International Journal of Bahamian Studies
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Language Education and Bahamian Students' Compositions
Get PDFThe teaching of Standard English (SE) composition in the Bahamas is not without its challenges in the context of the sociolinguistic situation. Many Bahamian students' Standard English compositions exhibit "interference" from vernacular Bahamian, either Bahamian English Creole or Bahamian Dialect. In this study, I attempt to clarify issues of Creole/dialect interference in the Standard English writing of college-based English compositions providing some linguistic explanations for many of the so-called "errors of grammar" in the compositions of Bahamian students.
In order to fulfill the linguistic needs of all Bahamian students and to ensure greater success in Standard English performance in the Bahamian public schools, I propose that language educators consider TESD - Teaching English as a Second or Other Dialect -- for the Bahamian context. However, TESD would dictate a re-examination of our present language education methodologies and our linguistic assumptions about the acquisition of Standard English conventions by the Bahamian school age population.
Moreover, I attempt to answer two major questions about the frequency and distribution patterns of the "errors of grammar" and non-standard features recurrent in students' expository compositions. I also explore possible linguistic factors that can account for such distribution. Furthermore, by analyzing specific samples of college-based compositions from The College of The Bahamas, my preliminary results indicate considerable levels of linguistic interference from vernacular Bahamian, especially within the SE lexicon
The Indigenous Curriculum and the Production of Indigenous Materials: Curriculum Reform in The Bahamas
Get PDFThis study, from which the data in this paper are drawn, examined the "intended" curriculum of the Bahamian primary schools and the processes of its translation into classroom practices.
The methods of investigation included documentary analysis, participant observation, informal interviews, and a teacher questionnaire.
The study identified several factors that can influence the success of the curriculum implementation process. This paper focuses on resources since the question of resource availability, specifically resources of an indigenous nature, was the most significant issue uncovered by the study. A case is made for strengthening the local resource base, not only in terms of personnel but also in terms of local materials
Education, Employment and Economic Performance: Part II
Get PDFPart I (published in Vol. 9 1997) reviewed the weaknesses of public education and training policies and programmes for dealing with problems of the economy and the labour market. This Part discusses some of the findings of research about how workers learn. Learning-by-doing during production links education, employment and production methods and is one source of economic progress. The challenge to education and labour market policies is to harness the ability of human beings to think independently, to recognize and resolve problems, and not to instruct workers in specific ways of doing their jobs
Generation Property: A Consideration of Customary Land Tenure in The Bahamas
No full textBahamian land ownership is linked closely with the idea of family. Many groups of kin lay claim to large estates throughout the Bahamian archipelago, and this property becomes a unifying emblem of the kin group as a whole.
Generation property unites groups of relatives not only by serving as a symbolic connection to the land but also by providing them with what is potentially a very real source of capital, profit, and power. As the same time, it serves as a flexible resource to be manipulated as necessary by individuals, each of whom may make multiple claims on different pieces of land. In this regard, generation property is similar to the Afro-Caribbean tradition of family land, but the Bahamas cannot be judged simply as a variant of the Caribbean model.
Family land is both scarce and a marker of ex-slave resistance and Afro-Caribbean solidarity. Bahamian generation property is not owned only by the descendants of the slaves, unlike Caribbean family land, and as such it is a symbolic resource for white and black Bahamians alike, and is also a potential provider of economic, social and political wealth
The Aboriginal Version: Erna Brodber's "One Bubby Susan"
Get PDFIn the story "One Bubby Susan" (1990), by Jamaican sociologist and author, Erna Brodber, the narrator attempts to persuade the listener that a petroglyph in a cave in Jamaica that has been identified in texts as the depiction of an Arawak female is, in fact, not a work of art, but the outline of an actual woman's body. The outline was left in the rock when she was stoned to death by her own people. The contemporary Jamaican narrator recounts the tale which she has been told by the ghost of the Arawak female herself, and, by telling her life across centuries to the narrator, Susan challenges her own marginalization as Aboriginal and as woman.
