This paper takes up the Jamaican Creole/Standard English (JC/SE) debates and argues that they often reproduce false binaries between Creole and English and the oral and written. I map out some of their terrain by sampling editorials and letters from local newspapers, the Gleaner and the Observer, and offer up a brief history of the various positions of linguists and educators on the SE/JC question.

In this paper one specific technique for developing language proficiency in our pupils will be discussed. This technique, role playing, has been found by this writer to be uniquely suited to fostering the development of the many kinds of language skills and attitudes to variations in language use, which our pupils need in order to function confidently in our peculiar language situation.

The concern of West Indian educators for improvement in language-teaching methods and materials has been for the most part confined to the problem of teaching Standard English. Research seeks to determine the differences between Creole and Standard English, the nature of the post-Creole continuum, if it exists, and the effects of the vernacular on proficiency in learning the standard or, through it, other subjects.