Language and schooling in Western and American Samoa

The two Samoas present an interesting case for the study of the role of English in language use and social change in the Pacific islands. Beginning with missionization, this paper reviews the history of English and schooling in the Samoas to independence (in the case of Western Samoa) and post‐World War II trusteeship (in the case of American Samoa). The discussion focuses on the social, political, economic and educational factors related to levels of English and native language literacy in the two Samoas, and to the decline of native language literacy in American Samoa over the past several years.