Uperesa, LisaTiatia, JemaimaTaumoefolau, MelenaiteGalokale, Kerryn Sogha2024-06-062024-06-062023https://hdl.handle.net/2292/68629Solomon Islands is a multilingual society. Its language policy evolved from an 'English Only Policy' (1978) to vernacular languages and Pijin (2010), as languages of instruction and teaching vernacular literacy. In 2013, the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development began implementing the Vernacular Languages and English in Education Policy (VLEEP) in two vernacular language communities (Sa'a in Malaita Province and Arosi in Makira Province), but the outcome of its implementation and the language attitudes and perspectives towards the use of Sa'a or Arosi languages, Pijin and English in (in)formal learning contexts had not been studied. This qualitative study adopted ethnographic and case study methods and the Melanesian methodology of tokstori to examine how language attitudes influenced the implementation of the VLEEP programme at Charles Elliot Fox Memorial Primary School in Sa'a. Drawing on tokstori interviews, group tokstori, observations and fieldnotes with teachers, parents/caregivers, village elders, and students, this study focussed on the participants’ language attitudes and perspectives towards the use of Sa'a, Pijin and English in (in)formal learning contexts, as well as the wider contextual factors that influenced VLEEP’s implementation. The case of vernacular language implementation in Sa'a demonstrates how attitudes toward bilingualism and multilingualism; training, resourcing, and support (or lack thereof); staffing and leadership (or lack thereof); and specific technical skills in translation can affect vernacular language policy success in an indigenous community. Finally, based on positive and negative attitudes and the influential factors identified, the thesis considers how integrating the existing elements of Hailadami (Sa'a traditional chiefly system), and the social settings and order of Sa'a may be an approach to reindigenise Pacific Vernacular Languages Education.Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htmhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/nz/Thesis2024-06-05Copyright: The authorhttp://purl.org/eprint/accessRights/OpenAccess