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Encouraging college students’ critical thinking skills

Abstract

The paper describes the purpose of critical thinking skills in college students. It begins by describing what critical thinking means. The paper goes further to describe reasons why college students should think critically when handling their academic issues. Further, the benefits of thinking critically by college students on issues outside the academic life have been described. The various intellectual errors that inhibit critical thinking among the college are also described in the paper. The paper also describes how the intellectual errors disadvantage students at the college especially when deciding their educational life and the college life. The longtime effects of critical thinking in college students have also been included in the paper.

A lot of how a college student would face issues in the life outside schooling due to the critical thinking inhibitors is also detailed. Concerning the way forward in the bid of making college life good for students, data containing the scholar’s research results on the students’ view of critical thinking has been presented in the paper. The reasons why people, in general, are sometimes deficient n critical thinking has also been described and more specifically among the students at the various colleges of the world. The issues that triggered the research have been discussed. Methods that were used in collecting the critical thinking information from students and the other various educational specialists have also been included in the paper. Following the results that have been established, the information contained in this research essay concludes by giving the recommended solutions that can be used by the college students at the colleges in making up the faults that they do in their lives and renders the college students poor critical thinkers based on the views of that have been collected from the students and the educational professionals in the colleges.

Introduction

The ability of a person to live a successful life is highly dependent on his or her ability to make a good decision of life. The decisions that one makes while in the college determines what he or she would become in future. In the college as well, the decisions of learning strategy that a student makes has the biggest hand in his or her final grade. This means that one makes a wrong and unworthy decision; he or she becomes disadvantaged in school and eventually fails to attain a good grade in school. A right decision in education is, therefore, one that enables one to establish a good grade at the end of college. Scholars have established that students make in school are right. Everyone is prone to making a mistake, and consequently, not all the student’s academic issues get solved successfully. This, therefore, means that what a student does after realizing the mistake he or she has conducted becomes the most important (Desai, 2016). The corrective measure that a student takes to correct a mistake he or she had done in the past decides whether he or she would achieve success in the college or not. Students are encouraged to make set worthy goals by trying to their best, minimizing the mistakes that they make and consider making the decisions that would benefit them in their educational truck. Despite the fact that the decisions are made by students themselves, it should be noted that the educators have a lot in contributing to the successful decisions made by students. Educators have the responsibilities of making training the college students until they can make decisions that can be beneficial to their academic life.

A lot of skills are expected to be built into students by the educators in the bid to make them much success in education. It has been noted that some of the students who are not thinking critically have some features. These students are confirmed to be affected by some very serious intellectual errors that exist in their lives in the colleges where they pursue their courses. These intellectual errors have been confirmed to be the greatest inhibitors to critical thinking of the college students. Despite these many inhibitors, college students can still manage to get themselves up as far as their critical thinking abilities are concerned. They are therefore advised to take seriously some practices that can help them become better critical thinkers.

Thesis

The purpose of this paper to describe how critical thinking skills of the college students can be improved. This paper talks about effects of critical thinking skills among the students on their college grades and even their lives after educational session. This essay further talk about the benefits of developing the critical thinking ability of the college students. The numerous intellectual errors that make students deficient in their critical thinking skills are also discussed in details in this paper. The signs that a critically thinking student displays in their characters are also shown to help distinguish critically thinking students from the others who are deficient in the skills. This paper also describes the intellectual skills that are common among the college students.

The paper further describes how these intellectual errors hinder the critical thinking ability development of a student. The paper discusses a research result to explain how these intellectual errors can be avoided by students and consequently eliminate the critical thinking inhibitors. Critical thinking basic elements have also been explained in the paper. Moreover, the paper has expanded on how students at the college can overcome the critical thinking challenges. The activities that a student should engage in to become better critical thinker have also been explained. Some of the basic roles of educators in establishing college students’ critical thinking abilities have also been explained in the paper.

Literature Review

Critical thinking term has been defined differently depending on the context that is being discussed. The meaning of the term also varies from one person to another based on their trusted ideologies. I the college context, critical thinking can be defined as an intellectual process whereby students skillfully conceptualize synthesize and apply the information ideas that they have collected from their various sources. It is, however, important to note that critical thinking in the school context is more or less defined the same way as in the other fields. This is because the skills that it entails in all the contexts are similar and for serving the same purposes. The critical thinking skills that are learned by students at the college are meant to serve him or her throughout his or her lifetime.

Introduction

Negation is one of the major linguistic areas in theoretical grammar. Many grammarians interested in negative polarity are fully aware that there are still unresolved issues to be explored, such as negative concord. Standard English generally allows only one negative in the same clause. Negative concord, sometimes also called double negation or multiple negation, involves instances where two or more negative morphemes co-occur. This topic explored such scholars as Jespersen, Poldauf, Anderwald, Horn, Tottie and others.

Subject of inquiry in my paper is the notion of double negation.

Analysis of scientific literature is one of the main methods used in the research.

 

Double negation in the History of English

Nowadays Standard English does not permit negative concord today. Historically, however, in all West Germanic languages this construction was the rule.

For English, it has been suggested that negative concord was usual construction until at least Middle English times, and some examples from different periods are given in (1), (2):

Old English

ne nan neat nyste nᴂnne andan ne nᴂnne ege to ethrum

(Alfred, Boethius, 102.7)

not no neat NEG-knew no malice nor no fear of another

‘cattle knew no malice or fear of another’

Middle English

He nevere yet no vileynye ne sayde / In al his lyf unto no maner wight (Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, “General Prologue”, A. 70-71)

‘He never said anything rude / in all his life to any sort of person’

Chaucer made extensive use of double negatives in his poetry, sometimes even using triple negatives. A classic example of a double negative used by a well-educated man in the 1600s was Oliver Cromwell’s letter, dated July 5, 1644, to his brother-in-law, Valentine Walton, informing him of the death of Walton’s son at the battle of Marston Moor, quoting the boy’s last words:

‘A little after, he said one thing lay upon his spirit. I asked him what it was. He told me it was that God had not suffered him to be no more the executioner of His enemies.’

This particular letter of Cromwell’s has often been reprinted, but with the “not … no” double negative amended to read “not … any”.

Dating the decline of negative concord is more difficult. The accepted opinion used to point towards early Modern English as the turning point. Especially with the rise of prescriptive grammars based on Latin, the use of several negatives in a sentence was explicitly frowned upon as illogical and incorrect. By the end of seventeenth century, the emerging Standard English did not permit negative concord any longer, but largely followed the system that is still in place today, namely that only any-quantifiers can occur inside the scope of the negator for an unmarked negative reading. This sentence negation can be effected by not or n’t, but also by an inherently negative quantifier like nobody, nothing etc., and some examples of this new standard negation are given in (3), (4):

I have not left anybody behind.

There’s never anywhere to move forward to.

The interesting question that posed itself was to investigate whether negative concord continues to be used in present-day spoken English, ranging from the standard to a very non-standard end, and to what degree.

Today, the double negative is often considered the mark of an uneducated speaker, but it used to be quite common in English. In more recent times, more publicised examples of double negatives appear in Eastenders, particularly with the character Dot Branning, who sometimes uses triple negatives as well (e.g. ‘I ain’t never ‘eard of no licence). However, this is an obvious example of Estuary English or Mockney, as June Brown (who plays her) speaks with a much more posh accent.

