Evaluation, *Teacher Attitudes

The purpose of thin study was to test the implication that ethnic stereotyping may bias a teacher's perception of a child's speech. The subjects, 44 undergraduate education majors, were asked to view three 90-second segments of video tape showing fifth and sixth grade boys from three ethnic groups--Black, Mexican-American, and Anglo--and were asked to complete a rating instrument made up of a set of semantic differential scales designed to judge a child's speech in terms of "confidence- eagerness " or "ethnicity- nonstandardness. " The video tapes were produced in such a manner that it was possible to substitute the speech of one child for another. Each subject was shown a segment of an 'nglo child speaking standard English, a segment of a Black or Mexican-American child speaking the standard English of an Anglo child (dubbed in), and a segment of a Black or Mexican-American child speaking his ow