Teaching Language and Literacy: Policies and Procedures for Vernacular Situations

by Dennis R. Craig

(Education and Development Services; Georgetown, Guyana; 1999) xii + 331 pp.

Dennis Craig is highly regarded for his long list of publications on the use of creole languages and minority dialects in education. In this book, he consolidates many of his ideas with recent issues and useful, practical suggestions for teachers.

As noted in the Preface (p.ix): “This book is concerned with situations where a vernacular coexists with an official language with which the vernacular shares a common vocabulary base.” Such situations occur with creoles such as Jamaican Creole and Hawai‘i Creole English, as well as with minority dialects such as African American Vernacular English (AAVE, or Ebonics) and Australian Aboriginal English. “[T]he book presents a case study of the interplay between the sociolinguistic characteristics of the population, goals for language education, and necessary pedagogical approaches in the schools.”

In general organization, the book starts off by presenting a theoretical framework for classroom procedures in language and literacy teaching. Then it presents suggestions for detailed curricula and classroom activities. It is divided into 8 chapters and a large section on syllabus resources.

Chapter 1, “Relevant situational character-istics” paints a sociolinguistic portrait of situations covered by the book (as described above). The problem in such situations is called “Teaching English To Speakers Of a Related Vernacular” or TESORV. Chapter 2, “The language and literacy education of vernacular speakers”, describes the development and implementation of various teaching approaches, gives a review of their current effectiveness in the Caribbean region, and outlines some “constraints on efficacy”.

Chapter 3 reevaluates and redefines “Learners’ needs and the components of school programmes”. The needs include continuity in cognitive growth and the development and use of language awareness. The author advocates a new orientation of teaching and learning and specific classroom procedures that implement this orientation. In Chapter 4, “The background of language-teaching perspectives”, various established approaches are examined in light of the advocated orientation. These include the audio-lingual, situational, communicative and natural approaches. In Chapter 5, “Literacy in TESORV”, the author advocates an “Augmented Language Experience Approach” (ILEA), pointing out in detail the differences from the usual Language Experience Approach.

The next three chapters present detailed examples of possible school programmes, Chapter 6 for the primary level, Chapter 7 for post-primary (especially those situations characterized by inadequate primary level achievement), and Chapter 8, secondary level.

The 14 Syllabus Resources that follow include things like linguistic comparisons between creoles and standard English, outlines of various programmes and activities and excerpts from the Caribbean Examinations Council English Syllabus. There is also a long list of references and an index.

Although this book focuses on the Caribbean, it is very relevant to both teachers and language education students in countries with similar situations. Each chapter has notes, questions and suggestions for practical study or research activities, making it quite suitable as a textbook.

In summary, Teaching Language and Literacy is a valuable resource, not only for teachers but for anyone interested in the education of speakers of creoles and minority dialects.

This book is available from the author at:

PO Box 1641, Kingston 8, JAMAICA
Fax : 876 75 51858
<eddevser@cwjamaica.com>