Litarature

Teacher expectations and attitudes have been further proved to play an important part in pupils' achievement by work of Fairchild and Edward-Evans (1990) and Wilcox (1982). In America, teacher attitudes have been a matter of debate on the issue of teaching standard English to speakers of non-standard varieties. Fairchild and Edward-Evans (1990) regard teacher attitudes as being crucial for student achievement. Focusing their discussion on the sub-standard Black English, they point out that teacher expectations of a student's performance is communicated to the student in a way that affects the attitudes and consequent behaviour of the students. Thus, teachers who expect failure from certain groups demand less, and provide less information, feedback and praise, therefore inducing failure. This in other words is a self-fulfilling prophecy on the part of the teacher who acts as the reinforcer of society's negative attitudes towards Blacks and minorities,

In her comparative study of two west coast communities, one working class and the other professional class, Wilcox (1982) describes how teachers socialize children differentially for work based on the teachers' perception of these roles and the social class of the children's parents. This, according to Wilcox, "does not appear to happen intentionally or consciously, but rather virtually without plan or plot, in a series of actions woven throughout the fabric of day-to-day life in the classroom" (p.272).

The studies above have shown how the larger society's reactions towards the smaller communities' social, language, and cultural differences can affect the children's school performances. Many children from smaller communities see following ~the rules' of the dominant society as to be avoided, and their differences (language, cultural etc.) as markers of identity to be maintained. These children are convinced that doing well in school is an act of betraying their roots or racial identity. In learning, it becomes a...