English language development of Haitian immigrant students : determining the status of selected ninth graders participating in transitional bilingual education.

Most Haitians in the U.S. area have immigrated over the past three decades, with the largest number of arrival coming in the late 1970\u27s through the mid 1980\u27s. Boston has one of the largest Haitian student populations in the U.S. following Miami and New York City. The purpose of this study was to determine the status of English language development among Haitian immigrant ninth graders participating in Boston\u27s transitional bilingual education. Two major research questions guided this study: (1) What is the effectiveness of oral English language-use among ninth grade Haitian immigrant students in selected bilingual classrooms? (2) What is the effectiveness of English reading among ninth grade Haitian immigrant students in selected bilingual classrooms? Three High schools with transitional bilingual education programs totalling ninety-one Haitian ninth grade students participated in the study. Twenty five students were randomly selected as subjects for the study. A pre- and post-test comparison and an analysis of students\u27 oral and reading scores were done to obtain a preliminary quantifiable impression of the students\u27 growth in English language development over a period of time. Using Halliday\u27s (1973) seven functions of language, classroom observations of students oral English language-use were recorded and analyzed to determine the students\u27 ability to communicate effectively in different classroom contexts. Miscue analyses through a series of reading activities were performed to provide valuable insights into the nature of the reading process and gain appreciation for readers\u27 strengths as well as weaknesses. Over three hundred and fifty hours of classroom observations and reading miscue activities with (N = 25) Haitian immigrant ninth graders reveal that subjects do not differ markedly in their oral and reading effectiveness in English. Although individual differences among subjects in oral and reading effectiveness existed; however, only a minority of students (N = 5/25) in (oral language) and (N = 1/4) in reading did not show positive gains in language effectiveness. Overall, many of the subjects show positive gains in English. Thus, they have the ability to use oral and reading English effectively to succeed academically

Haitian Creole Ideophones: An Exploratory Analysis

This article is an exploratory attempt to analyze the status of Creole ideophones through distinctive repetition, reduplication and onomatopoeic features of Haitian Creole, commonly known as Kreyol. It examines barious types of ideophones in Kreyol with the aim of understanding the processes of change in lexical categories, which involve the principles these processes manifest-- thereby showing, on the one hand, why these diverse types of ideophones should be classed together and referred to with a single term, \u27ideophonization\u27; and, on the other hand, how this category of lexical items is to be distinguished from others

Black, Mulatto and Light Skin: Reinterpreting Race, Ethnicity and Class in Caribbean Diasporic Communities

In recent years, Caribbeanists of different academic specialization and intellectual orientation have demonstrated a renewed interest in the unholy trinity of race, class and ethnic matters. the renewed interest has reflected a continued, but rather an unsystematic attempt to account for the social characteristics of race, ethnicity, gender and class among Caribbean people, both at home and abroad. The current ethnic power relationships manisfested by the unequal distribution of wealth in Caribbean diasporic communities is the direct result of colonialist influence on race through exploitative practices of the plantocracy and selective immigration to create a Caribbean middle class

Attempts at Reforming Haiti\u27s Education System: The Challenges of Mending the Tapestry, 1979-2004

For well over a quarter of a century, Haiti\u27s education system has been at a critical juncture. In 1982, Haiti embarked on a major educational reform, known as La Reforme Bernard. To date, there has been no comprehensive, longitudinal study of the nationwide impact of the Bernard Reform on the social, economic, and political institutions. Why was such a dramatic education reform proposed? What went wrong during the implementation of the reform? Was Bernard education Reform a success or a failure? These are some of the questions addressed in the article. the school system had become a perennial challenge for Haiti\u27s educational planners to overcome in order to help the country achieve a sufficient level of national development in the global scheme

Haiti\u27s Condemnation: History and Culture at the Crossroads

As Haiti emerges from its recent bicentennial, the persistent underdevelopment combined with the absence of independent social and judicial institutions denote an increase in the level of repression and social division. Such social divergence has been intensified since the overthrow of (Baby Doc) Duvalier in 1986, and subsequent political turmoil throughout the 1990\u27s and beyond. Thus, political instability, violent overthrows, successive coups and countercoups, persistent poverty, the state against the nation, all constitute the trademarks of this economically collapsed but cultural rich Caribbean island. Interestingly, individual Haitians are relatively successful peple abroad. Thus the question then becomes: what explanations do we offer for the continuous failure of a rogue state that refuses to meet its obligations to its citizenry

“Haitian-Americans”

The indisputable massive presence of haitian Americans in the last three decades has changed the way scholarship on black immigrants from the Caribbean and the African Diasporas has taken shape. Haitian Americans\u27 presence has serious implications for U.S society, its institutions and public policies. The existing body of literature dealing with ethnic Haitian Americans, although not as voliminous as that of other recent ethnic groups in the United States, reflects a vast array of perspectives. Much of the literature centers on the history of immigration and the adaptation process of Haitian immigrants and Haitian Americans in many urban areas of the United States

Haitian Creole

Haitian Creole, also known as Kreyòl, is a member of the French-based creole language groups with a considerable part of its lexicon coming directly from seventeenth century French. Its grammar differs from French, however, and reflects closely the West African languages, such as Ewe, Fon, Yoruba, and Ibo. Kreyòl is similar to the creoles spoken in the French overseas departments of Martinique and Guadeloupe, as well as in Dominica, Saint Lucia, and parts of Trinidad

“Jean Jacques Dessalines”

Biography of Jean-Jacques Dessaline