In the paper I briefly consider how the Aboriginal has remained on the margins in colonial and even in more modern Caribbean discourse. I examine how Brodber recasts the Aboriginal in the central role. First, I consider how she questions the authority of official Histories and scribal culture generally. Then, I explore how the Arawak is re-vivified through the metaphors of the body and the voice. Of course, the issues of history, corporeality and voice are all crucial in feminist discourse, so I also explore what Brodber is suggesting with regard to gender while re-presenting the Aboriginal
The Effect of the Political Education Curriculum and Political Knowledge / Literacy on the Political Socialization of Students: A Case Study of Bahamian Students in Montreal
No full textThe study was conceived as an inquiry into the effect of political education curriculum (PEC) and of political knowledge/literacy on the political socialization of students. Political education is taken to refer to any course studied in school which may have political content: history, current events, economics, social studies, geography, citizenship education, civics, environmental studies and similar subject matter. The function of such courses is to initiate individuals into "the skills and concepts required for active participation in political affairs of citizenship" (Entwhistle, 1971, p. 1).
Therefore to gain insight into the role of political education in socializing individuals to politics, this study examined the effects of PEC upon the political socialization of a group of Bahamian youth studying in Montreal.
This paper was prepared for presentation in Session 8: "The Education of Elites in Montreal" of the Comparative and International Education Society of Canada, Learned Societies Conference, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, June 7-9, 1977
The Stigma of Being "Haitian" in The Bahamas
Get PDFHaitian nationals have been migrating to and settling in The Bahamas for hundreds of years. However the presence of Haitians in The Bahamas has been an ever-increasing cause for concern. In 1963 the Haitian community accounted for 3.2% of the population; in 2000 it represented 7.1% and was numerically the largest migrant group in The Bahamas.
The relatively high numbers of Haitian migrants on some Bahamian islands have raised fears that The Bahamas is being overwhelmed by this group; in some enumeration districts Haitian nationals account for more than 20% of the population. In common with migrant groups elsewhere, a stigma has become attached to being a Haitian migrant in the Bahamas.
Primarily through the use of census data and newspaper articles, this paper attempts to explain this stigma. Haitian migrants are associated with illegal status, poor education, and poverty. Language is a barrier which prevents Haitian migrants from fully participating in society and makes them distinct from the general population. First-generation migrants may face the prospect of being state-less. The paper stresses the need for the resident community to ensure that the stigma does not result in marginalization and lead to a breakdown in relations between the Haitian and non-Haitian groups
Introduction
No full textIntroductory editorial and words of welcome for the newly published academic journal, College Forum
Basilectal Features of Bahamian Creole English
Get PDFAlthough Bahamian Dialect appears to be a dialect of English, it is actually more a Creole, though it has de-Creolized over the years. Its overall grammar is systematically different from that of Standard English and yet the two share many of the same features. This serves to enhance the illusion that the two are different dialects of the same language.
All of this, two distinct systems masquerading as one, presents particular problems to young students faced with learning to read and write in Standard English, when in fact, they speak a different language. It also presents specific challenges to teachers in their approach to the language arts. They must cope with interference problems arising from their students' mother tongue (Bahamian dialect) while they are acquiring the school language (Standard Bahamian English).
A clear and accessible description of the grammar of Bahamian Dialect is needed to assist teachers in their task and to facilitate students in their mastering of the Standard. The ultimate goal is to provide not only a description but a deeper appreciation and even celebration of Bahamian Dialect
Determinants of Adult Motivation to Enroll in Non-Credit Programmes at CEES in The College of The Bahamas: A Factor Analytic Approach
Get PDFThere is a plethora of studies of why adults participate in educational activities, but there is a need for additional information from both unique respondent groups of participants and from a culture with restricted educational facilities. This study reports the results of a group of adult learners facing limited educational offerings, who enrolled in non-credit programmes at Continuing Education and Extension Services (CEES) of The College of The Bahamas. The hypothesis that reasons for adult participation in non-credit programmes would factor into at least eight groups was tested using 134 adult learners enrolled in various non-credit programmes at CEES. Eight groups of reasons were identified using the PFA approach. The results were further interpreted in light of the traditional motivational framework and a model was developed to explain the adult participation motivational orientations in an educational activity