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Understanding African American Vernacular English and Reading Achievement: Implications for the Science of Reading

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Kyanna P. Johnson
Kyanna P. Johnson
Kyanna P. Johnson
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Scott L. Graves
Scott L. Graves
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Mark A. Jones
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Abstract

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 research that can be used to improve the reading outcomes of African American children. School 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).
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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
research that can be used to improve the reading outcomes of African American children. School
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
Americans (Span, 2005). For instance, antiliteracy laws in several
states (e.g., Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, Virginia) prohibited both
enslaved and emancipated African Americans from learning how to
read. Teaching African Americans how to read was met with harsh
consequences such as whippings, fines, and jail time (Cornelius,
1991). In spite of these barriers, African Americans continued to
deliberately seek out educational opportunities to develop schools
and universities. In the face of segregated schools, African
Americans helped to establish Rosenwald schools and Historically
Black Colleges and Universities in order to develop literacy and
technical skills (Aaronson & Mazumder, 2011;Albritton, 2012).
While the value that African American families place on education
is not in question, opportunity gaps have resulted from the structural
barriers (e.g., Jim Crow laws) that have consistently been placed in
front of African American populations. Within the U.S. educational
system, opportunity gaps have manifested themselves as the lack of
progress on measures of academic performance on measures of
national reading assessments (i.e., National Assessment of Educa-
tional Progress).
To improve these outcomes, policymakers have supported
research that indicates there are five essential components of
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
This article was published Online First November 10, 2022.
Kyanna P. Johnson https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9378-1237
Scott L. Graves Jr. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7680-422X
Marcel Jacobs https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5491-1246
KYANNA P. JOHNSON is a doctoral student studying school psychology at The
Ohio State University. Her interests center understanding cultural relativism in
regard to African American children and their behaviors in the classroom.
SCOTT L. GRAVES Jr. is an associate professor in the school psychology
program at The Ohio State University and the director of the Positive Youth
Development Lab. His research agenda is focused on identifying strengths in
African American children that lead to positive social–emotional and
academic outcomes.
MARK A. JONES Jr. is a doctoral student in the school psychology program
at The Ohio State University. He is currently interested in researching how
teacher and educator perceptions of Black children relate to their emotional
and academic well-being.
SHANYE PHILLIPS is a doctoral student in the school psychology program at
The Ohio State University. Her current interests include understanding how
parent involvement and gendered racial socialization influences behavioral
outcomes in schools.
MARCEL JACOBS is a second-year doctoral student in the school psychology
program at The Ohio State University. His research interests include
understanding how constructs such as motivation and academic self-efficacy
improve outcomes for Black youth.
The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressedto Scott L. Graves
Jr., School Psychology, Ohio State University, 305 Annie and John Glenn
Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, United States. Email: graves.388@osu.edu
School Psychology
© 2022 American Psychological Association 2023, Vol. 38, No. 1, 7–14
ISSN: 2578-4218 https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000516
7
... This phenomenon occurs when students use AAE features that educators may not recognize. Therefore, it is important that appropriate instruments are used to differentiate between reading difficulties and dialectic differences so that these differences are not penalized [34]. ...
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