Using Call-and-Response instruction to help black students learn. Did this method go anywhere?

[astro]

Using Call-and-Response to Facilitate Language Mastery and Literacy Acquisition Among African American Students.

Seems like and interesting notion. Was this hypothesis ever proved out as being effective?

Despite three decades of research on African American English (AAE), educational workshops aimed at improving the academic achievement, particularly the literacy achievement, of African American students still emphasize differences between Standard English and African American English. One result is that teachers may overlook the linguistic resources of their African American students. A challenge for the research community now is to investigate how features of African American English might be used instructionally. Several researchers have noted teachers’ use of call-and-response—rapid verbal interaction between speaker and listener that has its origins in religious tradition—in classrooms composed of African American students.

This digest presents a working definition of call-and-response, discusses relevant research on the use of this interactional strategy for instructional purposes, and presents examples from an ongoing study of elementary school classrooms to illustrate some of the fundamental, explanatory dimensions of this discourse pattern.

wiki - What is “Call and response”

Call and response is a form of “spontaneous verbal and non-verbal interaction between speaker and listener in which all of the statements (‘calls’) are punctuated by expressions (‘responses’) from the listener.”[1]

In African cultures, call-and-response is a pervasive pattern of democratic participation—in public gatherings, in the discussion of civic affairs, in religious rituals, as well as in vocal and instrumental musical expression (see call and response in music). It is this tradition that African bondsmen and women have transmitted over the years in various forms of expression—in religious observance; public gatherings; even in children’s rhymes; and, most notably, in music in its multiple forms: gospel, blues, rhythm and blues, jazz, hip-hop and go-go.[citation needed] In contemporary African American worship services, where call and response is pervasive, a pastor will call out to his congregants to engage an enthusiastic response. For example

:

[Farmer_Jane]

My vote says that it is effective with any group because you’re engaging students. Im personally a very selfish teacher and need instant gratification, so my class is never quiet, even though I ‘lecture’ half the time.

I used to get in trouble for the lectures, even though my style demands participation, but I ignored my teaching professors and no one suffered.

It was commented in the 70s that we need to rethink how we speak to black kids. Not sure that caught on with white teachers.

Im white btw but I’ve only worked with Latino students. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say its proven but not widely practiced.

[Farmer_Jane]

Edit: you don’t have to sound like a black preacher to teach black students. They aren’t stupid- not sure what this article was aiming at, exactly. But you do want to make your classroom a community, and I could see how teachers drop the ball on that one.