Stacy Denny | University of the West Indies- Cave Hill (Barbados) (original) (raw)
Papers by Stacy Denny
Available from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:DXN055400 / BLDSC - British Library Do... more Available from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:DXN055400 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo
Abstract: This study compares and contrasts the language attitudes of teachers of African America... more Abstract: This study compares and contrasts the language attitudes of teachers of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and West Indian Creole English (CE) speakers over the last fifty years, to determine if there have been any significant changes, to draw out the implications of these findings and offer reasons for the results. Teachers ‟ attitudes towards these languages were generally negative over the decades, but I noticed that as the number of teachers of colour increased in the USA, there was a slight shift in attitude towards AAVE in a positive direction. I conclude that though language attitudes are very difficult to change, teacher education which specifically targets and challenges teacher language attitudes will be a major step in helping to shift these attitudes further for the benefit of teacher and student.
Supplemental material, edutocracy_appendices_sage_open for Edutocracy: The New West Indian Planto... more Supplemental material, edutocracy_appendices_sage_open for Edutocracy: The New West Indian Plantocracy? by Stacy L. Denny in SAGE Open
This study examines language-in-education policies in other countries to determine the best kind ... more This study examines language-in-education policies in other countries to determine the best kind of language policy for Barbados, the challenges which are presented by the process and feasible measures/plans for developing that policy. The aim is to convince policymakers of the need for an explicit, cohesive, 'humanised' language policy in order to improve the health of language education in the country.
This study investigates the level of writing proficiency of 15 Anglophone Caribbean teachers of E... more This study investigates the level of writing proficiency of 15 Anglophone Caribbean teachers of English. This is a purposive intact sample consisting of practising teachers who are currently students at The University of the West Indies (UWI). The study is a combination of quantitative and qualitative data whereby two pieces of analytical/persuasive academic writing, from each student, are evaluated against a weighted criteria checklist in the categories of introduction, body, conclusion and stylistics. The results are compared to the university’s grading system to determine success/failure. The result is that the majority failed in most categories. It the reasons behind this failure that I principally choose to explore, while looking into the implications arising for teacher training, classroom pedagogy and teacher evaluation and making recommendations for improvement.
International Journal of Management Sciences, 2014
This study attempts to show how the variables of teachers’ pedagogical techniques, teachers’ ... more This study attempts to show how the variables of teachers’ pedagogical techniques, teachers’ attitudes and teachers’ proficiency in the English language impact Anglophone Caribbean students’ proficiency in that language. I will show by means of regional examination results that students fail to acquire the language at a high level of proficiency, and so leave school “less†linguistically endowed than when they first arrived. My objective is therefore to persuade teachers to look at what they can do personally and professionally to improve in these three areas, and hence, aid in preventing students from contracting “English lessitis†.
SAGE Open, 2021
This work draws on a combination of three theories, dependency (economics theory), the inner plan... more This work draws on a combination of three theories, dependency (economics theory), the inner plantation as a socio-psychological construct, and plantation pedagogy (education theory) to develop its own educational theory called edutocracy, as a partial explanation of the failure of the West Indian education system in Barbados. It employs document analysis as its primary method of data collection and analysis and culminates in the construction of a model of edutocracy. Edutocracy reveals how the current West Indian debate surrounding educational reform of the Secondary School Entrance Exam in Barbados and neighboring islands will, like most previous reforms, net little meaningful change if legislators and educators continue to negate the impact of the socio-historical context on education in this region, specifically the deleterious colonial ideologies which continue to shape education for the Afro-West Indian/Barbadian with the interests of the Euro-American metropole as paramount.
Kiss and Tell is the result of a review of comments about the demerits of research regarding the ... more Kiss and Tell is the result of a review of comments about the demerits of research regarding the morpheme order studies (Dulay & Burt, 1974). Some argue that the studies’ methodology is flawed because the hypothesis is flawed (see Brown, 2007). Such a view speaks to the need for a plausible hypothesis which will serve to guide the research to credible conclusions. When results are invalid, the application of them in the classroom can become problematic for teachers who lack the sophistication or training in analyzing research and research language, but who put faith in the researcher and the research process. This study therefore aims to take researchers through the process of effectively shaping the hypothesis, with the goal of demonstrating the importance of making the hypothesis central to the research process.
