English and creole, a comparison

1. English and Creole A Comparison

2. Student Information 15-years old Moved to U.S. from Haiti in 2010 Lives here with her father while mother studies in Santo Domingo Didn’t enroll in school for “a while” because she didn’t know English

3. Home language experience Speaks mostly Creole in the home Sometimes speaks English with little brother and watches programs in English, which she feels has helped them to learn English Mother speaks to her by phone mostly in Spanish, which she understands somewhat Listens to music in Creole, French, and Spanish Communicates on Facebook mainly in Creole

4. School Experience Began school in U.S. in her 8 th grade year Loved her experience in her ESL courses and feels she learned a lot there Has not had a wonderful experience at the high school level in 9 th grade due to excessive absence by her ESL teacher and a parade of substitutes, resulting in inconsistency

5. Similarities Primary word order: Subject, Verb, Object Ex: “ I kick the ball.”

6. Differences English Inflection for tense Inflection for person Add –s or – es for plural nouns 1 verb “to know” Various Pronouns Creole No inflection for tense No inflection for person Plural nouns determined by context 3 different verbs often translated to mean “to know ” Only 1 pronoun for each number/ person combination

7. Implications of Transfer of L1 to L2 Common types of errors: “He walk in the park each day.” “I talk to him yesterday.” “All of the dog are in the yard.”

8. Findings of Student Writings Wrong verb form Wrong tense Wrong tense Missing possessive Wrong pronoun Missing article Incorrect vocabulary Confusion of verb with noun

9. Sources Broussard, J. F. (1972). Louisiana Creole Dialect. Port Washington , NY: Kennikat Press. Creole Languages (1983). Bicerton , D. Retrieved July 9 , 2012, from http:// www.ohio.edu/people/thomsoc/Creole.html   Haitian Creole Language (2009). Retrieved July 7, 2012, from http://ayitinou.com/learn-about-haiti/haitian-creole-language-.html