Purpose For many school-age children, teachers are the first professionals to refer for speech/language services. However, many speech-language pathologists note that students without language disorders who speak non-mainstream American English (NMAE) dialects are referred to speech/language evaluation. This research note presents results of a preliminary study exploring teachers' ability to report student dialect use and how teacher reports of language ability depend on their perception of the student's dialect use. Method Teachers completed a brief two-question survey about students' dialect use and a standardized questionnaire about students' language and literacy skills for 254 students (K‑second grades). A subset of 30 students completed a standardized screener of dialect use and language ability. Results Teachers reported that 12.2% of students spoke an NMAE dialect, whereas 77.2% did not. In sharp contrast, the Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation-Screening Test indicated that 63% of students spoke an NMAE dialect, and 37% spoke MAE, suggesting a discrepancy between teachers' perceptions of dialect use and children's dialect use. Written responses suggested teachers may confuse NMAE dialect use and bilingualism or speech/language difficulties. Interestingly, teachers reported lower language skills among students they believe speak an NMAE dialect (p = .021). Conclusions These results provide preliminary evidence that teachers may have difficulty determining student dialect use and may report lower language skills for students they believe speak an NMAE dialect. Interprofessional collaborations between teachers and speech-language pathologists may be able to reduce the likelihood of misdiagnosis of language disorders among students who speak NMAE dialects.

中文翻译：

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学生方言使用及语言能力教师报告。

目的 对于许多学龄儿童来说，教师是第一个推荐言语/语言服务的专业人士。然而，许多言语语言病理学家指出，说非主流美国英语 (NMAE) 方言的没有语言障碍的学生被称为言语/语言评估。本研究报告展示了一项初步研究的结果，探讨了教师报告学生方言使用的能力以及教师报告语言能力如何取决于他们对学生方言使用的看法。方法 教师为 254 名学生（K-second 年级）完成了一份关于学生方言使用的简短的双问题调查和一份关于学生语言和识字技能的标准化问卷。30 名学生的子集完成了方言使用和语言能力的标准化筛选。结果 教师报告说，12.2% 的学生会说 NMAE 方言，而 77.2% 不会。与此形成鲜明对比的是，语言变异筛查测试的诊断评估表明，63% 的学生说 NMAE 方言，37% 说 MAE，这表明教师对方言使用的看法与儿童方言使用之间存在差异。书面答复表明，教师可能会混淆 NMAE 方言的使用和双语能力或言语/语言困难。有趣的是，教师报告说他们认为讲 NMAE 方言的学生的语言技能较低 (p = .021)。结论 这些结果提供了初步证据，表明教师可能难以确定学生方言的使用情况，并且可能会报告他们认为讲 NMAE 方言的学生的语言技能较低。