Englishes in Contact: Anglophone Caribbean Students in an Urban College Book

"This qualitative study of four anglophone Caribbean students at a New York City college offers an in-depth examination of the students' written and spoken language and the challenges faced by both students and teachers as nonstandard dialect-speaking students acquire academic literacy. Case studies of the four participants include excerpts from tape-recorded interviews, which reflect their linguistic self-perception, and sociolinguistic and educational experiences in their home countries and in New York City. Samples of their college writings over four semesters are presented and analyzed on morphosyntactic and discourse levels to determine the patterns that emerge when Creole English speakers attempt to write standard academic English. Related issues such as language and identity, language attitudes, and educational responses to ethnolinguistic diversity are also discussed." "The book offers valuable background information on the genesis and development of Creole Englishes in the Caribbean, the language attitudes and educational practices that have prevailed as a result of a prolonged history of British colonization in the region, and the evolving profile of anglophone Caribbean immigrant students in New York City as a reflection of changing socioeconomic conditions in the Caribbean." "The study critically examines educational programs in England, Canada, and the United States that address the language of anglophone Caribbean students, showing how these programs are influenced by larger sociopolitical forces and subtle ethnolingustic prejudices."--BOOK JACKET.