Resumen de Trends and Tensions in Post-colonial Language Education in the South Pacific

Heather Lotherington

• This paper overviews trends in language education across 11 small island states in the South Pacific and notes the difficulties inherent in regional implementation of chosen bilingual education models. The paper situates language policy both historically and socially, and explores the realisation of present-day policies in public-school education and selective mass media, with particular interest in the competing educational motives of economic development and cultural maintenance. Recommendations for more ecological language policies and practices for Pacific Island states are made in conclusion.