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Te Reo Māori as a Subject: The Impact of Language Ideology, Language Practice, and Language Management on Secondary School Students’ Decision Making

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2014

Maree Jeurissen
Maree Jeurissen*
Affiliation:
School of Curriculum and Pedagogy, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
*
address for correspondence: Maree Jeurissen, School of Curriculum and Pedagogy, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. Email: m.jeurissen@auckland.ac.nz
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Abstract

Te reo Māori, the Indigenous language of Aotearoa (New Zealand), remains ‘endangered’ despite concentrated ongoing efforts to reverse declining numbers of speakers. Most of these efforts have focused on te reo Māori immersion education settings as these were considered the most effective means to ensure the survival of the language (May & Hill, 2008). More recently, the home has been identified as an important setting for language regeneration (Te Puni Kokiri, 2011). Despite the fact that the vast majority of secondary school-aged students (both Māori and non-Māori) attend English-medium schools, these settings are seldom considered as having potential to increase numbers of te reo Māori speakers. This article reports findings from a case study of one English-medium secondary school where factors surrounding the uptake of te reo Māori as a subject were investigated. Using Spolsky and Shohamy's (2000) language policy framework as an explanatory lens, it was revealed that even when students’ language ideologies orient them towards learning te reo Māori, language management and practice decisions can discourage rather than encourage this choice.

Keywords

te reo Māorilanguage regnerationlanguage policy frameworklanguage ideologylanguage management
Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 43 , Issue 2 , December 2014 , pp. 175 - 184
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2014 

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