Newly appointed professor in the School of Education at The University of the West Indies, (UWI) Mona, Dr. Beverley Bryan will deliver her inaugural professorial lecture with the theme “English is an Arena not a Subject”: Language Teaching and Learning in Post-Independence Jamaica” on Thursday, May 03, 2012 in the Neville Hall Lecture Theatre (N1) at The UWI, Mona Campus, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Interested persons are invited to attend.
 
The lecture will review but go past the current debates about language issues in Jamaica to locate the discussion within a global context. It will examine the past and present approaches to language teaching in Jamaica; analyse our national achievement in English across the education sector; and present some recommendations for improvement in key areas.
 
Professor Beverley Bryan is widely recognised as an expert in Language Education, particularly in the areas of Jamaican Creole and the teaching and learning of Creole speaking children.  Over the years she has focused on language teaching and learning, literacy acquisition, teacher formation and literacy policy and plans for Jamaica and the region. Her research activities have also included cross-cultural and methodological issues in the teaching of English. This has led to research on the lives, culture and educational practices of migrant communities in the United Kingdom, comparing schooling in the English education system to that in the education system in Jamaica.
 
Locally, she has worked with the Ministry of Education on the Review of Primary Education, and their Literacy Improvement Initiative to improve language and literacy performance in Jamaican schools.  Her recommendations in this regard formed the basis for the construction of the Grade Four Literacy Test and the Grade Six Achievement Test in the Language Arts and Communication. Additionally, she worked with the Ministry in writing the Language Education Policy which has provided a framework for discussions on teaching English in a bilingual environment.
 
At the regional level, Professor Bryan has written literacy policies and plans aimed at securing improved levels of literacy in countries such as Grenada, St Vincent & the Grenadines and St Lucia. She has also worked with Dominica on implementing their Literacy Policy through training workshops for literacy coordinators and principals, as well as working on their review of universal secondary education in the area of the teaching of English.
 
At the international level, she has been the sole Caribbean representative on the UN Literacy Decade Expert Group set up to advise UNESCO as coordinating agency of the UN Literacy Decade (UNLD). Her contribution there helped to define and distinguish the distinct linguistic and historical Caribbean perspective in the drive towards full global literacy at different levels and in different sectors.  Her interest in cross-cultural studies has led more recently to the Caribbean Poetry Project initiative with the Faculty of Education at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. The project promotes the teaching and learning of Caribbean poetry in the Caribbean and the UK.
 
Beverley Bryan has published widely in her field. She is the author of two books: the first, a co-authored landmark text “The Heart of the Race: Black Women’s Lives in Britain” won the Martin Luther King Award in 1985 and has provided impetus for the recent oral history exhibition of Black women’s contribution to Britain.  Her latest book is ‘Between two Grammars: Research and Practice for Language Learning and Teaching in a Creole-speaking Environment” which was published in 2010. She has also written book chapters in eight books and has thirteen refereed articles in international journals as well as eight technical reports and various book reviews.