Ko te waka reo Māori, he waka eke noa: The motivations, attitudes, and learning experiences of non-Māori secondary school students learning te reo Māori

Abstract

Te reo Māori is the indigenous language of Aotearoa New Zealand and was recognised as an official language in 1987. It is a vital part of Māori culture and a defining feature of New Zealand’s education system. Although there have been many te reo Māori revitalisation programmes such as kōhanga reo, kura kaupapa Māori and Te Ataarangi, the number of te reo Māori speakers nationally are declining. At the same time, there is a big push by the Ministry of Education and several political parties for a stronger emphasis of the learning of te reo Māori in schools for all students. There are currently 18,053 Māori secondary school students learning te reo Māori at different immersion levels. As a treaty partner, non-Māori students should be learning te reo Māori at school. However, the latest data shows only 3,683 non-Māori secondary school students are learning te reo Māori. There appears to be no academic research exploring the motivations, attitudes, and learning experiences of non-Māori secondary school students learning te reo Māori in English-medium schools. This research used a kaupapa Māori methodological approach to explore the main research questions: 1) what are the motivations of non-Māori secondary school students learning te reo Māori? 2) what are the attitudes of non-Māori secondary school students learning te reo Māori? and 3) what are the learning experiences of non-Māori secondary school students learning te reo Māori?

This qualitative study identified and examined factors that influence non-Māori students to learn te reo Māori and describes their learning experiences. Six non-Māori secondary school students (three male and three female students) learning te reo Māori from an urban school in Auckland of various ethnicities and age groups participated in this research Data was gathered through photovoice in combination with semi-structured individual and group interviews. The interviews were transcribed, coded and analysed in line with the main research questions using a general inductive approach.

The findings of the study showed that integrative motivation played a key role for the non-Māori students to learn te reo Māori. Analyses of the responses by the students that opted to learn te reo Māori showed that they wanted to further their knowledge and understanding of te ao Māori and that they could achieve this through learning te reo Māori. The students had mostly overwhelmingly positive attitudes towards te reo Māori and described encouraging experiences and strong relationships towards their Māori student peers, whānau, and school leaders and teachers as contributing factors to their learning of te reo Māori. There was also a strong correlation between the value of te reo Māori and a New Zealand identity.

This study offers important insights relevant to the ongoing revitalisation of te reo Māori and other indigenous language revitalisation programmes, especially those based in secondary schools. The study highlighted the role of non-indigenous language learners and their contribution to the revitalisation of indigenous languages.

The recommendations from this study includes the strong promotion and support for te reo Māori and tikanga Māori in the wider school culture, authentic learning opportunities in te ao Māori such as school marae experiences and school trips, and strengthening relationships between non-Māori students with their Māori peers, teachers, school leaders, and whānau.