Tufala lanwis long tingting blong yumi, mo tufala lanwis long rialiti: Lukluk blong risej long tufala skul (Symbolic and functional bilingualism: Insights from an Anglophone school and a Francophone school)

Willans, Fiona (2019) Tufala lanwis long tingting blong yumi, mo tufala lanwis long rialiti: Lukluk blong risej long tufala skul (Symbolic and functional bilingualism: Insights from an Anglophone school and a Francophone school). [Conference Proceedings]

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Abstract

This chapter discusses data collected from two neighbouring schools that shows the way staff, students and community members talk about the idea of English-French 'bilingualism' in multiple ways: as "double the opportunity", as an essential part of "ni-Vanuatu identity", and as part of the colonial "heritage" that people want to hold onto. It is clear that ni-Vanuatu want to keep both languages. However, inside the Anglophone school, no French is spoken; inside the Francophone school, no English is spoken; and outside school, neither language is heard at all. More importantly, proficiency levels of both English and French show some cause for concern at both schools. The medium of instruction causes a challenge for learning at both schools, and 'bilingualism' in English and French is far from reality. The symbolic construction of English/French 'bilingualism' is very present, but the functional use of either language is limited.

Item Type:	Conference Proceedings
Subjects:	L Education > LG Individual institutions (Asia. Africa) P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts, Law and Education (FALE) > School of Language, Arts and Media
Depositing User:	Fiona Willans
Date Deposited:	06 Jun 2019 21:46
Last Modified:	06 Jun 2019 21:46
URI:	https://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/11510

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