This descriptive research paper looks at English teaching in Jamaica, and examines what perceptions upper secondary school teachers have of the teaching mission, the teacher role and the responsibility that comes with the teacher profession. The paper also examines the teachers’ attitudes towards Jamaican Creole and Standard Jamaican English and the relation between these two languages. The paper discusses inequality connected to language diversity in Jamaica and aims to explore attitudes, language ideologies and educational policies, in relation to English teaching in a Jamaican Creole speaking classroom.The study was carried out with a qualitative approach where semi-structured interviews were conducted with five teachers at three public upper secondary schools in Jamaica. The collected data was analyzed with an explorative approach.The main conclusion drawn from this study is that English teaching in a Jamaican Creole speaking classroom is affected by a number of factors. Firstly, the teachers expressed an ambivalence opinion about what language is or should be the first and second language. Secondly, teaching English in Jamaica is difficult due to the absence of a standardized written form of the students’ vernacular. Lastly, the teacher role is not limited to teach a first or second language, the teachers’ role is extended to include a great responsibility for the students’ future life

Opposed to the repressive socio-economic political climate that resulted in the impoverishment of masses of Jamaicans, the Jamaican Rastafarians developed a language to resist societal oppression. This study examines that language--Dread Talk--as resistive language. Having determined that the other variations spoken in their community--Standard Jamaican English and Jamaican Creole--were inadequate to express their dispossessed circumstances, the Rastafarians forged an identity through their language that represents a resistant philosophy, music and religion. This resistance not only articulates their socio-political state, but also commands global attention. This study scrutinizes the lexical, phonological, and syntactical structures of the poetic music discourse of Dread Talk, the conscious deliberate fashioning of a language that purposefully expresses resistance to the political and social ideology of their native land, Jamaica.

This case study explored students’ perception about their performance in CSEC English A at three evening schools in Savanna La Mar. While conducting the research I used ethnographic methods, including interviews, observations and document analysis to better understand students’ perceptions of their performance in CSEC English A. The central questions which guided the research are “how do students at three evening schools in Savanna La Mar perceive their performance in CSEC English A and what factors affect those perceptions, and what strategies do students think can improve their performance in English?” Creswell’s (2008) steps for analyzing qualitative data were used to explore the central research questions. The discussion sought to highlight how students perceived their academic performance in CSEC English A and what attributed for these perceptions. These views were examined using four themes: student factors that influence student learning outcome, influence of Jamaican Creole (JC) on learning Standard Jamaican English (SJE), teacher traits that influence learning and structure and operations of the evening schools. The Attribution and Expectancy Value Theories were used to make meaning of the data. The findings revealed that most of the students exhibited high self-concept and expressed that they would be successful in the upcoming CSEC English A Examination despite previous challenges they experienced with SJE. They attributed this success to the strategies they were using and the encouragement and positive feedback they got from their teachers. However, some students cited several factors which have negatively affected their performance such as the predominant use of JC in the home, school and community. Although the research was a multiple site study, it was limited to one geographical location which delimited the generalizability of the study. However, the insights gained can contribute to and fill gaps in the literature and also enlighten educators and other stakeholders of students’ perception about their performance in CSEC English A. / Educational Leadership