Many children have a more difficult time than others learning to read because they speak a dialect significantly different from that of the teachers and writers of texts. Language is a living social entity. 'Correctness' is by social convention, which varies with time and place.
| Those groups not in close contact with each other tend to evolve in ways that are not necessarily aligned, making it harder to communicate when they do come in contact.
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| It has been said that a 'language' is a 'dialect' with its own army and navy. This illustrates that the distinction is very fuzzy. It also illustrates that those in power tend to dictate what is 'standard' or correct.
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| The reason Chaucer and other old English texts are so hard to read is because English has changed so much since then. The change over time arises from the dialect differences across groups at any one time; some of these changes are adopted by other groups, others die out.
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| What a child says or writes that differs from your dialect may be an error (he/she) was just not paying attention), or it may be that in his/her normal social setting it is correct. Therefore, ask if it's an error. This is an opportunity to get the child to focus more and to proofread writing. If it's not an error of attention, it may be a good opportunity to talk about the language of school and books which may differ from the way people talk casually.
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| An example for speakers of African American Vernacular English is that the child may be puzzled about the 'd' and the end of 'find' and other double consonants at the ends of words since these are not pronounced in their normal dialect. This affects spelling and reading.
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