of strong-to-moderate users of AAVE. Their findings
dialect shifting in students who speak NMAE. Students who indicated that children decreased their use of AAVE over the course
received lessons through this program were more likely to use of first and second grade, and this was related to increased growth in
“school English” when expected and had benefits in proximal and reading comprehension.
distal measures of literacy including narrative writing, morphosyn- While the findings of AAVE and the negative correlation with
tactic awareness, and reading comprehension. reading achievement are substantial, methodological limitations
Researchers in speech-language pathology and other related fields may limit some of the findings. For instance, while Dexter et al.
have taken strides in acknowledging differences in vernacular (2018) found a similar relationship between AAVE use in their
dialects. A technical report provided by the American Speech– kindergarten and second grade longitudinal examination of reading
Language–Hearing Association (ASHA) states that “no dialectical outcomes, the best predictor of reading outcomes was disordered
variety of American English is a disorder or a pathological form of language development. AAVE and disordered language develop-
speech or language,” and that practitioners should demonstrate ment share common features according to these authors, and this fact
competencies that prevent discriminatory practices against those may be one reason why African American children are overrepre-
who exhibit linguistic variation (American Speech-Language- sented in the language disorder population. Although it would be
Hearing Association, 2003). ASHA has since provided scopes of beneficial for school professionals to routinely include measures of
practice for audiologists and speech–language pathologists (SLPs) disordered language development and AAVE in their assessment
that seek to improve services that influence communication in ways practices for reading growth, this is not the case.
that respect cultural differences. Resources are also available from
the association that provides information on phonemic systems that
Assessing for AAVE
follow various languages as well as information on ethical con-
siderations of serving diverse clients. These specific advances, In their analysis of school psychologists’ perceptions of identify-
however, have not taken hold in the field of school psychology ing reading disabilities, Machek and Nelson (2010) found that
in the same manner. More research should be conducted to under- psychologists supported the use of individualized IQ tests in addi-
stand the impact of linguistic variation in reading performance and tion to response to intervention; however, there was no mention of
the educational practices of school psychologists, especially as it any measure related to AAVE assessment or cultural considerations.
relates to African American children. In fact, very little of the currently published literature that examines
how reading disabilities should be conceptualized or actual practices
by school psychologists have any specific discussion or concern for
AAVE and Reading Performance
AAVE issues (see Fish & Margolis, 1988; Machek & Nelson, 2007;
While research on AAVE and its relation to academic achieve- Maki & Adams, 2019; Nelson & Machek, 2007; Sotelo-Dynega &
ment in the field of school psychology is limited, there exists a great Dixon, 2014). Wheeler and colleagues are some of the few
 10 JOHNSON, GRAVES, JONES, PHILLIPS, AND JACOBS

researchers to have looked into these issues (Wheeler, 2016; assessments, considering African American children have consis-
Wheeler et al., 2012). In their analysis of AAVE in reading tently received below-average and low scores due to language
assessment and instruction, Wheeler et al. (2012) discusses the differences. Additionally, language-focused interventions are
implications of not factoring dialect into assessment, which may impacted by test bias as African American children in this review
lead to inappropriate intervention plans and consequently slowed were less likely to produce higher posttest scores.
academic growth in students. Furthermore, most norm-referenced
standardized tests have not been designed to differentiate social
School Psychologists Assessment and Language
dialects from language impairments. School psychologists should
look to the literature in the speech pathology research base to help in Research has indicated that language can have a significant
their understanding of AAVE assessment issues. impact on children’s performance on measures of reading
In Hendricks and Diehm’s (2020) survey of assessment and (Washington et al., 2018). Once thought to be exclusive to the
intervention practices for students who speak AAVE, they explored domain of speech and language pathology, this issue also affects the
the type and frequency of assessment and intervention practices field of school psychology. Recent research in the field of school
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

used by SLPs in two U.S. states that work with students who speak psychology indicates that assessments commonly used to assess
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