 

The notion of Double negative

A double negative occurs when two forms of negation are used in the same sentence. In some languages (or varieties of a language,) negative forms are consistently used throughout the sentence to express a single negation. In other languages, a double negative is used to negate a negation, and therefore, it resolves to a positive. In the former case, triple and quadruple negation can also be seen, which leads to the terms multiple negation or negative concord.

Non-standard Modern English allows two or more negatives in the same clause:

Double negation They didn’t say nothing.

Corrected They said nothing.

They didn’t say anything.

Triple negation Nobody never believes nothing I say.

Nobody ever believes anything I say.

There exist two types of double negative in English: Double negative resolving to a negative and Double negative resolving to a positive.

 

Double negative resolving to negative

Although they are not used in Standard English, double negatives are used in various American English dialects, including African American Vernacular English, and in the East London Cockney and East Anglian dialects.

Often double negatives are incorrect grammatical usages, switching words like “any” for “no,” “anything” for “nothing,” and “anywhere” for “nowhere.” This may be due to a mis-hearing, a mis-pronunciation, or a simplification of the word “any,” and substituting “no” for it.

In the film Mary Poppins, Dick Van Dyke uses a double negative when he says:

If you don’t want to go nowhere

A double negative is also famously used in the first two lines of the song “Another Brick in the Wall (part II)” included in the album The Wall by Pink Floyd, sung by schoolchildren

We don’t need no education

We don’t need no thought control

Other examples of double negatives include:

I ain’t got nobody

Don’t nobody go to the store

I can’t hardly wait

or in the Faithless song “Insomnia”

I can’t get no sleep

or the “stinking badges” from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Badges? [pause] We ain’t got no badges.

or the two examples in the advice of Walt Disney’s Thumper to Bambi

If you can’t say nuthin’ nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all!

Double negative also refers to even more than two negatives, like:

And don’t nobody buy nothing

This is used in the film Chaos staring Jason Statham.

 

Double negation resolving to a positive

Standard English allows Double negation when the two negatives combine to make a positive.

The double-negatives-make-a-positive rule was first introduced in English when Bishop Robert Lowth wrote A Short Introduction to English Grammar with Critical Notes in 1762.

 

Negative + Negative = Positive Negative + Positive = Negative

 

The following list contains words that are regarded as negative. If you use them in your sentences once, your statements will be negative.

no not none nothing nowhere neither

nobody no one hardly scarcely barely

Using the rule explained above in the box and the list of negative words given, study the following examples:

	Sentence	Meaning
Positive Construction negative + negative	I hardly have none.	I have some.
	I don’t want nothing.	I want something.
Negative Construction negative + positive	I hardly have any.	I have few.
	I don’t want anything.	I want nothing.

 

On some occasions, mostly when speaking, the use of double negatives is accepted.

In literature, denying a negation is known as the trope of litotes. A litotes is a rhetorical device which uses double negation to emphasize a statement. By denying its opposite, the double negation cancels itself out and resolves to a positive. The effect of this can differ depending on context.

For instance, “I don’t disagree” could be said to mean “I certainly agree” if stated in an affirmative manner. However, if stated in a cautious manner, “I don’t disagree” can also be used to mean “You may be right, although I am not sure,” or “There is no mistake in what you say, but there is more to it than that.”

Similarly, the phrase “Mr. Jones was not incompetent” may be used to mean either “Mr. Jones was very competent” or “Mr. Jones was competent, but not brilliantly so.”

This device can also be used to humorous effect; for example, in the TV show The Simpsons, Homer Simpson says in one episode (“Missionary: Impossible”), “I’m not licking toads”, humorously conveying to the audience that he had indeed been licking toads.

 

Conclusion

In the paper we analyzed the notion of Double negation diachronically and synchronically and found out that double negation was frequently used in Old English and Middle English but in Modern English it is a kind of mistake, and it is not used in Standard English. Though, exist two cases when Double Negation can be used in Standard English: 1). Double negation is used as a trope – litotes; 2). Double negation resolves to positive.

Exercises

1) Choose the right word.

1. A _______ of playing cards.
2. a) flock b) pack
3. A shoal of ______
4. a) fish b) birds
5. A _____ of keys.
6. a) bunch b) group
7. A ______ of events.
8. a) group b) series
9. A choir of ______.
10. a) singers b) painters
11. An army of _____
12. a) ants b) birds
13. A pack of ______
14. a) cats b) dogs
15. A swarm of ______.
16. a) bears b) bees
17. A herd of ______
18. a) elephants b)lions
19. A bunch of _____
20. a) apples b) bananas

2) Write down the collective noun and the correct verb choice that will agree with the collective noun.

1. The class (describes, describe) their vacations.
2. The whole class (meet, meets) at 3 PM.
3. The family (takes, take) a trip to Houghton Lake, Michigan.
4. The chess club (compare, compares) their strategies so as to win the tournament.
5. The swarm of reporters (engulfs, engulf) the famous actor all at once.
6. The audience (cheer, cheers) the winner of the million dollars.
7. The orchestra (performs, perform) my favorite music.
8. The baseball team (practice, practices) together every evening.
9. The public (support, supports) the travel baseball league.
10. The crowd (moves, move) to their favorite places along the parade route.

3) Fill in the blank in each sentence with the correct collective noun from the word bank.

band herd stack deck school swarm flock team

1. A ____________ of bees flew out of the bush.
2. My teacher graded a ______________ of papers.
3. The dolphin swam with a ____________ of fish.
4. The horse ______________ ran free on the prairie.
5. We saw a ______________ of birds in the sky.
6. The soccer ______________ won the game.
7. A _____________ of musicians played on the street.
8. There are 52 cards in a ___________________.

4) Underline the collective noun

1. We lost the ring in the orchestra
2. We saw a herd of goats lying over there.
3. The committee will meet again on Sunday.
4. A flock of ducks swam across the lake.
5. The audience applauded with a joy.
6. We bought a bunch of white roses for Ms. Brown.
7. The whole gang was caught yesterday.
8. Our government takes care of us.

5) Choose the right word

1. a _______ of elephants
2. a) pack b) herd c) flock d) swarm
3. a ________ of cattle
4. a) pack b) herd c) flock d) swarm
5. a _______ of sheep
6. a) pack b) herd c) flock d) shoal
7. a _______ of bees
8. a) gang b) cloud c) batch d) swarm
9. a ________ of fish
10. a) swarm b) cloud c) shoal d) wave
11. a ________ of playing cards
12. a) series b) pack c) panel d) crowd
13. a ______ of grapes
14. a) bundle b) bouquet c) bunch d) band
15. a _______ of islands
16. a) bundle b) crowd c) pile d) group
17. a ______ of events
18. a) link b) series c) line d) pile
19. a ______ of wolves
20. a) herd b) swarm c) gang d) pack
21. a ______ of keys
22. a) group b) hand c) bunch d) roll
23. a _______ of thieves
24. a) troupe b) gaggle c) gang d) flock

Conclusions

Collective nouns are words like family, team, committee, government, audience and etc. In British English a collective noun can be used either with singular or plural verbs and pronouns. Plural forms are preferred when the group is considered as a collection of people doing personal things. Singular forms are common when the group is seen as an impersonal unit. I’d like to mention that these collective nouns are not based in scientific thought or fact. Most of them come from the poetry and imagination of early to late Medieval English times e.g. – an eloquence of lawyers – Eloquence itself is defined as fine persuasion in speaking or writing, so this particular collective noun is a comment on the profession of lawyers while being their collective noun as well.

