A Case Study of the Sociopolitical Dilemmas of Gullah-speaking Students: Educational Policies and Practices

Abstract

Most of the languages spoken along the West African coastline are different from European languages but similar to Black English. Gullah, a West African and English Creole language, still spoken today on the sea islands of South Carolina and Georgia, is the predecessor of American Black English which is most similar to the languages of West Africa. Early research in reading comprehension and science language development has supported the belief that divergent language usage, such as Gullah, has a negative impact on the visible demonstration of academic reading achievement (Goodman, 1965; Hunt, 1975). Unfortunately, the educational system has been insensitive and ineffective in addressing the issue of the language differences between Black English and White English. Qualitative case study (Bogdan & Biklen, 1998) was chosen because we needed students with extreme examples of non-traditional English to illustrate easily the patterns that emerged. For all the students, description through language was a very complex issue. Often they omitted words or did not know the specific content words to complete a description. While their indigenous language patterns created holistic pictures, they did not use the exact or precise word to communicate the appropriate meaning to those unfamiliar with their language.