Learning Spanish in Jamaica: A study of errors caused by language transfer in a diglossic situation

Abstract

This study sought to investigate the psychological and linguistic effects of the diglossic language situation in Jamaica, in which the L1, Jamaican Creole, is superseded by English, on the learning of Spanish in Jamaica, and to provide suggestions for a pedagogical treatment of the situation. An empirical investigation carried out in two types of secondary schools was based on the proposition that, because of the negative attitude to the mother tongue (JC) in the teaching situation, and the insistence on the use of English in such circumstances, the result of a diagnostic instrument designed to test the probability of a positive transfer from JC would show a high incidence of negative transfer from English, with only minimal transfer from JC. A pilot study preceded the main investigation, which involved an examination of errors made in "free" composition, followed by an analysis of results from a multiple-choice objective test. A diagnostic test elicited free responses as samples of the students' Spanish interlanguage. Measures were also obtained on the following student variables: Mental Ability, Language Aptitude, Attitude to Spanish, and Proficiency in English. The socio-economic status of the students was also employed as a variable. The first phase of the pilot study demonstrated that errors attributed to negative transfer from English could be differentiated from those attributable to negative transfer from JC. From the second phase, it was concluded that when incorrect choices were made, preference was shown for structures that were English-based. The results of the main investigation showed a high incidence of negative transfer from English and some incidence also of negative transfer from JC. The poor performance on the test was commensurate with the performance in the school-leaving examination