Language and Poverty: Perspectives on a Theme is a collection of papers that juxtaposes different perspectives on the definition of language and language behavior in relation to poverty.
The book brings together a broad range of perspectives pertinent to language and poverty, specifically that of poor children. Topics on the language of the poor; how to construct effective language programs for the poverty child; biological and social factors in language development; and standardized assessment of the language of disadvantaged children are covered.
Policy makers, social workers, language teachers, sociologists, psychologists, and educators will find the text invaluable.

ContentsPreface 1. Some Preliminaries and Prospects 2. Teaching Reading in an Urban Negro School System3. A Sociolinguistic Approach to Socialization: with Some Reference to Educability4. Some Philosophical Influences Underlying Preschool Intervention for Disadvantaged Children 5. The Neglected Situation in Child Language Research and Education 6. How to Construct Effective Language Programs for the Poverty Child 7. Semantic Systems of Children: Some Assessments of Social Class and Ethnic Differences 8. Bilingualism and the Spanish-Speaking Child 9. The Logic of Nonstandard English 10. Language Theories and Educational Practices 11. Maternal Language Styles and Cognitive Development of Children 12. Language, Poverty, and the North American Indian 13. Biological and Social Factors in Language Development 14. A Summary of Environmentalist Views and Some Educational Implications 15. Toward the Standardized Assessment of the Language of Disadvantaged Children 16. The Sociolinguists and Urban Language Problems 17. Toward a History of American Negro Dialect 18. Language, Attitude, and Social Change 19. Some Viewpoints of the Speech, Hearing, and Language Clinician 20. An Annotated Bibliography of Journal Articles Index