Language Education Policy in Dominica: Challenges and Perspectives for Local Languages

Very little research exists on the subject of local vernacular in the school context in Dominica and their role in student academic performance. Studies on Kwéyòl, Kokoy and Dominican English find that educators often reject these languages or varieties as viable media for teaching. Indeed, local languages are considered lower-value vernacular (Ammon et al., Sociolinguistiques: An International Handbook of the Science of Language and Society, 2nd ed., Mouton De Gruyter, 2006) that represents an impediment to academic achievement (Abd-Kadir et al., L1 - Educational Studies in Language and Literature, 3(3), 225–238, 2003; Royer, Propositions pour un enseignement bilingue préélémentaire: Enquêtes et expérimentations à la Martinique et à la Dominique. Université des Antilles, Schoelcher, Martinique, 2015). The central concern here is to question how educator perceptions presently influence the use of the Kwéyòl and Kokoy languages in schools, and how these attitudes can impact the future and preservation of Dominica’s local languages. These languages seem to be losing ground to English (the exclusive language of instruction), to foreign languages (with the exclusion of Creole and Kokoy from the curriculum), and to an increasing number of monolingual English speakers (Christie, Caribbean Quarterly, 56(3), 55–69, 2010; White-Christian et al., Adaptation de la didactique du français aux situations de créolophonie, Guide du maître: La Dominique, 2010). Although Caribbean countries aim for bilingual proficiency for school-leavers, policy-makers and educators often ignore already-existing student bilingual or plurilingual proficiency when the other language is a local language. This chapter presents the results of a study carried out on the place and perception of local languages in schools in Dominica and examines the impact of attitudes on language education policy and local language teaching.