"This collection of articles and interviews explores policy, practice and attitudes relating to the use of Pacific languages in education systems of most Pacific Island countries and territories, from pre-school to tertiary level. It records history ; it deals with current attitudes and prejudices ; and it focuses attention on perceived problems with the medium of education in many parts of the region."--Back cover

This book offers a comprehensive report on a three-year, cross-cultural, critical participatory action research study, conducted in children’s homes and communities in Fiji. This project contributed to building sustainable local capacity in communities without access to early childhood services, so as to promote preschool children’s literacy development in their home languages and English. The book includes rich descriptions of the young children’s lived, multilingual literacy practices in their home and community contexts. This work advances research-based practices for fostering young children’s multilingual literacy and building community capacity in a post-colonial Pasifika context; further, it shares valuable insights into processes and complexities that are inherent to multiliteracy and cross-cultural research.

This book investigates the unique and dynamic approaches to key issues of changing images of child and childhood, by different countries in the Asia-Pacific. Key concepts considered are re-conceptualizing early childhood education and care, re-eaxming early learning standards and redefining professionalism. The Asia Pacific region includes countries belonging to both the Majority and Minority worlds and which vary widely in terms of their cultural geography, social-cultural beliefs, and levels of development, demographic profiles, political systems and government commitments to early childhood services. An international team of experienced researchers from different countries guarantees diverse perspectives. By examining different countries’ policy choices and evidence-based practices, the authors show how best to provide for young children based on their countries’ strategies.

Almost one-quarter of the world's languages are (or were) spoken in the Pacific, making it linguistically the most complex region in the world. Although numerous technical books on groups of Pacific or Australian languages have been published, and descriptions of individual languages are available, until now there has been no single book that attempts a wide regional coverage for a general audience. Pacific Languages introduces readers to the grammatical features of Oceanic, Papuan, and Australian languages as well as to the semantic structures of these languages. For readers without a formal linguistic background, a brief introduction to descriptive linguistics is provided. In addition to describing the structure of Pacific languages, this volume places them in their historical and geographical context, discusses the linguistic evidence for the settlement of the Pacific, and speculates on the reason for the region's many languages. It devotes considerable attention to the effects of contact between speakers of different languages and to the development of pidgin and creole languages in the Pacific. Throughout, technical language is kept to a minimum without oversimplifying the concepts or the issues involved. A glossary of technical terms, maps, and diagrams help identify a language geographically or genetically; reading lists and a language index guide the researcher interested in a particular language or group to other sources of information. Here at last is a clear and straightforward overview of Pacific languages for linguists and anyone interested in the history of sociology of the Pacific.

Practical, engaging guide to helping early childhood educators understand and address the needs of English language learners.