My Time to Speak: Four Jamaican Boys’ Narratives on Jamaican Creole’s Influence on Their Identities, Gendered Practices, Perceptions and Attitudes Toward English Language Learning by Tanya Manning-Lewis M.Ed., University of the West Indies, 2010 B.Ed., University of the West Indies, 2008 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction ã Tanya Manning-Lewis, 2020 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This dissertation may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee My Time to Speak: Four Jamaican Boys’ Narratives on Jamaican Creole’s Influence on Their Identities, Gendered Practices, Perceptions and Attitudes Toward English Language Learning by Tanya Manning-Lewis M.Ed., University of the West Indies, 2010 B.Ed., University of the West Indies, 2008 Supervisory Committee Kathy Sanford, Department of Curriculum and Instruction Supervisor Tim Anderson, Department of Curriculum and Instruction Departmental Member Cindy-Ann Rose-Redwood, Department of Geography Outside Member iii Abstract This dissertation presents findings from a 3-month qualitative study that examined Jamaican Creole’s (JC) influence on four adolescent (14-17) working-class Jamaican boys’ identities, gendered practices, and evolving attitudes toward English language learning (ELL). It embraced a social constructivist approach anchored in narrative inquiries and case studies to document the complexities of the boys’ lived language experiences as dominant JC speakers in an inner-city high school. The data collected from the participants’ graphic novels, interviews, video diaries, and my observations revealed that JC significantly influenced the boys’ identities, gendered practices, and attitudes toward Standard Jamaican English (SJE) and ELL. First, the data show that the boys used JC extensively to engage their identities as Jamaicans and strong heterosexual boys, which granted them social and linguistic power among working-class men and boys in their communities. Further, it reveals that the boys exhibited positive attitudes toward SJE and ELL when they engaged with supportive teachers who valued their linguistic resources and the reverse was true when they had teachers who demonstrated Anglo-centric ideologies. Lastly, the boys were agentive in their ELL performance and strongly believed they were accountable for their own success. This dissertation concludes that Jamaican schools need to develop more equitable language classrooms that successfully integrate JC-speaking students’ linguistic resources and engage them in practices that complement rather than oppress their authentic voices. I hope that this research will invite educators and curriculum developers to cultivate more diverse multiliterate and bilingual ELL practices that offer working-class JC-speaking youths more opportunities for success and facilitate a more critical examination of Anglo-centric language ideologies in schools that are suppressing students’ voices. Keywords: Gender, ELL, identity, working-class, Jamaican schools, success, Jamaican Creole iv Table of Contents Supervisory Committee ........................................................................................ ii Abstract ................................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents ................................................................................................ iv List of Tables ....................................................................................................... ix List of Figures ....................................................................................................... x Acknowledgments ................................................................................................ xi Dedication .......................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................... 1 Introduction......................................................................................................... 1 Research Context ................................................................................................ 5 Why Boys? ......................................................................................................... 8 Research Purpose ................................................................................................ 9 Chapter 2: Literature Review ............................................................................ 13 Introduction....................................................................................................... 13 Theoretical Underpinnings of Gender, Language and Identity in Schools ......... 14 Gender Theory: Narrowing the Scope ............................................................... 14 Gender performativity.. ..................................................................................... 16 Coloniality of gender......................................................................................... 17 Reframing Identity ............................................................................................ 19 The concepts of self and others in identity.. ...................................................... 20 Tactics of identity formation. ............................................................................ 22 Language Socialization Theory ......................................................................... 23 Language in process: socio-cultural influences ........................................................25 Social and Linguistic Capital ...................................................................................27 Post-Colonial Orientations in Language Research ............................................. 28 Language Development and Attitudes in Jamaica: An Historical Perspective ... 32 What is in a language? ............................................................................................32 Jamaican Creole’s Genesis. .....................................................................................34 v Language attitudes in Jamaica .................................................................................37 The Intersections of Gender, Class and Language in Jamaica ........................... 42 Boys and Academic Performance in School ...................................................... 49 Gender Equitable Approaches in Schools ................................................................51 Teacher-student Relationships and Academic Performance .....................................53 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 55 Chapter 3: Methodology .................................................................................... 56 Overview .......................................................................................................... 56 A Qualitative Paradigm ..................................................................................... 56 Qualitative Beliefs Underpinning the Research ................................................. 58 Ontological beliefs ..................................................................................................58 Axiological beliefs. .................................................................................................59 My positioning within the study ..............................................................................60 Ethical considerations .............................................................................................61 Research Design ............................................................................................... 63 Why Narrative Inquiry? .................................................................................... 63 Using Narratives to Inform Case Studies: A Braided Approach ...............................65 The Research Site ............................................................................................. 66 Population ......................................................................................................... 66 Selecting Focus Students ................................................................................... 67 The Participants ................................................................................................ 68 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 69 Chapter 4: The Research Process ...................................................................... 70 Implementation of the Study ............................................................................. 70 Entering the Field .............................................................................................. 70 Connecting with participants ...................................................................................71 Data Collection Methods ................................................................................... 73 Phase One of Data Collection............................................................................ 74 Using video diaries to initiate data collection ..........................................................74