Literacy in Melanesian and Australian Pidgins and Creoles

Recent descriptions of literacy in the English-lexified pidgins and Creoles of Melanesia and Australia have described it as being imposed by outsiders, irrelevant to speakers of these languages and unsuitable for use in formal education. This article presents an opposing point of view. First it outlines recent developments in the region, showing that while literacy may have been introduced from the outside, it has been embraced by many pidgin and creole speakers and used for their own purposes, including education. Second, it describes research findings refuting claims that using a pidgin or creole as a language of education will cause confusion among students and interfere with their acquisition of English.