AAVE. Results indicated that modified scoring of standardized students’ cognitive and academic abilities have varying degrees of
assessments and selecting different intervention strategies were linguistic demand. Linguistic demand is composed of two main
the most commonly reported clinical practices used when working dimensions: the complexity and verbosity of assessment instructions
with students who speak AAVE. However, these practices are not (Cormier et al., 2014). For instance, Cormier et al. (2016) examined
universally used by all SLPs, as half of SLPs reported using modified the linguistic demands of the oral subtests found in the Wechsler
or alternative assessment practices the majority or some of the time Intelligence Scales for Children, Fourth and Fifth Editions (WISC-
for students who speak AAVE. SLPs that use modified or alternative IV and WISC-V). Cormier et al. (2018) relatedly conducted a
assessments tend to do so less often with students who speak AAVE systematic examination of linguistic demand across multiple cogni-
(Hendricks & Diehm, 2020). Knowledge of linguistic features of tive assessment instruments (i.e., Kaufman Assessment Battery for
AAVE was a significant predictor of the frequency with which SLPs Children, 2nd ed.; WISC-V; Woodcock–Johnson IV Test of Cog-
reported implementing modified or alternative assessment and nitive Abilities). The results from these studies have indicated that
intervention practices. SLPs with the highest levels of knowledge cognitive assessment directions are not uniform across cognitive
of AAVE utilize different clinical practices than those with lower assessment instruments. As such, the language of the examinee
levels of knowledge of AAVE. As such, school psychologists should could cause their results to be inadvertently deflated. This poses an
work to understand the potential barriers to implementing modified issue as school psychologists could unintentionally use cognitive
assessment practices with students who speak AAVE. assessment instruments that possess higher linguistic demands for
The use of modified assessment practices has been shown to be African American students who utilize AAVE more consistently
beneficial when used with students who speak AAVE. Craig and than MAE. This might make it more difficult for students to
Washington (2000) investigated 48 language-impaired and typically understand tasks that might be presented to them on various
developing African American students’ performance on five infor- measures of intelligence, as these standardized assessments utilize
mal language assessment measures. Three of these measures were MAE. Thus, Black students in this instance may struggle to perform
derived from child-centered free play language samples, whereas at an age- or grade-appropriate level on these measures if they are
two of the measures examined language comprehension and re- unable to comprehend the tasks presented to them. The lack of
sponses to requests for information using “wh-” questions (i.e., assessment practices that account for differences related to the use of
“who,” “what,” “when,” “where”), as well as responses to probes of AAVE could increase the chances that African American students
passive and active sentences. Results indicated that children with experience a mismatch of support and services, which could lead to
language impairments scored significantly lower on each measure troublesome outcomes. For instance, African American students
than typically developing peers. The modified measures had excel- may be identified as special education students needing intensive
lent sensitivity and specificity. As such, these modified assessment support, although this level of support is not necessary for their
measures show promise in being culturally fair. Given that school academic success. Previous research has identified that African
psychologists are ethically responsible for using culturally fair American students are disproportionately represented in special
assessment practices, they should become familiar with the use education and often lag behind peers in these programs (Graves
of informal language assessments to provide fairness in assessment & Ye, 2017). Additionally, these practices could directly impact the
when working with students who speak AAVE. nature of expectations teachers have on African American students,
As indicated by the American Psychological Association (2022) thus contributing to the academic opportunity gap and subjecting
as “the tendency of scores to systematically over- or under-estimate African American students to adverse educational outcomes (e.g.,
the true performance of individuals to whom a test was adminis- school dropout, school failure). Considering school psychologists
tered, particularly because they are members of specific groups,” test are ethically obligated to engage in culturally fair assessment
bias is a posed threat among Black individuals due to their minority practices with all students, these potential results are problematic.
status and perceived intellectual inferiority. Standardized testing has A recent examination by Graves et al. (2021) found that the factor
historically produced unfair results for Black individuals, resulting structure of the WISC-V in African American children was not
in ostracism in integral components of success, such as rejection in invariant by race. The subtests that were not invariant (i.e., Picture
the workforce (Brunn-Bevel & Byrd, 2015). A review of dialect Span and Figure Weights) had the highest linguistic loading (i.e., the
differences in African American children conducted by Stockman highest loading factors from subtests in the visual spatial reasoning
(2010) discusses the need to reduce negative bias in these and fluid reasoning domains were analyzed and were found to load
 AFRICAN AMERICAN VERNACULAR 11

higher on a four-factor solution for African American children, Language Screening Test (Fluharty 2); and the Washington–Craig
compared to the five-factor model of fit proposed by test publishers), Language Screener. Each of the three screeners includes African
meaning these subtests measured domains differently for Black American children in their standardization samples and involve
children. The linguistic characteristics of assessment instruments grammar, phonology, and vocabulary comprehension. An important
used in several studies have been based on the Culture–Language finding in this study was that screeners were inconsistent in their
Interpretive Matrix (C-LIM; Flanagan et al., 2013). Ortiz (2019) identification of students with learning disorders, with 46% of the
introduced the C-LIM as a tool that psychologists can use to evaluate participants either failed one or two of the three screening tools.
the validity of test scores for English learners. More specifically, the Also, students shown to have high rates of AAVE were not at greater
C-LIM was designed for students with English as their second risk for failing the screenings than those with lower rates. This
language, yet this does not apply to the majority of African Amer- discussion of the DELV and the DELV screening provides an
icans in the United States. The C-LIM has been demonstrated to example of a tool that can be used by school professionals to
have limited diagnosed utility based on independent evaluations understand language variation in Black children. It should be
(Styck & Watkins, 2013). There is a significant gap in the school acknowledged that additional research is necessary given the lack
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

psychology research base as it relates to how language can influence of full measurement invariance in Terry et al. (2017) because one
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

outcomes such as reading for African American youth. specific tool is recommended as best practices.

