Introduction of a Wapishana-English bilingual education programme: an evaluation of the early stages

Gomes, A.S. (2022)

Doctoral Thesis

This dissertation evaluates a Wapishana-English bilingual education programme that has been advocated for by The Wapishana community and approved by the Ministry of Education, currently piloted in three nursery schools in Guyana, beginning September 2018. This evaluation strives to determine what practices promote biliterate, bilingual, intercultural and academically-oriented children, with an eye to improve existing practices of the above-mentioned programme. This study offers a conceptual model and some recommendations to improve existing practices so that the Wapishan-English bilingual education programme is meaningfully integrated into the mainstream curriculum.

• Wapishana-based education programme
• Culturally diverse contexts
• Community-based literacy
• Intercultural education

• All authors: Gomes, A.S.
• Supervisor: Adelaar, W.F.H.; Jansen, M.E.R.G.N.
• Co-supervisor: Bruil, M.
• Committee: Rutgers, M.R.; Doetjes, J.S.; Buve, R.; Howard, R.; Sallabank, J.; Mearns, T.
• Qualification: Doctor (dr.)
• Awarding Institution: Leiden University Centre for Linguistics (LUCL), Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University
• Date: 2022-02-23
• Title of host publication: LOT dissertation series
• Publisher: Amsterdam: LOT
• ISBN (print): 9789460934001
• DOI: doi:10.48273/LOT0615
• Name: 615