SAGE Open
Despite pedagogical, technological, and curricular advancements in the West Indian education syst... more Despite pedagogical, technological, and curricular advancements in the West Indian education system, there has been little success in constructively addressing the pervasive regional English language examination failures. I contend that most researchers address these second language acquisition failures by focusing on symptoms rather than causes. However, this study seeks a novel way of tackling the problem, by employing the WordTree design by analogy method, typically used in the engineering field, but adapted for this social science enquiry. The method is used to generate a fitting analogy for the current failing language education system to provide insights into underlying issues, which assist in better understanding and addressing this failure. This method finds that the failing system is analogous to that of the plantocratic system of colonial times based on their strikingly similar ideologies, practices, and attendant outcomes. Resultantly, I term this language education syste...
Despite pedagogical, technological and curricular advancements in the West Indian language educat... more Despite pedagogical, technological and curricular advancements in the West Indian language education system, there has been little success in constructively addressing the pervasive regional English language examination failures. I contend that most researchers address these second language acquisition failures by focusing on symptoms rather than causes. However, this study seeks a novel way of tackling the problem, by employing the WordTree design by analogy method, typically used in the engineering field, but adapted for this social science enquiry. The method is used to generate a fitting analogy for the current failing language education system to provide insights into underlying issues, which assist in better understanding and addressing this failure. This method finds that the failing system is analogous to that of the plantocratic system of colonial times based on their strikingly similar ideologies, practices and attendant outcomes. Resultantly, I term this language education system, an edutocracy 1. This study expands on scholarly works in the advancing areas of curriculum as cultural practice and colonial imagination to provide a different, deeper perspective of this West Indian problem, while exploring the implications of the analogous relationship.
Journal of Sociological Research, 2013
This study examines language-in-education policies in other countries to determine the best kind ... more This study examines language-in-education policies in other countries to determine the best kind of language policy for Barbados, the challenges which are presented by the process and feasible measures/plans for developing that policy. The aim is to convince policymakers of the need for an explicit, cohesive, ‘humanised’ language policy in order to improve the health of language education in the country.
Journal of Education and Training, 2015
This is a qualitative research study underpinned by a constructivist philosophy. In this study I ... more This is a qualitative research study underpinned by a constructivist philosophy. In this study I collect data by means of questionnaires and interviews primarily. The questionnaire responses however serve as additional voices to the interviews rather than as statistical information. The sample is purposive, comprising 14 questionnaire respondents and 4 interviewees, with whom I sought to explore the challenges they encountered as they taught Anglophone Caribbean students standard English (SE). I also attempted to understand the reasons for these challenges, as well as try to establish, from these teachers, the appropriate strategies for addressing these issues. I discovered that the teachers primarily blame students for the challenges they face professionally; yet irreconcilably, they advocate addressing these challenges by implementing strategies aimed at improving the teacher and teaching. I therefore concluded that between the premises and conclusions teachers make about language learning and teaching lay many contradictions, contradictions which I term DEF, an acronym for issues relating to deficits/diversity, elitism and fear, as well as a pun on the word 'deaf'the inability or unwillingness to hear what contradicts their beliefs about language learning and teaching for fear of processing what the reality might mean.
La Torre Revista De La Universidad De Puerto Rico, 2006
International Journal of Learning and Development, 2012
This study compares and contrasts the language attitudes of teachers of African American Vernacul... more This study compares and contrasts the language attitudes of teachers of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and West Indian Creole English (CE) speakers over the last fifty years, to determine if there have been any significant changes, to draw out the implications of these findings and offer reasons for the results. Teachers" attitudes towards these languages were generally negative over the decades, but I noticed that as the number of teachers of colour increased in the USA, there was a slight shift in attitude towards AAVE in a positive direction. I conclude that though language attitudes are very difficult to change, teacher education which specifically targets and challenges teacher language attitudes will be a major step in helping to shift these attitudes further for the benefit of teacher and student.
