Title: The third person

Abstract: Ximena Abarca-Espina, from Chile, graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Linguistics in 1999. She is currently living in New Zealand. In The Third Person, she tries to find out why a ‘simple’ error – the lack of the third person singular present tense suffix -s, seems to persist in the English of many advanced learners of English. Her fieldwork is based on data from her own ESL students at a seminary in Suva.

Title: Verbs of breaking in the Langalanga language, Solomon Islands

Abstract: Claire Damutalau, a BEd student enrolled in a semantics course, chose to describe the very rich semantic field of Verbs of breaking in the LangaLanga language. LangaLanga, one of over 60 languages of Solomon Islands, is her first language. She is currently teaching on Waimapuru, one of the outer islands in the group.

Title: Precourse needs analysis for a female Rotuman learning a domestic register of Fiji Hindi

Abstract: Farzana Dean, a linguistics major and a keen supporter of her mother-tongue, Fiji Hindi, sketches out a Precourse needs analysis for a female Rotuman learning a domestic register of Fiji Hindi, a paper she wrote for an applied linguistics course. She describes the rudiments of Fiji Hindi a Rotuman woman marrying into a Muslim Indo-Fijian family would need in order to communicate with her in-laws at home. Ms Dean, the winner of the Gold Medal in Linguistics and valedictorian for the class of 2000, is currently pursuing postgraduate studies in Linguistics at the University of Auckland.

Title: The distinctive case of the Samoan learner of English : metacognition, learning style and culture

Abstract: Julian Fox, originally from Australia, has been teaching English at the Pacific Regional Seminary and at Corpus Christi Teachers’ College in Suva for the past few years. He has completed three of the four required courses for the Postgraduate Diploma in Linguistics and expects to graduate in December 2001. In The distinctive case of the Samoan learner of English: metacognition, learning style and culture, Father Fox combines his knowledge of Samoan students and the Samoan language with his interest in the role of culture in second language acquisition.

Title: Constraints to effective learning and teaching in an urban school in Fiji

Abstract: Linda Hoven, an exchange student from the United States, casts a clear yet sympathetic eye on the Constraints to effective learning and teaching in an urban school in Fiji and makes a few suggestions. Ms Hoven is now back in Alaska, where for years she earned her living by fishing.

Title: The story of the Fijian story-teller

Abstract: Apolonia Tamata is Lecturer in Linguistics in the Pacific Languages Unit – a section of the Department located in Port Vila, Vanuatu. She is currently working towards her PhD at USP’s Laucala Bay campus in Suva. She has published a number of articles on Fijian and has interests in phonology, syntax, and orature. In The story of the Fijian story-teller, she tells a story of her own on an often overlooked genre of anecdotes which she calls ‘snippets’.

Title: Fijian verbs of cooking

Abstract: Sereana Usuramo describes another rich semantic field, that of Fijian verbs of cooking, comparing and contrasting them with English verbs of cooking. Sereana is currently teaching English at Suva Grammar School, a large secondary school in Suva, Fiji.