Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T01:15:08.719Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Postcolonial Literacy Development in the Caribbean

from Part I - Regional Variations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2023

By
Ludo Verhoeven  and
Ronald Severing
Edited by
Ludo Verhoeven ,
Sonali Nag ,
Charles Perfetti  and
Kenneth Pugh
Ludo Verhoeven
Affiliation:
Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen
Sonali Nag
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Charles Perfetti
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Kenneth Pugh
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
Get access

Summary

This chapter goes into the postcolonial development of literacy in the Caribbean. To begin with, the sociolinguistic background of language and literacy planning in native and (ex-)colonial languages across Caribbean nations is highlighted. Over the past century, a far-reaching process of decolonization has taken place in the Caribbean, a region of insular territories with mostly native Creole-speaking communities, in between North and South America. Special attention is given to the use of these languages in education and the effects on the actual attainment of literacy levels in native and colonial languages across Caribbean states. There is an additional focus on postcolonial literacy development in the Dutch Caribbean; this is an interesting case in which the Creole language Papiamentu has become highly valued in media, education, and other social domains, replacing Dutch. The focus is on the gradual implementation of Papiamentu literacy in the curriculum, and the literacy levels in native Papiamentu and Dutch as a (foreign) colonial language throughout the primary grades, and their relations with school success. Finally, a future perspective on postcolonial literacy development in the Caribbean is provided.

