Sea Island Dialect And Standard English Case Study

Mary E. Blake and Meta Van Sickle, professors at the College of Charleston, conducted a study at Sea Island High School for high school students who had trouble passing the South Carolina Exit Exam and displayed dialect diversity. The purpose of the study was to allow linguistic learners to share what they know and to provide them with instructional strategies to code switch. The two students discussed in the case study, Demain and Josiah are both native speakers of the African American English dialect, known in Charleston as the Sea Island Dialect. The researchers wanted to provide the students with strategies to code switch between the Island Dialect and Standard English. Demain and Josiah failed the SCEE more than once, so the researches
The case study research method was chosen because researchers wanted to study the participants in depth. The case study method “was used precisely because the researcher wishes to understand the particular in depth, not to find out what is generally true of many” (Blake & Van Sickle, 2001). The notion that low test scores of students who speak other dialects other than Standard English reflect their knowledge is completely false. “Many teachers believe that students who exhibit language diversity actually know more than the test scores reflect” (Blake &Van Sickle, 2001). It is important for educators and students to know that test scores are not a reflection of knowledge; not all students are good test takers. The researchers conducted this study with the notion that diverse learners are knowledgeable, they just need to establish the ability to
This contributes to the community culture of Sea Island dialect. When telling stories in their communities, speakers of Sea Island dialect usually focus on the whole story not individual parts. After working with researchers Demain was able to produce sequential writing in English, science, and math class that was heavily detailed, pass the SCEE, and he was able to attend a small college. Josiah, who was mathematically inclined, had major gaps in his math education. Josiah struggled to write using correct verb tense and enriching details. By the end of the study Josiah was able to describe the essence of an object, code-switch when explaining a drawing, and pass the SCEE exam. Studying Josiah, Demain, and other participants; provided researchers with note-worthy results about linguistically diverse