The same goes for the collective nouns we find for animals; the names arose from 15th century French and English hunting traditions, where hunting was common and names and terms were given to all aspects of the sport. These names were called Terms of Venery and it had become a tradition of the court to keep extending the list and by the 1500s the list was up-to 165 items long.

In addition to what has been said it’s also important to note that nouns in the collective class can be used in either the singular or plural form depending on the context of the sentence. For example, family is a collective noun because it refers to more than one person sharing a relationship or camaraderie. However, you can also use this as a plural in referring to groups of families. Using collective nouns in sentences can be confusing because it’s sometimes difficult to discern whether to use plural or singular verbs and pronouns. To use verbs and pronouns correctly, identify whether the collective noun refers to a group or unit working as individuals or in unison. When the unit is acting in unison, it is appropriate to use the singular. When the members of the unit are acting as individuals, it is appropriate to use plural forms of verbs and pronouns.

There is another point to be added that many singular nouns have very unique collective forms that pertain specifically to that term. While most people are familiar with the more commonly used collectives such as a class of students or crowd of people, there are a large number of less common collectives. Many people find it interesting to read and learn what the appropriate collective forms of various nouns are. Many teachers, students, and other lovers of the English language also find it entertaining to list original collectives or come up with new ways to use them in fun or ironic ways.

It’s worth mentioning that Americans and British distinguish collective nouns in different ways. Americans tend to treat collective nouns as single units, so it is more common to use the singular verb unless you are definitely talking about individuals. So in America you would be more likely to hear “The faculty is meeting today” than “The faculty are meeting today.” In British usage, however, is the opposite; it’s more common to use the plural verb. In fact, some sentences that are perfectly correct in Britain would be considered incorrect in America.

Institutions and Animate vs. Inanimate Nouns

Firstly, it is quite obvious, that institution names, such as the United States, the House of Lords, and Congress, tend to use singular verbs. This is probably because we see these institutions as units, as a whole; we do not think of the members as individuals. So you would most likely say, “Congress is meeting today.”, but if you want to emphasize the individuals in Congress, on the other hand, you can say, “The members of Congress are meeting today.”

Metonymic merging of grammatical number

I would like to begin with two good examples of collective nouns such as “team” and “government”, which are both words referring to groups of people. Both “team” and “government” are count nouns. (We can observe it considering the following examples: “one team”, “two teams”, “most teams”; the same situation with the word “government”: “one government”, “two governments”, “many governments”). However, confusion often occurs with the fact that plural verb forms are often used in British English with the singular forms of these count nouns (for example: “The team have finished the project.”). Conversely, in the English language as a whole, singular verb forms can often be used with nouns ending in “-s” that were once considered plural (for example: “Physics is my favorite academic subject”). This evident “number mismatch” is actually a quite natural and logical feature of human language, and its mechanism is a subtle metonymic shift in the thoughts underlying the words.

In British English, as I’ve already mentioned, it is generally accepted that collective nouns can take either singular or plural verb forms depending on the context and the metonymic shift that it implies. For example, “the team is in the dressing room” refers to the team as a group, a coherence, while “the team are fighting among themselves” refers to the team as individuals (separate members). This is also British English practice with names of countries and cities in sports contexts; for example, “Germany have won the competition.”, “Madrid have lost three consecutive matches.”, etc. In American English, collective nouns almost permanently take singular verb forms. In cases where a metonymic shift would be otherwise disclosed, the whole sentence may be remade to avoid the metonymy. (For example, “The team are fighting among themselves” may become “the team members are fighting among themselves” or simply “The team is fighting.”)

Another good example of such a metonymic shift in the singular-to-plural direction is the following sentence: “The team have finished the project.” In that sentence, the underlying thought is of the individual members of the team working together to finish the project. Their implementation is collective, and the emphasis is not on their individual personalities, yet they are at the same time still separated individuals; the word choice “team have” manages to convey both their collective and separate identities simultaneously. A similar example of such a metonymic shift in the plural-to-singular direction is the following sentence: “Statistics is a branch of Mathematics.” The word “statistics”, may be plural in concept, referring to a piece of information, but metonymic shift—that is, the shift in concept from “the information” to “the subject”—produced the usage of “statistics” as a singular entity taking singular verb forms.

Terms of venery (words for groups of animals)

The tradition of using “terms of venery” or “nouns of assembly” — collective nouns that are specific to certain kinds of animals—occurs from an English hunting tradition of the Late Middle Ages. The fashion of a consciously developed hunting language came to England from France. It is marked by an extensive range of specialist vocabulary, applying different names to the same feature in different animals. These elements can be shown to have already been part of French and English hunting terminology by the beginning of the 14th century. In the course of the 14th century, it became a fashion to extend the vocabulary, and by the 15th century, this tendency had reached exaggerated proportions. The Venerie of Twiti (early 14th century) distinguished three types of droppings of animals, and three different terms for herds of animals. Gaston Phoebus (14th century) had five terms for droppings of animals, which were extended to seven later (early 15th century). The focus on collective terms for groups of animals emerges in the later 15th century. Thus, a list of collective nouns in Egerton MS 1995, dated to c. 1452 under the heading of terms of venery extends to 70 items, and the list in the Book of Saint Albans (1486) runs to 165 items.

The Book of Saint Albans became very popular during the 16th century and was reprinted frequently. Gervase Markham edited and commented on the list in his The Gentleman’s Academic in 1595. The book’s popularity had the effect of perpetuating many of these terms as part of the Standard English lexicon, even though they have long ceased to have any practical application. Even in their original context of medieval venery, the terms were of the nature of kennings, intended as a mark of erudition of the gentlemen able to use them correctly rather than for practical communication. The popularity of these terms in the early modern and modern period has resulted in the addition of numerous light-hearted, humorous or “facetious” collective nouns.

The terms of venery range from the beautiful and evocative (an exaltation of larks) – to the amusing (a cartload of monkeys). Here I would like to illustrate some examples: a Bloat of Hippopotamuses, a dazzle of zebras, a haul of fish, an army of ants.

The list of examples of collective nouns

Now, I’d like to draw your attention to the list of examples of collective nouns according to the groups:

These collective nouns are commonly used under the category of people.

• A class of students.
• An army of soldiers.
• A choir of singers.
• A crew of sailors.
• A band of musicians.
• A bunch of crooks.
• A crowd of people/spectators.
• A gang of thieves.
• A group of dancers.
• A team of players.
• A troupe of artists/dancers.
• A pack of thieves.
• A staff of employees.
• A regiment of soldiers.
• A tribe of natives.
• An audience of listeners.
• A panel of experts.
• A gang of labourers.
• A flock of tourists.
• A board of directors.
• The following collective nouns are used for animals.
• A catch of fish.
• An army of ants.
• A flight of birds.
• A flock of birds.
• A haul of fish.
• A flock of sheep.
• A herd of deer/cattle/elephants/goats/buffaloes.
• A hive of bees.
• A litter of cubs.
• A host of sparrows.
• A team of horses.
• A troop of lions.
• A pack of wolves.
• A litter of puppies/kittens.
• A swarm of bees/ants/rats/flies.
• A team of horses/ducks/oxen.
• A kennel of dogs.
• A pack of hounds.
• The following collective nouns are used for things.
• A group of islands.
• A galaxy of stars.
• A wad of notes.
• A fleet of ships.
• A hedge of bushes.
• A pack of cards.
• A pair of shoes.
• A bouquet of flowers
• A bunch of keys.
• A chest of drawers.
• A pack of lies.

