The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of hip-hop culture on the
communication skills of students as perceived by teachers at three high schools in
Houston, Texas. Hip-hop culture consists of: rap music, breakdancing, graffiti art, and
deejaying. Hip-hop is currently one of the most popular forms of music and represents
the dominant culture of today's inner-city youth. The researcher issued written surveys
to 30 teachers in Houston, Texas. The high schools selected for this study were: Yates
High School (Houston Independent School District), Wheatley High School (Houston
Independent School District), and Eisenhower High School (Aldine Independent School
District). Two teachers were also interviewed for the study. The final part of the study
was the production of an educational hip-hop CD by the researcher. The literature
review focuses on the history and practices of hip-hop in regard to language.
Once the surveys were received and the interviews were completed, the
researcher compiled statistics regarding the background information of the participants and the level of influence that each teacher felt that hip-hop culture has on students. The
major findings of the study were:
1. Hip-hop culture heavily influences the oral language and written
communication of students based upon the opinions of teachers at selected
high schools in Houston, Texas.
2. Hip-hop can be used as a tool to supplement the teaching of various
academic concepts as evidenced by the practices of teachers at selected high
schools in Houston, Texas.
Based on the findings of the study, the researcher recommends:
1. Teachers should acknowledge hip-hop culture and allow students to express
their interest in hip-hop culture in the classroom.
2. Teachers should find ways to incorporate hip-hop culture into the curriculum
to arouse students' interest in learning. For instance, allow students to learn
from listening to educational rap songs.
3. Teachers should find ways to use hip-hop culture in the classroom to
improve the acquisition and retention of academic concepts. Examples could
include allowing students to write rap songs about academic concepts.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-1773 |
| Date | 02 June 2009 |
| Creators | Kelley, Edmond Ron |
| Contributors | Stark, Stephen L. |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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