Empathy, the Elusive Teaching Skill to Support African American English Speaking Students

Abstract

The beliefs, expectations and responses of today’s educators in the classroom can promote and/or impede communication. The perception of Standard American English is an important influence on intercultural communicative competence within classroom instruction and determines effective instruction for linguistically diverse speakers, especially African Americans. Examination of language use in the classroom and its impact on learning is increasingly important if we are to meet the needs of lower performing students who speak African American English (AAE). Fourteen elementary and middle school urban teachers from a high poverty district were involved in this study, which investigated their perceptions and linguistic knowledge of AAE. During an eight week period the teachers completed surveys, took part in interviews, and were observed during classroom instruction. The data were analyzed utilizing the conceptual model of intercultural communicative competence. This model combined attitudes, knowledge and skills with linguistic, sociolinguistic and discourse competence. This study found that (a) that AAE is still a misunderstood and maligned sector of English, (b) linguistic knowledge did not play a role in instruction and (c) empathy played a key role in the instruction of AAE speaking students. The recommendations for further research include determining the type of training teachers need to solve the problems of linguistic bias towards AAE by involving teachers and pre-service teachers who work with students who speak AAE and the possibility of using intercultural communicative competence as the framework for developing the skill of empathy.