Norman Thompson, Contributor
On Monday, December 6, The Gleaner published a story, 'English tests trip up university students'.On December 9, the Daily Observer published a story, 'Bad News for Grade 4 Literacy'. There is a link between the two stories.
What distresses me is that our country has been struggling with the language problem at the primary and secondary levels for 30-40 years (maybe even more).We have not been able to surmount this difficulty.We have talked around the problem, but we have not been able to lick it.Now Jamaica is a country where we have not been successful at solving problems.But we have too many university lecturers and graduates not to be able to tackle Jamaica's woes. In my opinion, the crime problem is intimately linked to the literacy problem.
Let me not hesitate to say that I believe that Jamaica is 'overuniversitied'. Now that we have so many university places we are seeing primary-school errors at the tertiary level. We have tertiary-level students who can't spell 'tertiary', 'institution', the name of their institution, the name of their lecturers and the name of courses that they have done.In a short time, we'll have PhDs who make elementary mistakes.
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Let me make a few points about the grade-four problem.Thirty-three per cent of the students this year did not achieve mastery. Anywhere between 5,000 and 7,000 did not even achieve near-mastery.If we take the lower figure, that means 25,000 in five years, 50,000 in 10.That's a large number of students. Yes, I know that some students are ambitious and will fight to work out their difficulties, but no one can deny that we are dealing with too high a number. Then we hear that more than 9,000 students of the grade-six cohort, i.e. 20 per cent, will not be able to sit the 2011 Grade Six Achievement Test. We are playing with fire. Nine thousand in one year means almost 50,000 in five years.We cannot build a nation under these conditions.
LIMITED IN SCOPE
Let me now go to the University of Technology's problems. I'd like to congratulate the lecturers for having done research over a 10-year period. Let me also assure them that the problems raised in the article quite likely exist in all the universities in Jamaica and many other universities in the world.Of course, this is cold comfort.
The problems highlighted in the article were reading and comprehension deficiencies, poor student attitude to language, weak language skills and overcrowding at the primary-school level. I can identify with the preceding.I'll deal with student attitude and the overcrowding.
I have begged my students to embrace English as one of the languages that they speak. I have told students at the secondary/tertiary levels over the years that when they are asked on a questionnaire for language(s) spoken and they list English as one, it ought to be the truth! All educated Jamaicans are bilingual. By that I do not mean English-Spanish or English-French, but Jamaican creole-English.
The Norwegians, the Swedes, the Finns and the Danesunderstand that their first languages are not spoken by many persons; therefore, they have to learn a 'big' language - English, French, Spanish. Very often they learn more than one 'big' language. Why can't Jamaicans understand that Jamaican creole is limited in scope?In today's world it is expected that the educated person will speak English. That is no big thing. One of my lecturers in France told me almost two decades ago that the time would soon come when for a French person to speak English it would be no big thing. It is a given that he/she should speak English. He/she would have an edge if he/she spoke a language other than his/her own and English.
For those persons who are not convinced that Jamaican creole is the first language of most Jamaicans, let me give a few illustrations. First, J.C. Pochard et al did research in the 1980s which showed that many of the errors made in French by Jamaican students could be traced not to English, but to Jamaican creole. I remember too hearing Derrick Heaven, when he was high commissioner to the United Kingdom, mention being called on occasion to interpret for Jamaicans who had been held at a port of entry. I know of a woman who offered interpreting services to Jamaicans (and other West Indians) in the United Kingdom.
However, patois is not the problem.Many countries/regions embrace their first language. The people in Brittany and Alsace embrace 'breton' and 'alsacien'.These languages are taught in school/university.This does not prevent them from speaking French. And that's why I appeal to my students to embrace English as one of the languages that they speak. In a bilingual situation one never speaks each language with equal frequency. My theory is that Jamaicans who have gross difficulties with English have a frequency problem.They hardly ever attempt to speak English. It's not a part of them.However, if a Hispanic came to Jamaica to study English and spent a lot of time speaking Spanish with friends, they would insistthat this Hispanic would quite likely not learn English. Sometimes I tell my students that they should be happy for the arrival of Admiral Penn and General Venables in 1655. Had we been Spanish-speaking or French-speaking, we would have to learn English, this difficult language, as a foreign language. But, on reflection, isn't English a foreign/second language for most of us?
Second, I contend that many of the problems started at the primary level. The classes are just too big; 55 students is too many. A teacher can do so much and no more. It's not that he/she does not care.You cannot teach 55 students a foreign language. But not only are the classes big at the primary level, but, based on what my students tell me, English classes are also very large in many high schools. How can one teach 45-55 students English?
Third, let me deal with the matter of graduates using SMS text-messaging language in formal documents. It is difficult to teach this Wikipedia generation. Some think they know it all. They have not internalised the concept of 'registers of language', which, as far as I recall, is on the CSEC English A syllabus. A few minutes before I started this article, I learned that two students were downstairs to see me.When I went downstairs, I saw two young men whom I did not recognise. As I headed through the door, one of them said to me, "My bredrin want yu fi duh supp'n fi him." The young man wanted me to verify his standard in English, but I told him that this would better be done by someone who had taught him.
Now I wish to propose some solutions.
First, the CSEC English A exam should have an oral component.We are dealing with a language. We speak before we write. In fact, we speak far more than we write. There are at least four skills in language learning. Any exam that tests only half of these skills (reading comprehension and written expression) is not complete.A language exam should also test oral comprehension and oral expression. Not much time is spent on oral expression. Most of us teach to an exam. If the exam does not require a certain skill, it will quite likely not be taught. If a student does not speak German, it would be unfair to ask him/her to write a composition in German. We can see the logic in that; yet we continue to ask students to write a language that they don't speak.
Second, English literature should be mandatory in the first five years of high school. We are pushing on students a number of areas that are not fundamental. We are building on a poor foundation. Many students do not read. If they don't do literature, what will they read? Furthermore, English literature is English.
Third, universities need to test the reading levels of their applicants. In the initial stages, they could concentrate on the applicants who fail the English Proficiency Test. The results would be revealing. We are not taking the problem seriously enough. And I am not in favour ofexempting students who got a grade one in CSEC English A. UTech has seen where that hasn't worked.
Fourth, I believe all local universities should have an English as a Second Language (ESL) department. They shouldrecruit foreign students who are non-English speakers to come to Jamaica to learn English. Some local students also need to do ESL. When I went to college, I met a student from Hong Kong and a student from Haiti who had passed GCE O' Level English language while several Jamaican students had failed the same exam.
Fifth, ESL needs to be taught from the primary level.It is generally thought that the besttime to learn a language is between four and eight years of age, yetJamaican governments continue to neglect the lower grades of school.
Last, the media need to help. During the prime-time news, a three-five minute language slot could be introduced a few evenings per week.
This is a national crisis.You onlyhave to read the classifieds and the comments on articles. Teachers alone should not be blamed. True, many teachers have only a passing acquaintance with the English language, but where do the parents come in?Many irresponsible parents (not only young ones) are only satisfied that their children are in school. They are not able to listen to their children and realise that something is wrong, as the child hasn't mastered a certain structure. Teachers need the help of parents. Home has to be a place where work, academic and otherwise, is done.
Do we really have the will to correct this language problem?
Norman W. M. Thompson lectures in the Department of English and Modern Languages, Northern Caribbean University, Mandeville. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.
