Equitable Language Processes in an Inequitable School System

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: Fostering Equitable Language Learning

Abstract

Many Creole-speaking students in colonized societies deal with inequitable language policies and practices that privilege the colonizer’s language. This paper presents findings from a section of a doctoral study that examined an inner-city Jamaican high school language policies and practices and the impact on students’ success. Through social constructivist lenses, the paper explores two teachers’ equitable language practices in a school system riddled with inequitable language policies and processes. The data from the teachers’ interviews and extended observations of classroom practices revealed that both were engaged in pedagogical and methodological language processes that were building dominant Jamaican Creole-speaking students’ confidence in ELL, generating enthusiasm for learning and easing the transition from the native language to the second language.

Author

• Tanya R. Manning-Lewis, University of Victoria