Hello Dot, all
The business of placement for users of creoles and non-standard varieties of English is a really interesting and knotty problem. We mention this issue in our recently-published NRDC report 'The Right Course?' (Simpson, Cooke and Baynham, 2008), available to download or order at http://www.nrdc.org.uk/publications_details.asp?ID=136
Two of our implications in that study read:
"(7) There are many 'monolingual' learners in literacy classes from Caribbean and African backgrounds in cities such as London, who speak non-standard varieties of English or English-based creole languages. Literacy teachers and managers need to be fully aware of the issues specific to these speakers in terms of their literacy and oracy. Training for literacy practitioners should include an element of general language awareness, as well as language education appropriate for second language literacy learners."
"(8) English is dynamic, changing, fluid, and we are witnessing the emergence of new varieties of English, for example the English of urban multicultural and multilingual London. This is beginning to be recognised by teachers and managers, as is the need to adjust ways of thinking about standard English in relation to emergent non-standard varieties of English, to standard Englishes which are not British English, to English-based creole languages, and to dialects. This phenomenon needs to be addressed at the level of planning, training and pedagogy, for ESOL as well as literacy teachers."
This suggests the onus should be on teachers and others charged with placing students to accommodate to the user of the creole or non-standard variety of English, rather than shoe-horning the learner into inappropriate provision. This is clearly a matter for training and awareness-raising.
In our report we also mention the widespread misunderstanding about the nature of creoles. Creoles are fully structured languages, not - contrary to popular misconception- diminished varieties of English. I'd guess that the student in question does not use a creole language all the time, as it is common to alternate between creole use and a more 'standard' variety of Jamaican English, depending on what is being talked about, who the other speakers are, etc, etc. For an academic take on West Indian creoles, in addition to the work of Roxy Harris which Celia pointed to, the classic sociolinguistic study is LePage, R. and Tabouret-Keller, A. (1985) Acts of Identity: Creole-based Approaches to Language and Ethnicity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Good background reading on contact languages is Sebba, M. (1997) Contact Languages: Pidgins and Creoles. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Dot's question also raises the issue of 'standards'. She says that the student has been placed in an ESOL/Literacy class 'because his English is not "standard enough" to pass level 1 literacy.' I'd ask: 'Who decides?' By what criteria is the student's language use judged to be 'not standard enough'? The question of 'standards' in English, and how and why they are seen as so important, is dealt with admirably in D. Cameron (1995) Verbal Hygiene. London: Routledge.
Finally, and more of an aside, I have recently come across a study of code switching and mixing between Jamaican creole and standard Jamaican English in online text-based communication (email): Hinrichs, L. (2006) Code-switching on the web: English and Jamaican Creole in online communication. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. An example from Hinrichs' study is below. The last sentence is written in Jamaican creole.
"Work is o.k. the teachers are very lovely but some of the students can be very nasty. Totally the opposite of our J'can students. Boy i thought our pickney dem neva hav nuh rispek, but dem french pickney yah beet dem clear"
Cheers
James
________________________________
From: ESOL-Research discussion forum and message board on behalf of Dot Powell
Sent: Wed 19/03/2008 19:01
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Jamaican creole speakers in literacy/esol classes
One of the trainees on our ESOL level 5 diploma is dealing with a Jamiacan creole speaker who has been placed in an ESOL/Literacy level 1 class because his English is not "standard enough" to pass level 1 literacy. She wants to research the teaching/placement of Jamaican Creole speakers in ESOL contexts - does anyone know of any research/writing on this subject or is she just in a very "one-off" situation? She teaches for the army, at one of their barracks.
Dot Powell
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