The Mouton World Atlas of Variation in English, 2012
The Mouton World Atlas of Variation in English, 2012
Available from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:DXN055400 / BLDSC - British Library Do... more Available from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:DXN055400 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo
Abstract: This study compares and contrasts the language attitudes of teachers of African America... more Abstract: This study compares and contrasts the language attitudes of teachers of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and West Indian Creole English (CE) speakers over the last fifty years, to determine if there have been any significant changes, to draw out the implications of these findings and offer reasons for the results. Teachers ‟ attitudes towards these languages were generally negative over the decades, but I noticed that as the number of teachers of colour increased in the USA, there was a slight shift in attitude towards AAVE in a positive direction. I conclude that though language attitudes are very difficult to change, teacher education which specifically targets and challenges teacher language attitudes will be a major step in helping to shift these attitudes further for the benefit of teacher and student.
Supplemental material, edutocracy_appendices_sage_open for Edutocracy: The New West Indian Planto... more Supplemental material, edutocracy_appendices_sage_open for Edutocracy: The New West Indian Plantocracy? by Stacy L. Denny in SAGE Open
This study examines language-in-education policies in other countries to determine the best kind ... more This study examines language-in-education policies in other countries to determine the best kind of language policy for Barbados, the challenges which are presented by the process and feasible measures/plans for developing that policy. The aim is to convince policymakers of the need for an explicit, cohesive, 'humanised' language policy in order to improve the health of language education in the country.
This study investigates the level of writing proficiency of 15 Anglophone Caribbean teachers of E... more This study investigates the level of writing proficiency of 15 Anglophone Caribbean teachers of English. This is a purposive intact sample consisting of practising teachers who are currently students at The University of the West Indies (UWI). The study is a combination of quantitative and qualitative data whereby two pieces of analytical/persuasive academic writing, from each student, are evaluated against a weighted criteria checklist in the categories of introduction, body, conclusion and stylistics. The results are compared to the university’s grading system to determine success/failure. The result is that the majority failed in most categories. It the reasons behind this failure that I principally choose to explore, while looking into the implications arising for teacher training, classroom pedagogy and teacher evaluation and making recommendations for improvement.
International Journal of Management Sciences, 2014
This study attempts to show how the variables of teachers’ pedagogical techniques, teachers’ ... more This study attempts to show how the variables of teachers’ pedagogical techniques, teachers’ attitudes and teachers’ proficiency in the English language impact Anglophone Caribbean students’ proficiency in that language. I will show by means of regional examination results that students fail to acquire the language at a high level of proficiency, and so leave school “less†linguistically endowed than when they first arrived. My objective is therefore to persuade teachers to look at what they can do personally and professionally to improve in these three areas, and hence, aid in preventing students from contracting “English lessitis†.
SAGE Open, 2021
This work draws on a combination of three theories, dependency (economics theory), the inner plan... more This work draws on a combination of three theories, dependency (economics theory), the inner plantation as a socio-psychological construct, and plantation pedagogy (education theory) to develop its own educational theory called edutocracy, as a partial explanation of the failure of the West Indian education system in Barbados. It employs document analysis as its primary method of data collection and analysis and culminates in the construction of a model of edutocracy. Edutocracy reveals how the current West Indian debate surrounding educational reform of the Secondary School Entrance Exam in Barbados and neighboring islands will, like most previous reforms, net little meaningful change if legislators and educators continue to negate the impact of the socio-historical context on education in this region, specifically the deleterious colonial ideologies which continue to shape education for the Afro-West Indian/Barbadian with the interests of the Euro-American metropole as paramount.
Kiss and Tell is the result of a review of comments about the demerits of research regarding the ... more Kiss and Tell is the result of a review of comments about the demerits of research regarding the morpheme order studies (Dulay & Burt, 1974). Some argue that the studies’ methodology is flawed because the hypothesis is flawed (see Brown, 2007). Such a view speaks to the need for a plausible hypothesis which will serve to guide the research to credible conclusions. When results are invalid, the application of them in the classroom can become problematic for teachers who lack the sophistication or training in analyzing research and research language, but who put faith in the researcher and the research process. This study therefore aims to take researchers through the process of effectively shaping the hypothesis, with the goal of demonstrating the importance of making the hypothesis central to the research process.
