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4 - Postcolonial Literacy Development in the Caribbean

from Part I - Regional Variations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2023

By
Ludo Verhoeven  and
Ronald Severing
Edited by
Ludo Verhoeven ,
Sonali Nag ,
Charles Perfetti  and
Kenneth Pugh
Ludo Verhoeven
Affiliation:
Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen
Sonali Nag
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Charles Perfetti
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Kenneth Pugh
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
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Summary

This chapter goes into the postcolonial development of literacy in the Caribbean. To begin with, the sociolinguistic background of language and literacy planning in native and (ex-)colonial languages across Caribbean nations is highlighted. Over the past century, a far-reaching process of decolonization has taken place in the Caribbean, a region of insular territories with mostly native Creole-speaking communities, in between North and South America. Special attention is given to the use of these languages in education and the effects on the actual attainment of literacy levels in native and colonial languages across Caribbean states. There is an additional focus on postcolonial literacy development in the Dutch Caribbean; this is an interesting case in which the Creole language Papiamentu has become highly valued in media, education, and other social domains, replacing Dutch. The focus is on the gradual implementation of Papiamentu literacy in the curriculum, and the literacy levels in native Papiamentu and Dutch as a (foreign) colonial language throughout the primary grades, and their relations with school success. Finally, a future perspective on postcolonial literacy development in the Caribbean is provided.

Keywords

postcolonialdevelopmentliteracyCaribbeanCreole language
Type
Chapter
Information
Global Variation in Literacy Development , pp. 70 - 89
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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