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Chambuká. This is basically what we do with language in our work. We make the best of a bad situation. Study for a language policy for Bonaire.

Faraclas, Nicholas
; 
Kester, Ellen-Petra
; 
Mijts, Eric
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Location research
Date
2024-10-25
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Linguistics
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In this contribution we intend to share the methods and outcomes of the 2020 - 2022 for a language policy for Bonaire in which the main question to be answered was: Will official policy and practice continue to frustrate and discourage the inclusive multilingual vision of the people of the island, or will it finally begin to support it? We conducted an online survey of the general public and had teachers administer language proficiency self-assessments and narrative proficiency tests to their students. Although we would also have liked to have done classroom observations, this was impossible due to the COVID-crisis. To make sure that there was ample space for Bonaireans to have their voices reflected in our findings, we conducted 26 interviews and 13 focus group meetings with a total of over 70 stakeholders from all backgrounds and walks of life in Bonaire. Finally, we also reached out virtually to hundreds of other Bonaireans through an online survey. We made a conscious effort to focus on including Bonaireans whose voices have not yet been heard over the course of the many debates that have occurred in the past concerning institutional language policy and practice on the island. We did so to include new opinions and points of view that might better represent the experiences, understandings and reflections of a more representative sample of the community than has been the case up until the present.
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Islands in Between
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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14473/1123
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