Language Policy That Promotes Education for All: Language of Instruction in Haitian Schools

• In Event: Roundtable Session 104
  In Roundtable Session: Multicultural Education and Diversity in the Caribbean and Africa

Abstract

This paper examines the educational and linguistic situation in Haiti by positioning it in the broader linguistic reality of a post-colonial society. A critical approach is used to explore the language situation in Haiti through a historical, political, and social context, focusing on linguistic discrimination and inequality, which are perpetuated through the language of instruction in schools. Haiti’s educational language policy is explored by examining the ways that the schools affect language use and acquisition. The author concludes with recommendations for future educational reform including implementing Creole as the medium of instruction, teaching French as a foreign language, and empowering policymakers, teachers, parents and students through awareness of the research on the importance of instruction in one’s native language.

Author

• Lauren Christian Gibson, New York University