Collective nouns are endless and these are just a list of those used more often. As you continue to work on improving your English, you will stumble across many more.

 

By way of introduction it will be natural to stress that the noun is an important part of speech that is used to name a person, place, thing, quality, or action and can function as the subject or object of a verb, the object of a preposition, or an appositive. It is common knowledge that there are many types of nouns that can be used in the English language. (Proper Nouns, common nous, countable nouns, uncountable nouns, collective nouns, abstract nouns, concrete nouns). My work is fully concerned with collective nouns, the most interesting ones from my point of view.

It’s necessary to point out right from the beginning that collective nouns are nouns that refer to groups consisting of more than one individual or entity, even when they are inflected for the singular. Examples include committee, herd, and school (of fish). These nouns have slightly different grammatical properties than other nouns. For example, the noun phrases that they head can serve as the subject of a collective predicate, even when they are inflected for.

Collective noun is the name we give to a group of nouns to refer to them as one entity. The most common method of doing this is by using words like group or bunch that can be applicable to most of the nouns in the language today. But there are some specific names given for certain groups of nouns to make things more interesting and funny.

The theme of my work is up-to-date and relevant nowadays and has a great importance in everyone’s life. It is important mainly for students who study English language. Every day we use nouns in our speech to express thoughts and emotions.

My work aims at studying collective nouns, their usage in the language and grammatical peculiarities.

The structure of this work consists in “Introduction”, “The noun – as a part of speech”, “Collective nouns”, “Metonymic merging of grammatical number”, “Terms of venery (words for groups of animals)”.

The Noun

A noun is a word that functions as the name of some specific thing or set of things, such as living creatures, objects, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas. Linguistically, a noun is a member of a large, open part of speech whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition.

Nouns have a certain classification:

Proper nouns and common nouns A proper noun or proper name is a noun representing unique entities (such as Earth, India, Jupiter, Harry, or BMW), as distinguished from common nouns which describe a class of entities (such as city, animal, planet, person or car).

Countable and uncountable nouns Count nouns or countable nouns are common nouns that can take a plural, can combine with numerals or counting quantifiers (e.g., one, two, several, every, most), and can take an indefinite article such as a or an (in languages which have such articles). uncountable nouns differ from count nouns in precisely that respect: they cannot take plurals or combine with number words or the above type of quantifiers. For example, it is not possible to refer to a furniture or three furnitures. This is true even though the pieces of furniture comprising furniture could be counted.

Collective nouns are nouns that refer to groups consisting of more than one individual or entity, even when they are inflected for the singular. Examples include committee, herd, and school (of fish). These nouns have slightly different grammatical properties than other nouns. For example, the noun phrases that they head can serve as the subject of a collective predicate, even when they are inflected for.

Concrete nouns and abstract nouns

Concrete nouns refer to physical entities that can, in principle at least, be observed by at least one of the senses (for instance, chair, apple, Janet or atom). Abstract nouns, on the other hand, refer to abstract objects; that is, ideas or concepts (such as justice or hatred).

In linguistics, a collective noun is a collection of things taken as a whole. For example, in the phrase “a pride of lions”, pride is a collective noun.

Collective nouns denote a group of people, objects, ideas, or animals as a single concept. Though the collective noun refers to more than one in a group, the noun itself is considered a single thing. However, they can be used as either singular of plural. It all depends on the sentence. Trying to decide which form to use can get confusing because you have to use the correct verb and pronoun forms, too. One way to make it a little easier is to determine if the collective noun is referring to a unit working as individuals or if they are working together in unison.

Most collective nouns in everyday speech for example, such as “group”, are not specific to a kind of object. For example, the terms “group of people”, “group of dogs”, and “group of ideas” are all correct uses. Others, especially words belonging to the large subset of collective nouns known as terms of venery (words for groups of animals), are specific to one kind of constituent object. For example, “pride” as a term of venery refers to lions, but not to dogs or cows.

Collective nouns are used to describe a group or collection of individuals. This includes groups of people, animals and inanimate objects. They have developed throughout the history of the English language, with new collective nouns still being created, although time will tell if these latest additions will survive (“an array of geeks”).

Many of the collective nouns for animals were developed by the British upper classes in the medieval period to serve the dual purposes of helping with hunting and to differentiate themselves from the working classes.

There are around 200 collective nouns in the English language. Sometimes they take a singular verb, but other times they take a plural verb. The most important thing to realize is that there are no hard and fast rules here, only trends. Usually, which verb you use depends on two things: whether you consider the collective noun to be a single unit or to be made up of individuals, and whether you’re American or British.

Singular or Plural Verbs?

I’d like to use the collective noun “couple” to illustrate a good example of the rule. When you are thinking of the couple as two separate people doing separate things, you would probably use a plural verb. For example, you would say, “The couple are vacationing separately this year” because they are two different people doing two different things. On the other hand, if you are thinking of the couple as a single unit, you would probably use a singular verb. For example, you would say, “Each couple is going to Bermuda on a different day.”

Here is another example. I’d like to give consideration to the use of the word “family.” Before turning to the main point it might be useful to exemplify 2 sentences:

1. a) “Jack’s family is rich”
2. b) “Jack’s family are rich”

It’s universally true that both variants are right but many learners of English language wonder whether to use a plural form after the word family or a singular one. In this case, it does not matter what comes after the verb; it just matters what idea you are trying to get across. I suppose in my example, I would prefer “is” because it seems we are talking about one family, one unit. The other situation is when we change an adjective “rich” with a noun “bankers”. In this case, it brings us to the idea that we should use “are” because it seems that we are referring to a bunch of separate individuals.

There are also some interesting facts concerning a prepositional phrase that comes after a collective noun that is the subject of a sentence. For example, if you’re talking about “a large group of students,” “group” is the collective noun and the subject of the sentence; however, it’s easy to get distracted by the prepositional phrase “of students” because it sounds plural. The thing to remember is that the verb agrees with the subject of the sentence – “a large group” and not with the prepositional phrase that modifies the subject. In cases like this, you should ignore the prepositional phrase “of students” and take into consideration the real subject: “a large group.”

In summary, there are many things a teachers can do to make their classroom a place where children from all cultural and class backgrounds can succeed in learning to read. Chapter 4 has outlined many methods that can be used with specific cultural groups, which can be used by teachers to create equity in the classroom. In order to have fair treatment, it does not work to treat all children the same. Teachers must be aware of the culture of their students, and be aware of teaching methods that work for those specific cultures, in order to create an equitable environment in which all children can learn.

REFERENCES

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Charity, A., Scarborough, H., and Griffin, D. (2004). Familiarity with school English in African American children and its relation to early reading achievement. Child Development, 75, 1340-1356

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Elhoweris, H., Mutua, K., Alsheikh, N., and Holloway, P. (2005). Effect of children’s ethnicity on teachers’ referral and recommendation decisions in gifted and talented programs. Remedial and Special Education, 26, 25-31.

