Abstract
While seminal research suggests that White teachers are more likely to judge the oral narratives of Black children less favorably than stories told by White children, less attention has been paid to the role of narrative quality in the perceptions teachers form of these complex discourse skills. Further, few studies have examined the extent to which Black and White teachers differ in their perceptions of children's oral narrative skills. To address these gaps in the literature, the current study used mixed methods to investigate the role of narrative quality in Black and White teachers’ perceptions of children's oral narrative skills. We presented teachers with a higher-quality narrative and a lower-quality narrative as told by hypothetical children with stereotypical Black or White names. We asked teachers to rate the narratives along several indicators and share their impressions of the child storytellers. Results indicated that Black and White teachers rated Black and White children's narratives similarly for the higher-quality narratives, but differed in their ratings when the narratives were of lower quality. While there were similarities in the impressions Black and White teachers formed of the child storytellers, there were qualitative differences in how Black and White teachers described their impressions of the child storytellers, particularly for the lower-quality narratives. Given the importance of children's oral narrative skills for literacy development, the implications for instruction, professional development, and workforce diversity are discussed.
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