Considering the Implications of Plurilingual Education in the Anglophone Creole Context of Trinidad and Tobago

Abstract

Trinidad and Tobago is characterized by complex linguistic hierarchies. This study investigates how primary students engage with plurilingual practices in the elementary classroom. Grounded in sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, 1934/1986) and postmodernist epistemology, this study employs an educational design research approach to examine how children navigate classroom interactions shaped by English-Creole diglossia and dominant language ideologies. The study draws on scholarship on Caribbean Englishes (Nero, 2006; Simmons-McDonald, 2004), critical language awareness (Fairclough, 1992, 2013), culturally responsive pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 2014), and adapted elements from the Language Friendly School framework (Le Pichon-Vorstman & Kambel, 2022) to understand how language-inclusive pedagogy is enacted in context. Findings highlight the central role of teachers as agents of change, and the need for critical Creole language awareness within broader plurilingual education. The study contributes to comparative education by illustrating how global pedagogical movements are reshaped by local sociolinguistic realities of Creole-speaking classrooms, with implications for system-level innovation.