English and Creole: The Dialectics of Choice in a College Writing Program

Abstract

In this article the authors document an experimental writing program for honors and remedial students at the College of the Virgin Islands. The program, which involved linguistic analyses of Creole and English, included discussion of the political, sociological, and psychological dimensions of language use and writing in and about both languages. Elsasser and Irvine conclude that writing programs based on biliteracy in Creole and English would not only enable students to perform well in both languages but would expand the functions of Creole as well.