Cultural Pluralism &Children's Media by Esther R. DyerReview by: Norma FeldThe Reading Teacher, Vol. 33, No. 4 (Jan., 1980), p. 489Published by: Wiley on behalf of the International Reading AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20195048 .

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unfamiliar dialect, but we have not endeavored to go beyond this general caution"

(p. 31). Further, the decision to disregard English vowel variation results in a confusing

"alphabetical representation system" for language samples and programmed

instructional materials; consonants are modified to reflect pronunciation, but

most vowels are reproduced in traditional spelling, resulting in "transcriptions"

such as shoez, soljier, and inconsistently, both enouf and enuf Such an arbitrary transcription system can also be ambiguous as in "F be deuhe" (for I'll be there)

and T was a apple..." (It was an apple) where T "

represents both / and it.

A second major problem with this volume involves the authors' use of source

materials. In some cases, there are misleading interpretations of primary sources.

For example, an adaptation of a figure from Wolfram and Fasold {The Study of Social Dialects in American English, 1974) makes it appear that there is almost no overlap whatsoever between some variant English dialects and Standard

English (p. 12), a clear impossibility. In other cases, the same secondary source,

i.e., Falk's introductory linguistics text {Linguistics and Language, 1973), is cited to explain everything from the development of the English spelling system to the

origins of dialect variation, thus depriving readers of more appropriate source

material.

The comparative language samples presented in chapter 6 are interesting and,

when accompanied by the audiocassette, offer a potentially valuable opportunity

for readers to become acquainted with and more sensitive to variant English. One

problem with the cassette, however, is that single children's voices were usually

excised from their conversational contexts, resulting in disjointed, sometimes

clipped utterances.

One final problem is the inexcusably large number of errors in this text. For

example: the Labov citation on page 6 does not appear in the references; Franz

Boas becomes Frank on page 162; and wants is asserted to be the correct verb for

the sentence "Both Pat and Mike (wants, want) a new wagon" on page 233.

This book could have met a pressing need, i.e., helping teachers to become

more familiar with and sensitive to variant English; unfortunately, it does not.

Cultural Pluralism & Children's Media. (School Media Centers: Focus on Trends and Issues, No. 1). Compiled by Esther R. Dyer. Paper. 77 pp. American Library Association 1978. (50 East Huron Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611) $4.50.

Reviewed by Norma Feld, School No. 23, Rochester City School District, Rochester, New York.

The purpose of this monograph (the first of four in a series entitled School Media Centers: Focus on Trends and Issues) is to make the media specialist or, for that

matter, any educator more sensitive and aware of cultural pluralism (many ethnic

groups) of America, and the materials available that adequately and honestly portray the various ethnic groups. In particular the contributors focus on Indians,

Afro-Americans and Asian Americans (Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese

and Filipino). The essays, by people with impressive credentials, are well written, but not particularly enlightening or inspiring. At most, the real value of this work is the list of resource materials at the end of each chapter. Since it is so difficult for a media specialist or teacher to keep up with the proliferation of materials,

especially those concerning ethnic groups, this is an important guide, and because

of its reasonable price, an invaluable tool for every shool library.

Critically Speaking 489

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