title: A study of language use in secondary school classrooms in the Solomon Islands: Conceptions, practices and proficiencies

authors: Tanangada, Lanelle Olandrea

subjects: South Pacific

abstract: Multilingualism is a complex phenomenon in the Pacific, particularly in Melanesia, where there is more than one language being spoken by individuals. Therefore it is important for the education systems to consider learners’ needs in providing quality education that accommodates students’ first language in the English curriculum. 

This study set out to explore teachers’ and students’ beliefs, practices and proficiencies in two selected secondary schools regarding their use of language in English classrooms. Bilingual/multilingual educational research is a recent phenomenon in the South Pacific, including the Solomon Islands. This presents serious considerations for policy makers, educational authorities, teachers and students about the importance of accommodating students’ first language (L1) alongside the English-only curriculum. 

A qualitative research methodology approach was used, based on the interpretive paradigm, with individual and focus group interviews and classroom observations. Eight teachers and sixteen students from two schools, one rural and one urban, were interviewed on their conceptions of language use and the place of vernacular, Pijin and English in the English curriculum. Classroom observations carried out on two of the teacher participants focused on their language practices in English lessons and on capturing students’ code-switching practices. 

The findings of this study suggest that there is a mismatch between teachers’ beliefs and practices. While all the teachers acknowledged the English-only policy, and the importance of using English as the medium of instruction, their reported practices and observed lessons supported the use of students’ L1. The students also highlighted that the use of Pijin and/or vernacular supported their learning of English. This raises important points regarding bi/multilingual educational approaches to teachers’ pedagogical practices in accommodating students’ L1 for effective learning purposes. 

This study has unveiled teachers’ beliefs about language use in secondary school classrooms, reported practices and students’ patterns of language use and assumed language proficiencies. It therefore makes a contribution to the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development advocating for the importance of bi/multilingual education and teacher pedagogical practices and approaches to teaching English as a second language without impeding the students’ L1.

text: A study of language use in secondary school classrooms in the Solomon Islands: Conceptions, practices and proficiencies Multilingualism is a complex phenomenon in the Pacific, particularly in Melanesia, where there is more than one language being spoken by individuals. Therefore it is important for the education systems to consider learners’ needs in providing quality education that accommodates students’ first language in the English curriculum. 

This study set out to explore teachers’ and students’ beliefs, practices and proficiencies in two selected secondary schools regarding their use of language in English classrooms. Bilingual/multilingual educational research is a recent phenomenon in the South Pacific, including the Solomon Islands. This presents serious considerations for policy makers, educational authorities, teachers and students about the importance of accommodating students’ first language (L1) alongside the English-only curriculum. 

A qualitative research methodology approach was used, based on the interpretive paradigm, with individual and focus group interviews and classroom observations. Eight teachers and sixteen students from two schools, one rural and one urban, were interviewed on their conceptions of language use and the place of vernacular, Pijin and English in the English curriculum. Classroom observations carried out on two of the teacher participants focused on their language practices in English lessons and on capturing students’ code-switching practices. 

The findings of this study suggest that there is a mismatch between teachers’ beliefs and practices. While all the teachers acknowledged the English-only policy, and the importance of using English as the medium of instruction, their reported practices and observed lessons supported the use of students’ L1. The students also highlighted that the use of Pijin and/or vernacular supported their learning of English. This raises important points regarding bi/multilingual educational approaches to teachers’ pedagogical practices in accommodating students’ L1 for effective learning purposes. 

This study has unveiled teachers’ beliefs about language use in secondary school classrooms, reported practices and students’ patterns of language use and assumed language proficiencies. It therefore makes a contribution to the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development advocating for the importance of bi/multilingual education and teacher pedagogical practices and approaches to teaching English as a second language without impeding the students’ L1.

year: 2013

title: Spontaneous singing and musical agency in the everyday home lives of three- and four-year-old children

authors: Dean, Bronya

subjects: Early childhood music

abstract: Spontaneous singing permeates the lives of young children and can provide insights into the social and personal worlds of young children at home. Research into young children’s singing has traditionally been dominated by studies framed by developmental perspectives. However, developmental approaches run the risk of overlooking the ways in which spontaneous singing is useful and meaningful to young children. Despite increased interest in the musical lives of young children, there exists very little research into young children’s musical lives at home, largely because the home can be a difficult space to access for research purposes. This chapter is based on research undertaken from audio recordings of 15 3- and 4-year-old children who were recorded for continuous periods at home using all-day recording technology. I draw on ideas from music sociology and childhood studies to illustrate how children use singing as a tool of agency in their interactions with others and to manage their own experience.

text: Spontaneous singing and musical agency in the everyday home lives of three- and four-year-old children Spontaneous singing permeates the lives of young children and can provide insights into the social and personal worlds of young children at home. Research into young children’s singing has traditionally been dominated by studies framed by developmental perspectives. However, developmental approaches run the risk of overlooking the ways in which spontaneous singing is useful and meaningful to young children. Despite increased interest in the musical lives of young children, there exists very little research into young children’s musical lives at home, largely because the home can be a difficult space to access for research purposes. This chapter is based on research undertaken from audio recordings of 15 3- and 4-year-old children who were recorded for continuous periods at home using all-day recording technology. I draw on ideas from music sociology and childhood studies to illustrate how children use singing as a tool of agency in their interactions with others and to manage their own experience.

year: 2019

title: Using the stars to indigenize the public sphere: Matariki over New Zealand

authors: Hardy, Anna

subjects: Arts & Humanities

abstract: As the rate of affiliation to Christian identity continues to decline in Aotearoa New Zealand (only 49 percent of the population said they were Christian in the last census), public space has become more receptive to other forms of religiosity. In particular, community rituals around the winter movements of the Matariki (Pleiades) constellation have gained support since the year 2000. For instance, the capital city, Wellington, has replaced a centuries’ old British fireworks festival, Guy Fawkes, with an enlarged version of its Matariki celebrations: an action seen as a tipping point in the incorporation of Māori spiritual values into public life. Interactions between European colonisers and Māori have been characterised for more than 250 years by tensions between the relational thinking of Māori who see human beings as both participating in and constrained by an environment resonant with divine energies, and the quantitative, hierarchical, ‘Great Chain of Being’ model that had long been dominant among Europeans. Now, when the natural environment worldwide is under strain from population and economic pressures, it seems to some both appropriate and vital to look to epistemological and spiritual models that are intimately responsive to the specificities of location.

text: Using the stars to indigenize the public sphere: Matariki over New Zealand As the rate of affiliation to Christian identity continues to decline in Aotearoa New Zealand (only 49 percent of the population said they were Christian in the last census), public space has become more receptive to other forms of religiosity. In particular, community rituals around the winter movements of the Matariki (Pleiades) constellation have gained support since the year 2000. For instance, the capital city, Wellington, has replaced a centuries’ old British fireworks festival, Guy Fawkes, with an enlarged version of its Matariki celebrations: an action seen as a tipping point in the incorporation of Māori spiritual values into public life. Interactions between European colonisers and Māori have been characterised for more than 250 years by tensions between the relational thinking of Māori who see human beings as both participating in and constrained by an environment resonant with divine energies, and the quantitative, hierarchical, ‘Great Chain of Being’ model that had long been dominant among Europeans. Now, when the natural environment worldwide is under strain from population and economic pressures, it seems to some both appropriate and vital to look to epistemological and spiritual models that are intimately responsive to the specificities of location.

year: 2019