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Gilliam, B., Gerla, J., and Wright, G. (2004). Providing minority parents with relevant literacy activities for their children. Reading Improvement, 41, 226-234.

Grice, M., and Vaughn, C. (1992). Third graders respond to literature for and about Afro- Americans. The Urban Review, 24, 149-164.

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Love, A., and Kruger, A. (2005). Teachers beliefs and student achievement in urban schools serving African American students. Journal of Educational Research, 99, 87-98.

McBride-Chang, C., and Ho, C. (2005). Predictors of beginning reading in Chinese and English: A 2-year longitudinal study of Chinese kindergarteners. Scientific Studies of Reading, 9, 117-144.

Mohr, K. (2003). Children’s choices: A comparison of book preferences between Hispanic and non-Hispanic first-graders. Reading Psychology, 24, 163-176.

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Murray, B., Stahl, S., and Ivey, M. (1993). Developing phonological awareness through alphabet books. Paper Presented at the annual meeting of the National Reading Conference, Charleston, SC.

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Pollard-Durodola, S., Cedillo, G., and Denton, C. (2004). Linguistic units and instructional strategies that facilitate word recognition for Latino kindergareners learning to read in Spanish. Bilingual Research Journal, 28, 319-354.

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Rickford, A. (2001). The effect of cultural congruence and higher order questioning on the reading enjoyment and comprehension of ethnic minority students. Journal of Education for Students Placed At Risk, 6, 357-387.

Ruan, J. (2003). Toward a culture-sensitive pedagogy: Emergent literacy learning in Chinese-English bilinguals in America. Language Culture and Curriculum, 16, 39-47.

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Stage, S., Sheppard, J., Davidson, M., and Browning, M. (2001). Prediction of first- graders’ growth in oral reading fluency using kindergarten letter fluency. Journal of School Psychology, 39, 225-237.

Steffensen, M., Goetz, E., and Cheng, X. (1999). The images and emotions of bilingual Chinese readers: A dual coding analysis. Reading Psychology, 20, 301-324.

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Taylor, G. (1997). Multicultural literature preferences of low ability African American and Hispanic American fifth graders. Reading Improvement, 34, 37-48.

Trousdale, A., and Everett, J. (1994). Me and bad Harry: Three African-American children’s response to fiction. Children’s Literature in Education, 25, 1-15.

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Wilson-Jones, L. (2003). Factors that promote and inhibit the acacemic achievement of rural elementary African American males ina a mississippi school: A Qualitative study. Paper Presented at the annual meeting of the Mid-South Edcuational Research Association, Biloxi, MS.

Wiencek, B., Cipielewski, J., Vazzano, J., and Sturken, M. (1998). Portraits of the literacy practices in two kindergarten classrooms: What’s going on. Paper presented at the meeting of the National Reading Conference, Austin, TX.

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Effective Methods for Teaching Asian Pacific American Students

As a teacher, it is also important to remember that Asian students are not always the best students, even though many teachers describe them as model students (Ruan, 2003, Tatum 1997). It is important for teachers to not assume they do not need help just because they do not ask for it (Ruan, 2003). This could be due to a cultural difference, not because they feel competent or are successful at the task. Recognizing the disadvantage that is done to students when their needs are not attended to is an important lesson for a good teacher to remember. Teachers should always make sure all students get the help they need even if they can’t ask for it because of cultural differences.

Since different languages have different methods of decoding and different structures, or orthographies (McBride-Chang and Ho, 2005, Pollard-Durodola et al., 2004), it is important to consider a student’s prior abilities in decoding in their native language, if they come into our classrooms with prior abilities in reading in their native language. In Chinese and other Asian languages(McBride-Chang and Ho, 2005), just as in Spanish (Pollard-Durodola et al., 2004), it is important for effective teachers to find ways to expand upon the student’s existing abilities. Having a focus on nurturing and transferring skills from a native language will help students learn the new language more quickly and successfully. Early reading skills in the native language are more predictive of later accomplishment in English than early performance in English is (McBride-Chang and Ho, 2005).

Students coming from homes that speak Chinese (Cantonese) and possibly other languages that use characters may not be able to decode using individual phonemes (McBride-Chang and Ho, 2005). Understanding that if students have learned to read in Chinese, they will be using a syllabic base rather than a phonemic one will allow teachers to understand thought processes of these children. It is important to be aware of these needs and proficiencies that might be discounted without this knowledge of the orthography of a student’s native language.

Effective Methods for Teaching Native American Students

One area where there was not an abundance of literature was studies on the early reading acquisition of Native American students. Most articles were dated or involved older students. It is important to have more research on the needs of these students available, and it is also important to have more tribe specific information. Studies that were reviewed usually dealt with one specific tribe, and so were possibly not generalizable to the more than 280 other tribes in the United States, which according to Willis (2002) “….differ in terms of their language, traditions, economics, and social interactions” (p. 152).

Some information that was useful in the research reviewed was the finding that Reyhner (1986) reported, showing that it is important to supplement the basal readers with trade books that represent Native American student’s culture, especially tribe specific books if possible.

Effective Methods for Teaching African American Students

It has been shown that family involvement can make a major impact on reading achievement for African American students and others (Gilliam, et al., 2004, Wilson- Jones, 2003). Making classrooms welcoming to parents, finding ways to involve them in their child’s education, providing trainings that help them help their children, if they feel they are not capable, are all ways that parents can become more involved in schooling.

Being available during non school hours for working parents and being willing to call or visit parents at home can also be ways to help parents become more engaged in their children’s school lives.

Another thing that is important to keep in mind when working with African American youth is the idea that it is important for teachers to remember that differences in pronunciation are not always miscues, they are simply the differences in pronunciation between dialects (Charity et al., 2004). According to LeMoine (2002), a teacher’s disapproving attitude about an African American student’s use of African American English can negatively affect how they perform in school. Charity et al. (2004) agree, showing that an overemphasis on pronunciation may take away from a student’s attention to meaning. The important thing is that the student making meaning of the text. Since the underlying grammatical structures of African American English are different than Standard English, teachers need to understand how the dialect works and not count the children’s use of the dialect as a mistake in English, but rather a use of their native dialect. Overcorrecting the use of native dialects or languages when the student is making meaning is counterproductive. Students will be more likely to participate in instruction when their linguistic abilities are respected and taken advantage of. It has been shown that the use of realistic minority dialect in literature helps students enjoy stories, stay engaged, and feel represented in the texts (Rickford, 2001).

The Effect of Teachers Attitudes and Expectations on Students Learning

It is important for teachers to remember that being color blind is almost as bad for students as overt racism (Love and Kruger, 2005). By not seeing the unique needs and abilities culture contributes to a child, you are not seeing the whole child. Ignoring these abilities and needs discounts them and leaves students without consideration in teaching methods. Of course assuming that all students of a certain ethnicity fit a certain stereotype is wrong, but it is important to recognize when it does influence student’s needs and respect that. Teachers must find ways to use a student’s culture to their advantage in schooling.

