Using Call-and-Response to Facilitate Language Mastery and Literacy Acquisition Among African American Students MICHÉLE FOSTER

DIGEST EDO-FL-02-04 • JULY 2002
Using Call-and-Response to Facilitate Language Mastery and
Literacy Acquisition Among African American Students
MICHÉLE FOSTER
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Despite three decades of research on African American English
(AAE), educational workshops aimed at improving the academic
achievement, particularly the literacy achievement, of African American
students still emphasize differences between Standard English
and African American English. One result is that teachers may overlook
the linguistic resources of their African American students. A
challenge for the research community now is to investigate how features
of African American English might be used instructionally. Several
researchers have noted teachers’ use of call-and-response—rapid
verbal interaction between speaker and listener that has its origins in
religious tradition—in classrooms composed of African American students.
This digest presents a working definition of call-and-response, discusses
relevant research on the use of this interactional strategy for
instructional purposes, and presents examples from an ongoing study
of elementary school classrooms to illustrate some of the fundamental,
explanatory dimensions of this discourse pattern.

Call-and-Response
Smitherman (1977) defines call-and-response as "spontaneous
verbal and non-verbal interaction between speaker and listener in
which all of the statements (‘calls’) are punctuated by expressions
(‘responses’) from the listener" (p. 104). She suggests that responses
function to affirm or agree with the speaker, urge the speaker on,
repeat what the speaker has said, complete the speaker's statement in
response to a request from the speaker or in spontaneous talking with
the speaker, or indicate extremely powerful affirmation of what the
speaker has said.

