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Slicing the onion: reflections and projections on language education policy in the Caribbean

  • Shondel Nero

    Shondel Nero, Ed.D. is Professor of Language Education at New York University. Her research has focused on the education of speakers of nonstandardized varities of English in schools, especially Caribbean Creole English speakers in the US and Caribbean. She has also published widely on language and identity and language education policy. She was a Fulbright scholar at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica researching the implementation of the Jamaican Language Education Policy in schools.

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Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 9. Dezember 2022
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Abstract

The history of plantation slavery and European colonization in the Caribbean has left in its wake a rich and complex linguistic landscape, a colonial education structure, and a set of contradictory (creole/colonial) identities and language attitudes that make it fertile ground for a critical examination of language education policy development in the region. Using Jamaica, a former British colony as an illustrative case, this article takes a critical look at the historical and current framing and development of the multilayered “onion” that is language education policy in the Caribbean – a uniquely creole/colonial region with conflicting language ideologies. I examine the goals, actors, processes, and challenges and possibilities of LEP implementation (Nero, Shondel. 2018. Challenges of language education policy development and implementation in Creole-speaking contexts. In Jodi Crandall & Kathleen Bailey (eds.), Global perspectives on language education policies, 205–218. New York: Routledge and TIRF – The International Research Foundation), and also look ahead, recommending ways that we might craft viable 21st century education and LEP goals for the Caribbean and other former colonies around the world, given their colonial legacy and transnational present and future.


Corresponding author: Shondel Nero, New York University, New York, USA, E-mail:

Article note: This article is based on the 7th Annual Cassidy-LePage Lecture delivered by the author virtually at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Jamaica, October 29, 2021 and Fulbright-funded research conducted in Jamaica in 2011–2012 with some adaptations. Credit to Hornberger and Johnson (2007) for the phrase in the first part of the title.


Funding source: Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES)

Award Identifier / Grant number: Fulbright Grant # 11-21111

About the author

Shondel Nero

Shondel Nero, Ed.D. is Professor of Language Education at New York University. Her research has focused on the education of speakers of nonstandardized varities of English in schools, especially Caribbean Creole English speakers in the US and Caribbean. She has also published widely on language and identity and language education policy. She was a Fulbright scholar at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica researching the implementation of the Jamaican Language Education Policy in schools.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the following for supporting my research: Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) – for Fulbright grant. University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona. Jamaican Language Unit, UWI (for inviting me to deliver the Cassidy-LePage Lecture). Ministry of Education in Jamaica. Participating teachers, students, and policy developers. New York University and doctoral student research assistants. Linguists and educators for their work on Caribbean LEP. All Caribbean people for keeping Creoles alive.

  1. Research funding: Fulbright Grant # 11-21111 by Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES). The funding organization played no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the report for publication.

  2. Author contributions: I accept responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approve its submission.

  3. Competing interests: There are no conflicts of interest in this research.

  4. Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study.

  5. Ethical approval: The research related to human use has complied with all the relevant national regulations, institutional policies, and in accordance with the tenets of the Helsinki Declaration, and has been approved by the author’s Institutional Review Board.

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Received: 2022-06-12
Accepted: 2022-11-26
Published Online: 2022-12-09
Published in Print: 2022-11-25

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