Effects of Infused Instruction on Graduate Students’ Knowledge, Self-Perceptions, and Misconceptions of African American English Dialect

Despite guidelines and requirements for training programs in communication sciences and disorders (CSD), pre-service and practicing speech-language pathologists report feeling under-prepared to work with speakers of Nonmainstream American English (NMAE) dialects such as African American English (AAE; Latimer-Hearn, 2020). The current study explored explicit instruction of the phonological and syntactic characteristics of AAE via infused instruction with speech-language pathology graduate students. Participants were 43 first- and second-year students in a CSD program. At the start of the course, participants completed a pre-instruction survey containing questions regarding demographics, exposure/experiences with AAE, baseline knowledge of AAE characteristics, and misconceptions regarding the dialect. Instruction on a variety of topics related to AAE occurred across five regular class periods and lasted 15 to 20 minutes each. Participants then completed a post-instruction survey with questions pertaining to AAE characteristics, perceived confidence/preparedness to work with AAE speakers, and misconceptions about the dialect. Results indicated statistically significant increases in demonstrated knowledge of AAE dialect following the learning experience. Participants also reported increased perceived knowledge, confidence, and preparedness to work with AAE speakers at the end of the course than prior to explicit instruction of AAE. CSD training programs that incorporate infused, explicit instruction of NMAE dialects within courses have the potential to influence graduate students' knowledge, misconceptions, confidence, and preparedness to work with clients who speak an NMAE dialect such as AAE.