Responses can follow from a speaker’s specifically requesting them
or eliciting them by manipulating their own discourse, or they can
be unsolicited and spontaneously interjected into the ongoing interaction
(Foster, 1989). Call-and-response is not limited to verbal interaction.
It occurs also in other media produced by African Americans,
such as music and dance.
My own definition of call-and-response draws on and extends
Smitherman's: Call-and-response is a type of interaction between
speaker and listener(s) in which the statements ("calls") are emphasized
by expressions ("responses") from the listener(s), in which responses
can be solicited or spontaneous, and in which either the calls
or responses can be expressed linguistically, musically, verbally, nonverbally,
or through dance.
An Example of Call-and-Response
In the following example of call-and-response, the teacher helps
students connect familiar linguistic patterns to new ones by using
familiar intonation patterns and varying them. To help a student
having difficulty pronouncing the word paleontologist, the teacher
uses familiar words (Pay Leon) to lead the student to the correct pronunciation
of the unfamiliar paleontologist. She pronounces the unfamiliar
word slowly, stressing each syllable, and confirms that
the student knows the number of syllables in the word. Several times
she calls for a response from the individual student; eventually, she
calls for a group response.
(T=teacher; S=individual student; Ss=whole group of students)
T (call): How many sounds? How many sounds? How many
sounds?
Ss (response): Six.
T (call): Six OK. We know that: pa le on. Say it.
S (response): pa le on
T (call): pa le on
S (response): pa le on
T (call): Say it again.
S (response): pa le on, pa le un on pa
T (call): You guys help him out.
Ss (group response): pa le on
T: You know like if you owe Leon some money. An you say, “I'm
'on pay Leon.”
S: Pay Leon.
T: Pay Leon.
S: Pay Leon.
T: Pay Leon, everybody.
Ss: Pay Leon.
T: Softly.
Ss: Pay Leon (soft voices).
T: Softer.
Ss: Pay Leon (very soft voices).
T: Louder.
Ss: Pay Leon (loud voices).
T: (Snaps fingers and waves hand around in a circle to signal the
students to say the phrase.)
Ss: Pay Leon.
T: (Snaps fingers and waves hand around in a circle to signal the
students to say the phrase.)
Ss: Pay Leon.
T: (Snaps fingers and waves hand around in a circle to signal the
students to say the phrase.)
Ss: Pay Leon.
T: OK. That’s paleon to lo gist.
Ss: to lo gist
T: You can say that fast. Now say the whole thing.
S: Paleontologist
T: Hey boy. Give me five.
By manipulating stress patterns, the teacher transformed the first
three syllables of this unfamiliar word into a familiar phrase. This
triggered several call-and-response turns, some spoken softly, some
loudly, and others rhythmically to hand claps and finger snaps, but
each turn spoken so that the intonation, rhythm, and stress clearly
conveyed the phrase's meaning. The teacher then modulated the intonational
contour until it corresponded to the first syllables of the
word paleontologist. The sequence ended with the student pronouncing
the word correctly.
Relevant Research
Several studies have shown that call-and-response can be effective
in teaching African American students. An early study that examined
how African American English-speaking first graders were
taught to read (Piestrup, 1973) found that students taught with African
American discourse strategies, including call-and-response,
achieved higher reading scores on standardized achievement tests
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and were better able to switch between African American English and
Standard English according to context.
Foster (1989, 1995) analyzed the discourse of an African American
teacher as she interacted with her class of predominantly African
American students at a community college. The study focused on the
teacher's discourse, particularly how—through repetition, repetition
with variation, call-and-response, rhythm, variation in pace, and creative
language—the teacher shifted her discourse style from a mainstream
style of talk to an African American discourse style when she
was teaching. The teacher deemed this indigenous interactive style
to be appropriate and effective for classroom interaction. Enthusiastic
engagement enabled students to better remember and retrieve
information. This social experience served one of the most important
functions of classroom discourse—building cognitive information—
as well as establishing and maintaining social relationships and
expressing the speakers' attitudes (Cazden, 1988).
Data Analysis
One hundred call-and-response sequences were recorded in a recent
study involving primary grade classrooms in two schools located
in predominantly African American and poor communities in
the San Francisco Bay area. (The Pay Leon sequence is one of them.
Other sequences will be provided here to further illustrate this discourse
pattern.) Analysis suggests that call-and-response sequences
vary along four dimensions—code, function, initiator, and mode. Calland-
response sequences can include items from more than one code
(system of communication), for example, a verbal call and a musical
response. They also vary according to their communicative function—
expressing attitudes, expressing identities, and conveying cognitive
information (Cazden, 1988). The initiator of call-and-response sequences
in this study was typically the teacher, but students were
permitted to and sometimes did initiate call-and-response. Call-andresponse
sequences also varied according to mode—the manner, way,
or method in which they were performed (i.e., how scripted they
were). Some call-and-response sequences appeared as highly scripted
(i.e., well-rehearsed material performed repeatedly), but when the calland-
response sequences first emerged in these classrooms, they were
often very creative. The teacher often invoked a call-and-response
sequence to celebrate learning or commend someone for accomplishing
a task. In these instances, call-and-response consisted of energetic
but highly scripted routines. Two ritual-like routines were
commonly used for this purpose. One took the form of a salute, "You
get down baby!," chanted in unison by the class in response to the
teacher's call, "What do we say?" Another consisted of two lines from
a popular rhythm and blues song from the 1970s, You Can Ring My
Bell, adapted for this purpose. The following example illustrates.
Three boys enter the classroom; the one in the middle is
being supported by a boy on either side. He is limping. The
boys tell the teacher that there was an accident on the playground.
The boy who is limping announces, "I'm injured."
Addressing the class, the teacher smiles, "He said injured and
not hurt. Bring him over here and let him ring the bell."
Smiling, but still limping, the boy rings the rusty bell sitting
on the desk in front of him. The pupils then sing one
chorus of You Can Ring My Bell.
Analysis of this excerpt along the four dimensions—code, function,
mode, and initiator—reveals that it consisted of a verbal call
and a musical response; it expressed speakers' attitudes by celebrating
learning (i.e., the student’s use of the more sophisticated term
injured ); it was highly scripted or routinized; and it was initiated by
the teacher. In other instances, particularly those where the function
was non-cognitive, call-and-response sequences were initiated by students.
When its purpose was cognitive, call-and-response was used
to facilitate students' semantic development by increasing their awareness
of letters, syllables, spelling, and word meanings. Thus, whether
they were chanting the letters in words (G-I-R-L, girl) or syllables of
words (con-tain-er), or calling out words that fit the meaning of dramatized
sentences (Call: "You lost your coat. How do you feel? You
have to go home and tell your mom you lost your coat. How do you
feel?" Response: "Anxious.") students were becoming more adept at
literate practice through call-and-response.
Interactions such as these and the one described earlier (Pay Leon)
focus attention on language forms to help children cultivate the
metalinguistic awareness that is critical for developing competence
in reading and writing. In this example, phonemic awareness and
vocabulary development—skills and abilities that recent studies have
found to predict reading achievement in children—are enhanced.
It is reasonable to hypothesize that the process can be hastened by
culturally appropriate instruction using indigenous interactive routines,
because students are developing their awareness within nested
contexts of meaning, familiar linguistic routines, and language play.
Educational Implications
Cazden (1999, p. 39) asked, "What are useful roles for a secular
classroom adaptation of this call-and-response discourse mode that
derives originally from sacred tradition?" Without sustained classroom
observation, the complexity and educational function of any
interaction type, including call-and-response, may remain undetected.
Several characteristics seem to distinguish the study described
here from others reported previously. First, this analysis focuses on
multiple uses of call-and-response and modes of communication.
Attention is fixed on examples of call-and-response that are dynamic,
timely, and authentic—all central tenets of sociocultural approaches
to instruction (i.e., using what children already know and facilitating
the integration of new information or skills into their existing
knowledge structures). In this study, the teacher mediates between
the children's everyday world—their linguistic and cultural worlds—
and their curricular world by drawing on the social, cultural, and
linguistic competence they bring to school to help them become
skillful at handling new vocabulary.
Conclusion
It is not possible, based on the analysis of this study, to provide
a definitive answer to the question of the specific role that call-andresponse
can play in helping African American students achieve the
higher levels of literacy demanded in today’s classrooms. Previous
research, however, although limited, provides evidence of the positive
effect that rhythm, recitation, and repetition can have on the
learning, enthusiasm, motivation, and engagement of African American
students. Further research is needed to determine the full effectiveness
and appropriate pedagogical uses of the communicative
practice of call-and-response.
References
Cazden, C. (1988). Classroom discourse. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.
Cazden, C. (1999). The language of African American students in
classroom discourse. In C.T. Adger, D. Christian, & O. Taylor, Eds.,
Making the connection: Language and academic achievement among
African American students in classroom discourse. McHenry, IL and
Washington, DC: Delta Systems and Center for Applied Linguistics.
Foster, M. (1989). It's cookin' now: A performance analysis of the
speech events of a Black teacher in an urban community college.
Language in Society, 18, 1-29.
Foster, M. (1995). Talking that talk: The language of control, curriculum,
and critique. Linguistics and Education, 7, 129-50.
Piestrup, A. M. (1973). Black dialect interference and accommodation
of reading instruction in the first grade. Berkeley: University of California,
Language Behavior Research Lab.
Smitherman, G. (1977). Talkin and testifyin: The language of Black
America. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.