The Achievement Gap between Roadville and Trackton communities

Introduction

The transcription of Ways with Words is penned down by Shirley Brice heath about the two working class communities. Shirley is a linguist and anthropologist, who want to determine how the language development of child is regarded by the cultural communities in which they grow. She researched for this phenomenon for improved educational methods for increasing the success of minority students in schools of working-class community. The author of the book conducted an ethnographic research from 1969 to 1978 of two groups of people in the Piedmont Carolinas, which were only few miles away from each other. The research is entirely focused on two communities, Roadville and Trackton. Roadville is white working community, whose member of the society is famous to work in the mills of textile. On the other hand, Trackton is a black working community whose member of the society works in farm and also in the mills. She analyzed the interpreting and language learning behaviors of the children in 2 communities, particularly examining the impacts of the community environment and preschool home on the children. Shirley discovered that the language expectations of the mills and the schools were not similar in the expectations and values of the home communities. It has been argued by her that the language place in the cultural life of every community is inter-reliant with the values and habits of shared behaviors among the members of that community. It is important to notice that build values are formed by the structures of family, concepts of childhood and religious groups. On the other hand, health also defines the ethnographic methodology of Shirley.

Discussion

It has been argued by Cohen that health rejects the claims that race and class alone create problems in school (1968). She thought that definite language socializations are more compatible with the environments of school. It should be noticed that significances of abstract styles from a community is healthy information for teachers to deal with individual students. The language of socialization impact on school readiness is demystified by the ethnographic studies of Shirley. The current language development of the student provides a deep look and equips the teachers for continuing their growth and fulfill according to the requirement of students (Heath 1982).

The research has been conducted by Shirley for decades, in which the greatest work appeared in the shape of “Ways with Words: Language, Life, and Work in Communities and Classrooms”. The people of Roadville society hold the extending history of earning in textile mill. These communal families share a parallel culture, in which children are asked to respect the authorities of the community, particularly teachers, attending of church and etc (Schieffelin 2008). It has been found that the mutual perspectives of Roadville residents are simple, as it is the job of teachers to train the students accordingly. When parents drop their children at the door of class, the rest responsibilities lies over the school. She discovered that there is less assistance is being provided to ...