Hubert Devonish | End Jamaican language apartheid

Your editorial of Thursday, October 11, 2018, had as its topic the recent statement by Ronnie Thwaites, opposition spokesperson on education, on the importance of the use of the Jamaican language in the education system.

You challenged the People's National Party (PNP) to make clear whether the position put forward by Mr Thwaites was 'a declaration of policy' by the party. Your readers well understand your reasoning. Such a step by the party might ensure that Mr Thwaites' enlightened declarations on language education policy make their way into the policy of some future PNP government.

There is, however, a down side to your proposal. In a polarised political environment, a PNP declaration of policy on the Jamaican language as a formal language of education, alongside English, might trigger a reflex negative reaction from the Jamaica Labour Party.

In a flash, the Jamaican language would be coloured orange. I respectfully suggest that language policy, and even more so, language education policy, should not be discussed or decided on in a partisan political environment. People, irrespective of political colour, speak and these days even write the Jamaican language, and have a stake in how it is used or is not used in the education system.

If the editorial call were heeded, the existing but largely unknown consensus among the political parties on reform of official language policy might fall apart. This is a consensus that emerged in 2001, coming out of the joint select committee of Parliament on a Charter of Rights to the Jamaican Constitution. This was in response to a presentation by Celia Blake and me proposing that 'freedom from discrimination on the grounds of language' be included in the Charter of Rights to the Constitution.

 

ISSUE OF LANGUAGE

 

The bipartisan committee of the two Houses of Parliament recommended in its 2002 report that the Department of Language, Linguistics and Philosophy at UWI, Mona, that an entity, subsequently named the Jamaican Language Unit and currently coordinated by Michele Kennedy, be set up.

The job of the unit was to be to educate the public on the issue of language and popularise a standard writing system for the Jamaican language. These steps were to be taken and periodic reports on progress provided to Parliament. The ultimate goal was the inclusion of the provision barring discrimination on the grounds of language in the Charter of Rights to the Constitution.

There has not been much success since then in getting Parliament to act on the above commitment. The recent declaration on language education policy by the opposition spokesperson on education demonstrates some movement, however. It is the easily the most important public statement made by a member of the legislature favouring reform in official language policy since 2002. It is perhaps significant that Mr Thwaites was a member of the bipartisan joint select committee in 2001 and engaged in serious discussion back then on the issue of constitutional protection from language discrimination.

What is at stake here for the people of Jamaica? Linguistic research, scholarly opinion and the official position of UNESCO since 1953 all agree that children should be educated in the formal school system in the language of the home, their mother tongue, their native language. This has been shown to have a positive effect on children's self-concept, their literacy and broader communication skills, critical thinking and creativity. Once these attributes are developed fully in the native language of children, they transfer easily when the children operate in a non-native or foreign language.

More interestingly, children who are granted the right to use their native language as a main language of education, learn second and foreign languages easily. In addition, they develop significantly higher levels of competence in these languages than children who are denied this right.

 

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

 

The research shows that those children who are educated in a second or foreign language from an early age to the exclusion of their native language have their communication skills, critical thinking and creativity stunted. In addition, their grasp of their content subjects is relatively weak because they are exposed to this material exclusively in a language that is not native and natural to them.

The research across the world shows that, for Jamaica, fully bilingual or dual-language education, involving the use of English and Jamaican as languages of literacy and instruction, would produce massively improved results in the key areas such as communication, critical thinking and creativity. These areas are the focus of the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) programme of evaluation. 'PEP in the universe of Patois', as your headline put it, sums up the situation aptly.

I suggest that the way forward is to encourage an informed national discourse on the broad question of a national language policy and, more narrowly, a language education policy. Citizens of Jamaica should be able to access the services of the State, including education, without discrimination based on whether or not they speak and understand English.

This is not a party political matter but one requiring national consensus. The Jamaican Language is neither orange nor green. On the colour spectrum, in-between orange and green is yellow, the colour of gold. Jamaicans are attached to their language as a golden badge of their national identity.

- Professor Hubert Devonish is a lecturer in the Department of Language, Linguistics and Philosophy, UWI. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and hubertsldevonish@gmail.com.