Presence of African American English in Narrative Samples
Location
CSU Ballroom
Start Date
12-4-2022 10:00 AM
End Date
12-4-2022 11:30 AM
Student's Major
Speech, Hearing, and Rehabilitation Services
Student's College
Allied Health and Nursing
Mentor's Name
Megan Mahowald
Mentor's Department
Speech, Hearing, and Rehabilitation Services
Mentor's College
Allied Health and Nursing
Description
African American English (AAE) is described as the varieties of English spoken by Black people in the United States. AAE is distinguished by phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics (Holliday, 2018; Green, 2002, as cited in Hendricks et al., 2021). Little research has been done comparing the use of AAE features when communicating with a speech-language pathologist who is African American versus white. Previous studies show that racial matching in the mental health field has been linked to “increased utilization, favorable treatment outcomes, lower treatment dropout, and greater satisfaction” (Meyer & Zane, 2013). Clients also feel more comfortable with a clinician of the same ethnicity because they have shared commonalities in culture and values (Meyer, Zane, & Cho, 2011; Sue & Zane, 1987; Zane et al., 2005). The purpose of this study is to compare the syntactical use of African American English in the presence of a clinician who is white versus African American. Narrative samples were collected from African American children. Each child provided a sample to a white clinician and an African American clinician. The AAE features were tallied and analyzed, showing that there were no substantial difference in number of features between the SLPs.
Presence of African American English in Narrative Samples
CSU Ballroom
African American English (AAE) is described as the varieties of English spoken by Black people in the United States. AAE is distinguished by phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics (Holliday, 2018; Green, 2002, as cited in Hendricks et al., 2021). Little research has been done comparing the use of AAE features when communicating with a speech-language pathologist who is African American versus white. Previous studies show that racial matching in the mental health field has been linked to “increased utilization, favorable treatment outcomes, lower treatment dropout, and greater satisfaction” (Meyer & Zane, 2013). Clients also feel more comfortable with a clinician of the same ethnicity because they have shared commonalities in culture and values (Meyer, Zane, & Cho, 2011; Sue & Zane, 1987; Zane et al., 2005). The purpose of this study is to compare the syntactical use of African American English in the presence of a clinician who is white versus African American. Narrative samples were collected from African American children. Each child provided a sample to a white clinician and an African American clinician. The AAE features were tallied and analyzed, showing that there were no substantial difference in number of features between the SLPs.
Recommended Citation
Biastock, Amanda and Katie Ebeling. "Presence of African American English in Narrative Samples." Undergraduate Research Symposium, Mankato, MN, April 12, 2022.
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/urs/2022/poster-session-01/1
