ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the major methods used initially to characterize the African American English (AAE) spoken by most African American students in these studies and in linking their language patterns to intrinsic and extrinsic student variables. It discusses the major research designs used in my various investigations, and then describe the participant base. This design is also known as a cross-sequential design or a cohort design, collecting repeated measures on multiple student cohorts overlapping in grade. A priority in planning research designs for individual investigations was to gather a core set of descriptive measures and demographic information for every individual student. The collection of spontaneous language samples in natural contexts was central to my program of research in the early studies, when the goal was to characterize the production of AAE features by young students, and thus improve understanding of child AAE.
