This study investigated differences in the writing styles of African American and European American test takers using a portfolio entry assessment as a means of examining writing style, focusing on language choice, rhetorical style, and organization. The portfolio entry was from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Middle Childhood/Generalist certificate. African American and European American cultural indicators and language traits were identified based on the literature. Written commentaries from African American and European American teacher candidates were coded for specific linguistic features. The set contained 64 commentaries by African Americans and 30 by European American candidates, and these were reviewed by 9 trained coders. For the most part, the features that were expected for African American candidates clustered among African American candidates and European American candidates who used Southern White English (SWE), a dialect with considerable overlap with African American Language. Overall, African American candidates had fewer speech code errors (SCEs) than European Americans who used SWE but more than European Americans who used American English. A possible explanation is that European American canidates had greater training and experience in formal academic writing. Two appendixes contain a subset of coding frames and a summary of results. (Contains 27 tables and 37 references.) (SLD)