Miss mek wi trai: Using Multiliteracies Pedagogy to Effect Changes in Jamaica Inner-city Grade 7 Students' English Learning

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dc.contributor.advisorDlamini, Nombuso
dc.creatorHardware, Shawnee
dc.date.accessioned2018-11-21T13:38:48Z
dc.date.available2018-11-21T13:38:48Z
dc.date.copyright2018-03-22
dc.date.issued2018-11-21
dc.date.updated2018-11-21T13:38:47Z
dc.degree.disciplineEducation
dc.degree.levelDoctoral
dc.degree.namePhD - Doctor of Philosophy
dc.description.abstractMy four-month research project is the first recorded Jamaican study to explore if and how multiliteracies pedagogy (MLS) paired with sociocultural theory (SCT) can improve inner-city students English language development (ELD) and engagement. In diglossic Jamaica, social class typically dictates Jamaican language abilities. Typically, most upper- and middle-class Jamaicans speak English, while most members of the Jamaican lower class speak Patois. English is the language of the Jamaican curriculum, employment and power. Improvement in my participants EDL will improve their access to better-paying jobs and higher education. I conducted my research in the following sequential manner: 1) a month of classroom observation of the original English teachers classroom; 2) two months where I taught my experiential communicative lessons inspired by MLS and SCT; 3) four student focus group interviews and one teacher interview; and, 4) document analysis of examples of students three individual work (two after-lesson reflections and a paragraph of narrative account). All of these data collection tools ensured that I captured my participants meaning making and subjectivities. My research findings support and diverge from the weight of evidence in multiliteracies pedagogy and sociocultural theory. Similar to other research employing MLS and SCT, my findings revealed that my participants became more engaged in their English learning during my experiential teaching than they were in their original English language class. The majority of the students writing skills also improved. However, unlike MLS and SCT based research, in my study there was not a strong relationship between the students emotional engagement and their behavioural engagement; there was also no relationship between the students emotional engagement and improvement in language development. I recommend that teachers incorporate multiliteracies-inspired communicative activities in their English classes, as these activities engage students and promote English language development. I also suggest that multiliteracies researchers implement goodbehavioural strategies to ensure that students are engaged cognitively, emotionally and behaviourally. Moreover, I encourage teachers, future researchers and the Jamaican Ministry of Education to respect the students voices and agency, rather than merely incorporating their lived experiences in their school learning.
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10315/35465
dc.language.isoen
dc.rightsAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.
dc.subjectEnglish as a second language
dc.subject.keywordsMultiliteracies pedagogy
dc.subject.keywordsSociocultural theory
dc.subject.keywordsEnglish language learning
dc.subject.keywordsJamaican Language Arts.
dc.titleMiss mek wi trai: Using Multiliteracies Pedagogy to Effect Changes in Jamaica Inner-city Grade 7 Students' English Learning
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

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