This is a qualitative research study underpinned by a constructivist philosophy. In this study I collect data by means of questionnaires and interviews primarily. The questionnaire responses however serve as additional voices to the interviews rather than as statistical information. The sample is purposive, comprising 14 questionnaire respondents and 4 interviewees, with whom I sought to explore the challenges they encountered as they taught Anglophone Caribbean students standard English (SE). I also attempted to understand the reasons for these challenges, as well as try to establish, from these teachers, the appropriate strategies for addressing these issues. I discovered that the teachers primarily blame students for the challenges they face professionally; yet irreconcilably, they advocate addressing these challenges by implementing strategies aimed at improving the teacher and teaching. I therefore concluded that between the premises and conclusions teachers make about language learning and teaching lay many contradictions, contradictions which I term DEF, an acronym for issues relating to deficits/diversity, elitism and fear, as well as a pun on the word 'deaf'-the inability or unwillingness to hear what contradicts their beliefs about language learning and teaching for fear of processing what the reality might mean.Keywords: English language teaching, Eastern Caribbean, teacher proficiency, teacher training
BackgroundThis research is the second part of a study carried out in 2008 into matters relating to Eastern Caribbean teachers' language proficiency, entitled "Easy as ABC: Attitudes, Barriers and Contradictions in issues of teacher language proficiency". This first part investigated attitudes exhibited by fourteen Eastern Caribbean teachers from seven islands, towards the coexisting vernacular and standard language in their territories. These attitudes, were argued to have given rise to certain psychological and learning barriers which led to conflicts between language-related theories and pedagogical practices. As a continuation of that research, this ISSN 2330-9709 2016 www.macrothink.org/jet 66 current study, is aptly titled 'DEF and the Eastern Caribbean English language teacher". DEF is both an acronym and a pun, which I contend, contributes to the challenges teachers both face and create in the classroom. In this article it is proposed that between the premises and the conclusions these teachers make, sits DEF, issues of deficits/diversity, elitism and fear which are not being adequately addressed, but which require urgent attention if language education is to be more progressive in these territories. In this educational sphere sits another kind of DEF, the inability/refusal to hear what contradicts one's beliefs and values about language learning and teaching. In this work, I will refer to a "space" where there is a meeting of perspectives and interpretations, mine and the participant teachers', and so the research is structured as a discussion between Eastern Caribbean teachers of Engl...