Attitudes of school personnel in Charleston, South Carolina toward the Gullah dialect

This study evaluated the attitudes of speech-language pathologists (SLPs), teachers and allied professionals (APs) from Charlestcai, South Carolina toward the use of the Gullah dialect by means of a forced-choice type modified Language Attitude Scale (IAS) and a modified Bountress scale. A series of 20 questions were used to survey the attitudes of SLPs, teachers, and APs on the IAS while ten questions were used to survey SLPs attitudes on the modified Bountress scale. Results of their responses indicate that only a slight majority expressed positive attitudes towards Gullah. Thus, these data seem to suggest a need for additional education in cultural language differences. Implications and suggestions relevant to cultural language for undergraduate, graduate and continuing education programs are discussed.