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Characteristics of English-speaking Caribbean middle and high school students

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / In a review of the literature, no studies were found on the achievement of school-age English-Speaking Caribbean students. This study was initiated to remedy this lack by examining the characteristics of twenty-one 12-18 year old high achieving and low achieving English-speaking Caribbean students and the influence of twenty-one parents' and seventeen teachers' attitudes on the students. Support was found for Bandura's theory that role models influence people's self-efficacy which in turn influences their choice, effort and persistence. The study further supports the resiliency theory which suggests that people can be successful, despite environmental challenges.
This study also found that the unidentified bilingual status of English-speaking Caribbean 12-18 year old students and their new environment with unfamiliar teaching styles, regulations and procedures were additional challenges not commonly identified in the literature. In order to support self-efficacy and promote resiliency, 1) better assessment of English-speaking Caribbean students' ability to use Standard English and 2) greater planning and collaboration among parents, teachers and students are recommended.
The following are questions to be addressed in future research: 1) What are the similarities and differences among students, parents and teachers regarding expectations of ESC students' school performance? 2) What are ESC students' reading and writing proficiency levels in Standard English? 3) How can schools support self-efficacy and resiliency characteristics in all students? / 2031-01-01

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/32843
Date January 2001
CreatorsThorne, Christina
PublisherBoston University
Source SetsBoston University
Languageen_US
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis/Dissertation

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