Culturally Responsive Literature and its’ Effect on Students

In De la Colina et al’s (2001) study, it was found that low engagement students did not have any statistically relevant improvement over a 12 week improvement, and some performed worse as time went on. Finding ways to get all students highly engaged should be an important goal for teachers. It has also been shown that highly engaged students make greater gains in reading, and read more often. Finding ways to engage all students in reading is an important way for teacher’s to make education equitable for minority students. By using methods that keep students excited about reading, teachers can motivate them to want to do it, and their skills will have greater chance of developing with extensive practice.

It has been shown that students comprehend more and are more engaged when they are reading about something they have background knowledge, and when their culture is represented in the story (Steffensen et al., 1999, Rickford, 2001). It is important for students not only to be represented in the texts, but it helps with comprehension when the background knowledge required is something they are familiar with. Trousdale and Everett (1994) showed that even when third grade students had characters that looked like them in stories, they didn’t necessarily have the background information to comprehend and so didn’t enjoy the texts.

Steffensen et al. (1999) also showed that students who took longer amounts of time to read in English comprehended the same amount as students who took half the time to read in their native language. It is possible that giving ESL students more time to read stories will help with comprehension, and this may make reading more fun and motivate the students to read more, and may be just as successful at comprehending when reading if given enough time.  The reader can see that ESL students in a classroom culture that perhaps puts too much emphasis on fluency may struggle to understand what they read. If what we want is for comprehension and personal connection to the literature to occur, then perhaps it is more important for students to take their time and think about what they are reading, and how it connects to their lives, than for students to read quickly and accurately.

In the Steffensen (1999) study, it was interesting that one of the women who read in English said that this was the easiest thing she had ever had to read in English. This statement points to the fact that English books that cover all students prior experiences are important to have in classrooms where knowledge of English is the goal. When students are able to read about familiar subjects, schema takes hold and it is easier to predict and comprehend a story.

Mohr (2003) showed that Hispanic students in first grade chose mostly nonfiction when given a choice of books. Almost all 1^st grade students chose animal books, not human books, even when books with characters of their own race and culture were available. This can be translated into practice by providing interesting and reading level appropriate nonfiction texts to children for reading choices just as much as fictional books. Students can be very motivated to read non fiction that is well presented, as much as or more so than the traditional storybooks. This study tells us another important lesson, just because you have a minority student, they many not be drawn to multicultural literature.

It is also important to remember that this study was done with first graders. According to Tatum (1997), a students need to develop their racial identity by racial grouping does not happen until 6^th grade or older. Although students are obviously aware of race before then, and may enjoy seeing characters that are like them, they may not be as concerned with the subject of race in first grade as teachers may assume they are.

Taylor (1997) showed that not all students have the background to appreciate culturally conscious stories. There is a difference between having the multicultural literature available for students to read and in pushing it on students when they are not interested, because an important part of reading is the motivation to do so, prompted by high interest in the subject matter. Grice and Vaughn’s (1992) study is important because it showed engaging children in literature that is enjoyable and relates to their personal experience is important in motivating them to want to read.

24 April in the calendar of ecological dates is marked as the world day of protection of laboratory animals that was established by the International Association against painful experiments on animals in 1979 and supported by the UN. If you are interested in the topic, go through our argumentative essay on animal testing.

Should animals be used for scientific or commercial testing?

I must say that the animals were used in experiments since ancient times, but the work was sporadic. The concept of “laboratory animal” has developed in the late 19th century in connection with rapid development of experimental biology and medicine, and in the second half of the 20th century method of scientific experimentation on animals was formed as an independent direction. Before entering the pharmacy counter, drugs are many animal testing and its gifts to humans in the next 15-20 years.

Pros for animal testing

The most common test that determines the ability of a substance to irritate mucous membranes. It is this: rabbits are fixed in the machines, then they on the cornea to apply a substance (e.g., everyone’s favorite “Fairy”), and then there are changes in the cornea until its death which can only come in a week or two. And rabbits here not the collective image of the laboratory animal; they are used because they have not allocated the tears, and, consequently, the applied substance is not washed off. At the same time, the money might be spent on an animal testing ads campaign for a healthy lifestyle.

In other animals (namely, rats) reduced ability to vomit, so take them for testing General toxicity of the substances entering their animals into the stomach through a tube.

For almost 20 years the cosmetics can be checked for security, and anybody not racking up. Alternative testing methods are divided into two groups: laboratory testing without using living organisms (in vitro) and computer modeling.

Speaking of research, “75% of experiments on animals today could successfully be replaced by cell cultures,” – a virologist, member of the Committee on bioethics at the Academy of Sciences.

However, all cosmetics entering the market, are tested by CPS. These inspections are also used by animals. If the EU companies pay for their products, we pre-market departmental control. Animal testing holds the office and take money for it. It is also worth noting that in Europe prohibited the testing of cosmetic products on animals.

Full list of companies that test on animals, you can see in this blog.

Also not nervous, not pregnant and not lactating, I recommend to watch a movie about the cruelty and futility of animal experiments – “Experimental Paradigm”.

On animals experience not only medicines, but also cosmetics, construction and packaging materials, cleaning products and other products. Animals breathe from the substance, whose concentration is so great that most of the animals died of poisoning. Industrial test Driza for cosmetics (mascara, lipstick, etc.) is performed as follows. Animals that are fully conscious, causing the eye of the test substance and waiting until the damage of the cornea. The rabbit’s head firmly fixed with a special collar, and the animal can’t even paw to the eyes, which erodes the applied drug. Often the test ends with the cornea becomes cloudy, the eye dies.

Quotes about animal testing

Man with all his ingenuity could reduce their need to use animals without bringing harm to their health and well-being. To solve the problem of animal testing by the adoption of the Federal law “About the cruel treatment of animals”, financing professionals, developing alternatives to animal testing and implementation of the new discipline of bioethics (science about respect for all living things) in universities as a compulsory subject.

I want to believe that “the time will come when the world will look at modern vivisection in the name of science, how he looks now to burning people at the stake in the name of religion”.

The research reviewed in Chapter Three has revealed several practices that may encourage culturally relevant teaching. In considering the past and present experiences of minority students in school, it is important to find the most effective practices to teach all people’s children. The following are practices that research has shown to be effective when working with a diverse student base.

The Effect of Tracking and Stereotyping by Teachers

Studies have shown that teachers refer minority students to gifted and talented programs less (Elhoweris et al, 2005), and to special education programs more (Hosp & Reschly, 2004), than white students. Since minority status, unfortunately, often correlates with low socioeconomic status, these figures may be due to differences in class. Low SES students are also overrepresented in special education classes for the mentally retarded (Hosp & Reschly, 2004).

The study by Elhoweris et al. (2005), which showed race had an effect on teachers recommendation of students into gifted and talented programs shows that teachers’ expectations of a student will affect what they see. If teachers hold stereotyped impressions of their students, they will continue to think their minority students are less able than white students, even if they perform in approximately similar ways.

If indeed African American students have lower achievement scores as Hosp and Reschly (2004) found, it would seem that more would be referred to special education programs. To this I would suggest future study into what is it about our system that gives minority and low SES students less of a chance to succeed.

That race is such a strong predictor in Hosp and Reschly’s (2004) study for the referral of students to classes for the emotionally disturbed, a branch of special education that deals mostly with behavior, is telling of the difficulties that teachers (a majority of whom are white) may have in connecting with minority students. Just because a student comes from a different cultural background than their teacher does not mean the teacher should assume they need special education. The teacher may need some “special education” to learn culturally relevant practices and help all his or her students succeed.