SAGE Open
Despite pedagogical, technological, and curricular advancements in the West Indian education syst... more Despite pedagogical, technological, and curricular advancements in the West Indian education system, there has been little success in constructively addressing the pervasive regional English language examination failures. I contend that most researchers address these second language acquisition failures by focusing on symptoms rather than causes. However, this study seeks a novel way of tackling the problem, by employing the WordTree design by analogy method, typically used in the engineering field, but adapted for this social science enquiry. The method is used to generate a fitting analogy for the current failing language education system to provide insights into underlying issues, which assist in better understanding and addressing this failure. This method finds that the failing system is analogous to that of the plantocratic system of colonial times based on their strikingly similar ideologies, practices, and attendant outcomes. Resultantly, I term this language education syste...
Despite pedagogical, technological and curricular advancements in the West Indian language educat... more Despite pedagogical, technological and curricular advancements in the West Indian language education system, there has been little success in constructively addressing the pervasive regional English language examination failures. I contend that most researchers address these second language acquisition failures by focusing on symptoms rather than causes. However, this study seeks a novel way of tackling the problem, by employing the WordTree design by analogy method, typically used in the engineering field, but adapted for this social science enquiry. The method is used to generate a fitting analogy for the current failing language education system to provide insights into underlying issues, which assist in better understanding and addressing this failure. This method finds that the failing system is analogous to that of the plantocratic system of colonial times based on their strikingly similar ideologies, practices and attendant outcomes. Resultantly, I term this language education system, an edutocracy 1. This study expands on scholarly works in the advancing areas of curriculum as cultural practice and colonial imagination to provide a different, deeper perspective of this West Indian problem, while exploring the implications of the analogous relationship.
Journal of Sociological Research, 2013
This study examines language-in-education policies in other countries to determine the best kind ... more This study examines language-in-education policies in other countries to determine the best kind of language policy for Barbados, the challenges which are presented by the process and feasible measures/plans for developing that policy. The aim is to convince policymakers of the need for an explicit, cohesive, ‘humanised’ language policy in order to improve the health of language education in the country.
Journal of Education and Training, 2015
This is a qualitative research study underpinned by a constructivist philosophy. In this study I ... more This is a qualitative research study underpinned by a constructivist philosophy. In this study I collect data by means of questionnaires and interviews primarily. The questionnaire responses however serve as additional voices to the interviews rather than as statistical information. The sample is purposive, comprising 14 questionnaire respondents and 4 interviewees, with whom I sought to explore the challenges they encountered as they taught Anglophone Caribbean students standard English (SE). I also attempted to understand the reasons for these challenges, as well as try to establish, from these teachers, the appropriate strategies for addressing these issues. I discovered that the teachers primarily blame students for the challenges they face professionally; yet irreconcilably, they advocate addressing these challenges by implementing strategies aimed at improving the teacher and teaching. I therefore concluded that between the premises and conclusions teachers make about language learning and teaching lay many contradictions, contradictions which I term DEF, an acronym for issues relating to deficits/diversity, elitism and fear, as well as a pun on the word 'deaf'the inability or unwillingness to hear what contradicts their beliefs about language learning and teaching for fear of processing what the reality might mean.
La Torre Revista De La Universidad De Puerto Rico, 2006
International Journal of Learning and Development, 2012
This study compares and contrasts the language attitudes of teachers of African American Vernacul... more This study compares and contrasts the language attitudes of teachers of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and West Indian Creole English (CE) speakers over the last fifty years, to determine if there have been any significant changes, to draw out the implications of these findings and offer reasons for the results. Teachers" attitudes towards these languages were generally negative over the decades, but I noticed that as the number of teachers of colour increased in the USA, there was a slight shift in attitude towards AAVE in a positive direction. I conclude that though language attitudes are very difficult to change, teacher education which specifically targets and challenges teacher language attitudes will be a major step in helping to shift these attitudes further for the benefit of teacher and student.
The Mouton World Atlas of Variation in English, 2012
The Mouton World Atlas of Variation in English, 2012