ABSTRACT
Good oral language skills are foundational to the development of literacy. Whereas African American students lag behind their mainstream peers in the development of reading and this gap is longstanding, the relationships between the language and literacy skills of African American students have been of interest in the past, and again in recent years. Failure to impact the Black-White Achievement Gap in a context of rapid growth in knowledge about the oral language skills of African American students during the last decade has rekindled interest in this line of inquiry. A potential relationship between AAE and reading in particular is receiving renewed attention and is discussed in this chapter. Examples of the influence of AAE on written language samples are presented in the final section.