The researchers (Hosp & Reschly, 2004) suggest the development of early interventions that might help reduce the higher representation of minorities in special education classes. Professional development for teachers working with a multicultural student base is not addressed as a cause by the authors. They report that yes, race and income have a strong affect on placement, but they do not address why they do.

Teaching teachers to see the student rather than the race or cultural characteristics often attached to race may help with this

Teachers who want to give all their students a chance at a fair education need to keep studies like these (Elhoweris et al, 2005, Hosp & Reschly, 2004), in mind. When struggling with a student from a different culture, a teacher must analyze the source of the conflict or misunderstanding, and attempt to find culturally relevant ways to teach the student. Teachers can find methods that keep students with diverse abilities in the mainstream classroom, and stop relegating students to special education programs because of cultural misunderstandings. All students have unique abilities and needs, and being aware of these can help teachers accurately diagnose students who need special education, and students who just need a different type of help in their regular classrooms

The Effect of Class and Socioeconomic Status on Teaching and Learning Craig et al.’s study (2003) concluded that with proper intervention, social class should not make a major difference in a student’s success in school, and Stage et al. (2001) concluded that low SES students with difficulty in letter naming should receive early intervention to strengthen letter naming fluency in order to ensure they do not fall behind peers in first grade and beyond. Given these findings, schools must provide early testing and intervention for students who show signs of struggling with literacy early on in education, by offering testing for pre-kindergarten students and offering preschool slots to students who show a need for extra help. These recommendations require state, district, and school wide efforts. Teachers must also provide early intervention in the primary classroom, so students get the help they need early on and do not slip behind their peers in reading development.

Since Wiencek et al.(1998) found that when teachers use the developmentally appropriate view of early reading development, wherein children learn to read when they are ready, seems to work for the middle and upper class students and disadvantage poor students. From this finding the reader can assume that teachers must take it upon themselves to make sure all students, especially low income students, have time to explore books and concepts about print, as well as work with phonemic awareness and phoneme grapheme correspondence. Children should also have small group or one on one teacher interaction, and an opportunity to receive teacher scaffolding.

Effective Methods for Teaching Hispanic Students

Riccio et al. (2001) also called for early intervention of reading difficulties for Spanish speaking ESL students. They found that for students who don’t speak English at home, it is difficult to identify reading problems early on, because of the language barrier. With the high rates of illiteracy and drop out in the Hispanic community, it is vital to identify problems with phonemic awareness early. With tests such as the CTE that identify abilities in the native language, schools can identify reading difficulties early on. It is important to have this early intervention in place instead of waiting to diagnose these problems once the student learns English, after they are already significantly behind their classmates.

It has been shown (Carlisle and Beeman, 2000) that students who speak Spanish upon entering school were shown to learn to read more quickly in Spanish and in English when they were taught in Spanish, while children who were taught in English did not start reading as quickly in either language. Perhaps a reader needs to be familiar with the language before comprehension strategies can be applied, decoding words that do not make sense will not nurture comprehension. It is important for ESL students to receive some instruction in reading strategies in their native language when possible, so these can develop as early as possible and then be transferred to the student’s second language.

The application of Carlisle and Beeman’s (2000) study is that learning to read in one’s native language will not only benefit the student’s literacy in his/her first language, but also help him/her read much better in English. This shows teachers that students will make gains in English reading whether or not they read only in English, and that students are able to maintain their literacy capabilities in their native language if they are encouraged to practice, and read, in their native language.

Research shows (Denton, et al., 2004) that students who do not speak English and who learn to read in a school culture where decoding and phonics are of key importance may learn to decode words that they cannot understand. Spanish ESL students who were tutored improve only in context free reading. It is important to focus on the difference between fluency and comprehension. Fluency can be helpful for students who are learning to read words they already know the meaning of, but being able to pronounce words with an English pronunciation does not help students who do not know the meaning of the word to begin with. Allowing students to spend some time reading in their native language will help students’ comprehension, as has been shown by Steffensen, et al. (1999). When ESL students are pushed to have increased fluency, their comprehension may suffer because they need more time to think about the content and translate mentally (Denton, et al., 2004).

According to the research (Chiappe et al., 2002), teachers must remember that until ESL students learn English, they are interpreting everything in terms of their native language, which can cause confusion. In most languages, the syntax is different than in English. Students cannot use this as a cueing system for reading. It is important for teachers to make sure students are able to make meaning out of reading, instead of just pronouncing words that have no meaning to the student. A focus on meaning helps students improve more than an emphasis on decoding unfamiliar words.

Pollard-Durodola, et al. (2004) studied the strategies that are used to teach phonemic awareness and early word reading in Spanish. This is important for a teacher to know, even in an English instruction classroom, because students may be coming into classrooms already having learned to read in Spanish. Teachers should be familiar with strategies, similar and different, to better understand their new students unique abilities and schema. This study really showed the difficulty students may have in transitioning their reading abilities from a language with shallow, consistent orthography like Spanish to one with many different rules like English. Knowing that Spanish often treats a syllable as the unit of sound rather than a phoneme can help a teacher work with students who may not comprehend the idea of breaking words down into the smaller units.

Having knowledge of these differences can help teachers assist students who may need to grasp not only a new language, but a new set of rules for reading it.

A study by Grice and Vaughn (1992), sought to explore the effect of using multicultural literature on African American and Caucasian children. Thirteen children in a southern city were asked to respond to twenty-four books representing African American experiences and culture. Nine respondents were black (5 boys and 4 girls) and 4 were white (3 boys and 1 girl). All were third graders and had been identified as slow learners, reading two years below grade level.

In the study (Grice & Vaughn, 1992), the teacher read the entire class each book, and then interviewed three children who were randomly selected about each of the twenty four books. I do not think this is thorough transferable, because if only 3 children are interviewed randomly, there is no assurance that there will be enough representation of African American boys versus girls, and the same with Caucasian students. Interviewing more students on each book, and trying to represent all male/female and ethnic groups could make the study more convincing.

The questions asked (Grice & Vaughn, 1992) were over the content of the book, whether or not the story or characters could be real, whether or not the student could place themselves in the story, and whether or not they liked the book and why. The stories read ranged from African heritage and biography to community, friends, and family themes, and poetic verse. After the individual interviews, the teacher led a class discussion about the books. The students shared their feelings about the book and ranked it.

The study (Grice & Vaughn, 1992) found that family, community, and friend themed books were the easiest for children to follow. One hundred percent of black females and 83% of black males identified with the community and friendship books. Sixty seven percent of white boys also identified with these stories.

The children took the question referring to whether or not the story could be real very literally. If it had not happened to them, they could not believe it. They found middle class and books about interracial families, even autobiographical ones, to be unbelievable, because “nobody in my family is white” (Grice & Vaughn, 1992, p.159). Because the students were not biracial and did not know any multiracial families, they could not relate to the themes. Also, many students did not find the African heritage books believable. One African American boy said “If I was in Africa and the slavers tried to kidnap me, I would want to leave Africa” (Grice & Vaughn, 1992, p.159).

