Raising M Ori Medium Students Academic Language Proficiency

To ensure the survival of the Māori language, and the cognitive advantages associated with bilingualism, Māori medium students need to reach a high level of proficiency in both the English and Māori languages over their time at school. As well as academic success, Māori medium whānau expect their students to gain a level of competence in te reo Māori that enables them to actively engage in authentic Māori cultural contexts. This is crucial as the historical interruption to the intergenerational transfer of te reo Māori means that today Māori medium graduates make up the main pool of speakers who can transmit our language into the future. This book describes an action research project in which a group of Maori medium students used a newly developed language matrix of writing outcomes to self and peer assess their learning in their literacy programme. The results of the study revealed that the confluence of self and peer assessment practices and the new language scaffolds raised the students academic oral and written language competency significantly beyond what was normally expected in a Māori medium programme.