School Psychologist Assessment Practices for Reading Discussion

One of the primary roles of school psychologists is the assessment The purpose of this article was to provide an overview of AAVE
of learning issues particularly in the area of reading. As indicated by and how its use can impact reading achievement as it relates to the
recent surveys, the assessment for specific learning issues is still the SoR. Additional research is needed to increase awareness in fields
primary role of school psychologists (McNamara et al., 2019). where practitioners are tasked with assessing the reading abilities of
While this is the case, other research has demonstrated that the students, such as school psychology. It is important for school
cultural background of children does not impact the types of psychologists to incorporate AAVE into their assessment practices,
assessments that psychologists administer to African American as there are virtually no standardized assessment procedures that
children (Aston & Brown, 2021). While the test use of school account for the use of AAVE in African American students. Given
psychologists in this area has evolved significantly, there still is a this, these assessment practices unfairly disadvantage African
lack of use of instruments related to language and African American American students. Consequently, assessment scores may actually
children (Benson et al., 2019). As such, there is a need to administer underestimate the cognitive and reading abilities of Black children
instruments or implement procedures that take African American who utilize AAVE. School psychologists may utilize assessment
language into account. One such instrument is the Diagnostic batteries that inaccurately represent the reading abilities of African
Evaluation of Language Variation (DELV). American students. Given ethical obligations of school psycholo-
The DELV is an individually administered assessment that gists to conduct culturally fair assessments with all students, practi-
screens for variations in language that are linked with speech and tioners should work to rectify the inequity in these practices. One
language disorders/delays. The DELV has two versions: the Diag- promising solution would be for practitioners to utilize assessments
nostic Evaluation of Language Variation–Screening Test (DELV- such as the DELV that account for both dialectal differences and
ST) and the DELV–Norm Referenced, which is the full version of language disorders.
the assessment. Petscher et al. (2012) investigated the psychometric The stakes can be high regarding the assessment of reading, as the
properties of the DELV screening test for children in kindergarten– use of standardized assessments continues to be a major component
second grade and found that when used as a screening assessment, in the disproportionate placement of African American children in
the DELV-ST was more reliable for the assessment of language special education (Aston & Brown, 2021; Graves et al., 2021).
skills for students who had relatively weaker skills in comparison to Given that standardized assessments batteries often do not account
those above average language skills. In a follow-up study, Terry et for the use of AAVE and utilize MAE, practitioners cannot be
al. (2017) extended their sample to 4-year old children and found entirely sure if African American children understand basic ele-
that the same factor structure was present in the preschool sample ments of these tests, such as assessment instructions. By better
(i.e., morphosyntactic factor and nonword repetition factor). How- understanding how the complexity of oral directions in psychologi-
ever, only partial measurement invariance was documented which cal and academic assessments serves as a disadvantage to African
means that in comparison to the Petscher et al.’s (2012) study, American children from low socioeconomic backgrounds, school
younger children may demonstrate different characteristics of psychologists will have the knowledge to select more culturally
AAVE. Relatedly, Bland-Stewart et al. (2013) conducted two appropriate measures when using them in such high-stakes decision-
case studies with two participants to examine the DELV’s ability making. Additionally, considering the role assessment takes in
to detect both dialect differences and language disorders indepen- students receiving eligibility for special education services, practi-
dently. Participant 1 was a student who used AAVE, while Partici- tioners must be aware of factors like this that impact students who
pant 2 spoke a Haitian Creole dialect. Both participants produced are wrongfully placed in special education. For African American
results on the language variation section of the DELV screening test students specifically, being placed in special education has not
indicating a strong difference from ME within their dialect use. consistently been beneficial (Graves & Ye, 2017; Sullivan &
Moland and Oetting (2021) examined the difference of results Field, 2013). For instance, in two recent studies of the special
between three language screeners given to low-income African education system in Texas, it was demonstrated that when Black
American children: DELV-ST; Fluharty Preschool Speech and children exited special education programs, their graduation rates
 12 JOHNSON, GRAVES, JONES, PHILLIPS, AND JACOBS

and overall levels of academic achievement increased (Ballis & LV-to-Determine-Language-Difference-vs-a-Language-Disorder-in-Dialectal-

Heath, 2019, 2021). Speakers.pdf
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