The terminology used by Grice and Vaughn is interesting. I wonder what they mean by saying that 67 % of white boys found a story believable, when really only saying 2 children out of 3 thought so. This is the same thing, but 67% makes the research sound more extensive than interviewing only 3 children on each book if a reader is not reading very closely. The study could also have been more complete if it included a book about a white protagonist who had a low SES, to see if the students identified with this book as much or more than the African American stories in which the children identified with the main character because of social conditions and not race.

The findings of this study (Grice & Vaughn, 1992), are confirmed in Taylor’s (1997) study, and so seem more convincing. The information was not recorded by tape recorder, and no information was given as to how the interviews were recorded (Grice & Vaughn, 1992).

Taylor (1997) conducted a study continuing Grice and Vaughn’s 1992 research. Taylor’s study researched the literature preferences of African American and Hispanic American fifth graders, two years older than Grice and Vaughn’s study. In Taylor’s study, 24 students were asked to respond to literature. 14 of the students were African American and 10 were Hispanic. No information was given as to the gender makeup of the sample, other than that it did include both boys and girls. The school the study was conducted in was an inner city elementary school in the Southwest. It does not give the state, but the students received a score of 70 on the Texas learning index by taking the Texas assessment of Academic Skills, implying that it took place in Texas. This qualified the students to receive assistance from a Title I teacher. All the students in the study were low income and received free lunch from the school.

In Taylor’s (1997) study, students read 24 picture books. There were 24 students and 24 books. Each student read each book. The report does not say how they were read (alone or in groups) or over what period of time. The books included a majority of melting pot and culturally conscious books. Melting Pot fiction consists of stories wherein African Americans or other minorities are included in plots with Caucasians.

They are not usually main characters and the only differences between African Americans and European Americans addressed here is skin color. No other social issues are addressed. Culturally Conscious stories do address historical, social, and cultural aspects of African American life. They might use African American English and include plot details dealing with extended family. Other books read included Hispanic American fiction, mainstream children’s literature, and African and African and African American folklore.

After each child read all 24 books, they completed a questionnaire which asked their opinions on the books they read (Taylor, 1997). The rated each book from 1 to 5, but the questionnaire asked not only their opinion of the book, but also whether they could picture themselves in the story (identify with the characters). The children then wrote a paragraph about their favorite and least favorite books to give reasons for their opinions. The children’s favorite books as a whole class were The Talking Eggs (a fairy tale) by Robert San Souci, Grandma’s Joy (a culturally conscious story) by Eloise Greenfield, and The Snowy Day (a melting pot story)by Ezra Jack Keats, a very popular children’s author and one of the first to include African American characters in mainstream children’s literature.

The Talking Eggs was popular because of its humor and fantasy (Taylor, 1997). The researcher felt that the popularity of Grandma’s Joy served to confirm Grice and Vaughn’s (1992) conclusion that all children could identify with family themed books, no matter what the race of the reader or the character was.  The Snowy Day was a favorite for its interesting pictures and ability to put oneself in the place of the main character (Taylor, 1997). Even though the top three included culturally conscious fiction and melting pot books, the least popular 5 books were also made up of these types. The children seemed to dislike books that dealt with unpleasant topics, such as Daddy, by Jeannette Caines, which was about a girl whose parents are divorced who gets to spend the day with her father.

When the students were split by ethnicity, the favorite books differed somewhat (Taylor, 1997). Looking at only African Americans, Jambo Means Hello by Muriel Feelings, Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold, and She Come Bringing Me That Little Baby Girl by Eloise Greenfield were favorites, all three culturally conscious fiction. These students had two years of maturity on the subjects in Grice and Vaughn’s study, and were more able to appreciate books involving African Origins.

Hispanic American student’s favorite books included Where the Wild Things Are (mainstream children’s literature) by Maurice Sendak, Grandma’s Joy , and Snowy Day. Hispanics seemed to enjoy mainstream books and books that dealt with family issues most (Taylor, 1997). Abuela (Hispanic American literature) by Arthur Dorros ranked 9^th with Hispanic subjects, even though it was the only book with Hispanic characters and plot. The third favorite book for African American students was the least favorite for Hispanic American students. She Come Bringing Me That Little Baby Girl came in last at 24 for Hispanic American subjects.

The researcher (Taylor, 1997) concludes that not all students have the background knowledge to appreciate culturally conscious stories. Membership in an ethnic group does not mean that students know the history and culture of that ethnic group. Teachers may need to pre-assess knowledge and teach some background information before reading some culturally conscious books.

The research by Taylor (1997) is believable, results of the children’s rankings are included, as is a copy of the assessment they used. What would make the study more convincing would be the inclusion of over what period of time the books were read. This could affect how the students ranked the books. If the students read the books all at one sitting, they may have tired of reading halfway through and not enjoyed the later books. If they read a few books each day, by the end of the period they may not have kept fresh in their mind exactly how much they liked the first ones. Children, and adults, can move from one favorite to another very quickly depending on how recently they were exposed to the material. Information as to how these issues were addressed would lend more credibility and transferability to the research.

The study (Taylor, 1997) is consistent with the findings of Grice and Vaughn (1992) in that it found that students often can relate to universal family relationships no matter the race of the character. It (Taylor, 1997) moved beyond this research and showed that with maturity and more background information, students are more able to process information about culturally conscious books, including information about African origins.

To summarize, Mohr (2003) found that first grade students preferred nonfiction books to books with characters who represented their race, and Grice and Vaughn (1992) found that third graders didn’t enjoy stories they couldn’t relate to in their immediate lives, even if their race was represented by the characters in the book. Trousdale and Everett (1994) found that 7 year old children used their life experiences to interpret texts, and Taylor (1997) showed that some students just don’t have the background information to appreciate culturally conscious stories, and preassessment and teaching background knowledge may be necessary for some culturally conscious books, even if the students are part of the culture represented in the book. Rickford (2001) found that culturally relevant literature positively impacted the reading enjoyment for 6^th and 7^th grade students.

Summary

There is a wealth of research on ways to help different cultural groups find success in reading. Some suggest community and school wide programs in order to help all children succeed, while others give teachers specific strategies that could be implemented in the classroom.

Craig et al. (2003) showed that state funded preschools for low income students could help overcome the achievement gap, while Gilliam et al. (2004) showed that parental involvement in classes to help their children in reading caused more families to read together. Wilson-Jones (2003) showed that students achieved more when their families were involved in their schooling. All of these suggestions are something that must be supported by communities, school districts, and individual schools in order to effect change for students.

Wiencek et al. (1998) showed the reader that many of the so called developmentally appropriate views of reading in some kindergartens disadvantage low income students. Denton, et al. (2004) and Chappe et al. (2002) both showed that students’ fluency in a second language could be improved using explicit phonics instruction, but neither of these programs benefited comprehension. Ruan (2003) reminded readers that Chinese students may not be assertive about getting their needs met. Chang and Ho (2005) showed readers that characters use syllables as the smallest unit of sound, so expecting students who speak Chinese as a first language to segment words into phonemes may be asking more than for a student who uses English as a first language. Grice and Vaughn (1992) and Mohr (2003) showed that students, when given a choice, didn’t necessarily prefer culturally relevant literature, and Taylor (1997) showed that sometimes students don’t have the resources to understand this literature, even if the characters represented are part of their racial group.