Effects of dialect on the comprehension of West Indian children

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Abstract
The under‐achievement of West Indian children in British schools has only been recognized in recent years, and the role which language may be playing in this under‐achievement has received relatively little attention. Where language is discussed, emphasis is put on the children's speech rather than on how much they understand in a British English situation. In this paper the various influences on educational performance, and, in particular, the influence of language are examined. Then a standard test of reading and comprehension ‐‐ the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability ‐‐ is described and analysed. This test enables you to calculate a comprehension age relative to the reading age of any given child, and is thus a very useful basis for comparing two groups. Forty West Indian and 40 British subjects were tested in this way, and although both groups were very well balanced for reading ability, the West Indians scored significantly lower on the comprehension questions. The results are discussed and it is suggested that the most probable explanation for the differences observed is the misunderstanding of certain features of British English.