Grassroots Talk Back on Social Media: An Analysis of Public Engagement in Vanuatu's Language-in-Education Policy

Autor/in	Willans, Fiona
Titel	Grassroots Talk Back on Social Media: An Analysis of Public Engagement in Vanuatu's Language-in-Education Policy
Quelle	In: Current Issues in Language Planning, 18 (2017) 4, S.371-387 (17 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1747-7506
DOI	10.1080/14664208.2017.1340407
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Social Media; Politics of Education; Educational Policy; Language of Instruction; Elementary Education; Citizen Participation; Discussion Groups; Creoles; English; French; Official Languages; Vanuatu + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Soziale Medien; Educational policy; Bildungspolitik; Politics of education; Teaching language; Unterrichtssprache; Elementarunterricht; 'Citizen participation; Citizens'' participation'; Bürgerbeteiligung; Kreole; English language; Englisch; Französisch; Office language; Amtssprache
Abstract	This paper analyses the participatory space for political debate opened up by social media in Vanuatu with reference to the implementation of a recent language-in-education policy, jointly funded by the governments of Vanuatu, Australia and New Zealand. Although Vanuatu appears to have been debating the same language issues for several decades, what is new is the level of participatory engagement in political matters, with the Facebook group "Yumi Toktok Stret" (YTS) providing one platform through which democratic citizenship is established and negotiated. Analysis of a debate that erupted in the group in March 2016 reveals significant disquiet and confusion about a change to the medium of instruction in early primary education. I argue that social media provides an invaluable insight into the extent to which the general public understands, feels consulted about and supports policy change. The debate on YTS also shows that the Government, its international development partners and technical advisors would be well advised to pay attention to such debates, and engage with social media as a new mediated "think tank" through which new policies can be democratically debated. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01