Keywords

postcolonialdevelopmentliteracyCaribbeanCreole language
Type
Chapter
Information
Global Variation in Literacy Development , pp. 70 - 89
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ager, D. (2001). Motivation in Language Planning and Language Policy. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Appel, R., & Verhoeven, L. (1994). Decolonization, language planning and education. In Arends, J., Muysken, P., & Smith, N. (eds.), Pidgins and Creoles: An Introduction (pp. 65–74). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, E. (2001). Bilingualism in Development: Language, Literacy and Cognition. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bolus, M. (2010). The teaching of Creole in Guadeloupe. In Migge, B., Léglise, I., & Bartens, A. (eds.), Creoles in Education: An Appraisal of Current Programs and Projects (pp. 81–106). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carpenter, K., & Devonish, H. (2010). Swimming against the tide: Jamaican Creole in education. In Migge, B., Léglise, I. & Bartens, A., (Eds.), Creoles in Education: An Appraisal of Current Programs and Projects (pp. 167–181). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charles, J. (2013). An investigation into the experience of two reading specialists connected to the Caribbean Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training in enhancing student reading achievement in underperforming primary schools in Trinidad. (MA thesis, University of the West Indies.)Google Scholar
Chen, X., Dronjic, V., & Helms-Park, R. (2015). Reading in a Second Language. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Churchill, S. (1986). The Education of Linguistic and Cultural Minorities in the OECD Countries. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Cummins, J. (1984). Wanted: A theoretical framework for relating language proficiency to academic achievement. In Rivera, C. (ed.), Language Proficiency and Academic Achievement. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Cummins, J. (1991). Conversational and academic language proficiency in bilingual contexts. AILA Review, 8, 75–89.Google Scholar
Cummins, J. (2001). Language, Power and Pedagogy: Bilingual Children in the Crossfire. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Delgado, S., Lecompte, P., Lao, H., Mopsus, D., Echteld, L., Severing, R., & Faraclas, N. (2016). Education, languages in contact, and popular culture in the Hispanophone, Francophone and Dutch Caribbean. In Faraclas, N., Severing, R., Weijer, C., Echteld, L., Rutgers, W., & Dupey, R., (eds.) Embracing Multiple Identities: Opting Out of Neocolonial Monolingualism, Monoculturalism and Mono-identification in the Dutch Caribbean (pp. 85–94). Curaçao: University of Curaçao.Google Scholar
Dickinson, D. K., & Neuman, S. B. (2006). Handbook of Early Literacy Research. New York: Guilford Publications.Google Scholar
Dijkhoff, M., & Pereira, J. (2010). Language and education in Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. In: Migge, B., Leglise, I., & Bartens, A. (2010). Creoles in Education: An Appraisal of Current Programs and Projects (pp. 211–226). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Durgunoglu, A., & Goldenberg, C. (eds.) (2011). Language and Literacy Development in Bilingual Settings. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
George, J., & Quamina-Aiyejina, L. (2003). An Analysis of Primary Teacher Education in Trinidad and Tobago. DFID Educational Paper 49E. London: Department for International Development.Google Scholar
Henderickx, I. (2018). Effecten van instructievolgorde bij tweetalig leesonderwijs op Curaçao. (MA thesis, Radboud University Nijmegen.)Google Scholar
Kook, H., & Vedder, P. H. (1989). Antiano I Arubano den skol; de onderwijssituatie van Antilliaanse en Arubaanse kinderen en van hun klasgenoten. Utrecht: P. O. A.Google Scholar
Lemberger, N., & Reyes-Carrasquillo, A. (2011). Perspectives on teacher quality: Bilingual education and ESL teacher certification, test-taking experiences, and instructional practices. Journal of Multilingual Education Research, 2, 57–79.Google Scholar
Lesaux, N.K., & Geva, E. (2006). Synthesis: Development of literacy in language minority learners. In August, D. L. & Shanahan, T. (eds.) Developing Literacy in a Second Language: Report of the National Literacy Panel (pp. 53–74). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Managan, K. (2016). The sociolinguistic situation in Guadeloupe: Diglossia reconsidered. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages, 31, 253–287. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.31.2.02man.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mercelina, G., Segers, E., Severing, R., & Verhoeven, L. (2023). Variation in early decoding development in a post-colonial Caribbean context. Learning and Individual Differences, 102. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2023.102257CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Migge, B., Léglise, I., & Bartens, A. (2010a). Creoles in education: A discussion of pertinent issues. In Migge, B., Léglise, I. & Bartens, A. (eds.), Creoles in Education: An Appraisal of Current Programs and Projects (pp. 1–30). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Migge, B., Leglise, I., & Bartens, A. (2010b). Creoles in Education: An Appraisal of Current Programs and Projects. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minister of Education and Culture. (1992). Het basisonderwijs op de Nederlandse Antillen. Willemstad: Ministry of Education and Culture.Google Scholar
Narain, G. (1995). Een studie naar het Papiamentu en het Nederlands van kleuters op Curaçao en Nederland. (Doctoral dissertation, Tilburg University.)Google Scholar
Narain, G., & Verhoeven, L. (1994). Ontwikkeling van tweetaligheid bij allochtone kleuters. Tilburg: Tilburg University Press.Google Scholar
Odenthal, L., & Bouwman, A. (2016). Geletterdheid op Bonaire. Bonaire: Stichting Lezen en Schrijven.Google Scholar
Oltheten, T. (1980). Overgaan of zittenblijven: Een sociologische verkenningsstudie van factoren die invloed hebben op de leerprestaties van het Curaçaose volkskind in het basisonderwijs. The Hague: UNA.Google Scholar
Pereira, J. (2018). Valorization of Papiamentu in Aruban Society and Education. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Curaçao.)Google Scholar
Prins-Winkel, A. C. (1973). Kabes duru? Verslag van een onderzoek naar de onderwijssituatie op de Benedenwindse Eilanden van de Nederlandse Antillen in verband met het probleem van de vreemde voertaal bij het onderwijs. Zeist: Dijkstra.Google Scholar
Prins-Winkel, A. C. (1983). Educational myths, ideals and realities on the A-B-C-islands of the Netherlands Antilles: A century of educational efforts and failures in Dutch-colonial schools. In Muller, E. (ed.), Papiamentu: Problems and Possibilities (pp. 9–22). Zutphen: De Walburg Pers.Google Scholar
Severing, R. (1997). Geletterdheid en onderwijssucces op Curaçao. (Doctoral dissertation, Nijmegen.)Google Scholar
Severing, R., & Verhoeven, L. (1995). Tweetaligheid en schoolsucces van kinderen op Curaçao. Pedagogische Studiën, 72, 357–373.Google Scholar
Severing, R. & Weijer, C. (2008). The fundashon pa planifikashon di idioma: Language planning and language policy in Curaçao (p. 247–260). In Faraclas, N., Severing, R., & Weijer, C. (eds.), Linguistic Studies on Papiamentu. Curaçao: Fundashon pa Planifikashon di Idioma.Google Scholar
Severing, R., & Weijer, C. (2010). Gaining perspective on Papiamentu: Milestones and achievements. In Faraclas, N., Severing, R., Weijer, C. & Echteld, L. (eds.), Crossing Shifting Boundaries (pp. 13–28). Willemstad: Fundashon pa Planifikashon di Idioma, Universiteit van de Nederlandse Antillen.Google Scholar
Siegel, J. (2005). Literacy in pidgin and creole languages. Current Issues in Language Planning, 6(3), 143–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siegel, J. (2010). Bilingual literacy in creole contexts. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 31(4), 383–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simmons-McDonald, H. (2010). Introducing French Creole as a language of instruction in education in St. Lucia. In Migge, B., Léglise, I. & Bartens, A. (eds.), Creoles in Education: An Appraisal of Current Programs and Projects (pp. 183–210). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spolsky, B. (2000). Anniversary article: Language motivation revisited. Applied Linguistics, 21, 157–169. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/21.2.157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stubbs, M. (2013). Language and Literacy: The Sociolinguistics of Reading and Writing. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
UNESCO. (2013). Never Too Late to Complete School. UIS Information Paper, 15. Paris: UNESCO.Google Scholar
Van der Elst-Koeiman, M., Segers, E., Severing, R., & Verhoeven, L. (2022). Learning to read in mother tongue or foreign language: Comparing Papiamento-Dutch reading skills in the post-colonial Dutch Caribbean. Learning and Individual Differences, 95, 102–138. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2022.102138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verhoeven, L. (2007). Early bilingualism, language transfer, and phonological awareness. Applied Psycholinguistics, 28, 425–439.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verhoeven, L. (2010). Second language reading acquisition. In Kamil, M. L., Pearson, P. D., Moje, E. B. & Afflerbach, P. (eds.) Handbook of Reading Research (pp. 661–683). New York: Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar
Verhoeven, L. (2017).Learning to read in a second language. In Cain, K., Compton, D. L., & Parilla, R. K. (eds.) Theories of reading development (pp. 215–235). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×