Education Minister Erica Stanford’s decision to remove kupu Māori (except character names) from the Ready to Read Phonics Plus series generated much public debate and commentary this month. The decision affected 12 books and was based on concerns that the inclusion of kupu Māori might confuse children learning English phonics.
Many Māori researchers were critical of the decision. Professor Gail Gillon (Ngai Tahu) is Director of the Child Well-being Research Institute at Canterbury University and is well known internationally for her research in phonological awareness and children’s early literacy development. Her comprehensive evidence-based response to the Minister’s decision noted that:
- Exposure to two languages is advantageous to young children’s reading development, increasing their awareness of word structure and enhancing their mental linguistic skills.
- Te reo Māori is easier for young children to learn rather than complex languages like English. The evidence suggests that learning to read initially in a language that is phonetically regular can help boost phonological processing skills and support subsequent reading in less consistent languages like English.
- Teachers in Aotearoa are already successfully using these readers in structured literacy teaching contexts - accelerating children’s phonic, phoneme awareness, word reading, spelling and oral language skills.
- More generally, the scientific literature has consistently highlighted the importance of cultural relevance and responsiveness within decodable readers for young children’s reading instruction.
Associate Professor Awanui Te Huia, whose research focuses on te reo Māori revitalisation, also spoke with Māori and mainstream media about the harmful impacts of the decision in the wider context of efforts to normalise te reo, and the benefits of translanguaging as an approach which supports students to think and learn in multiple languages simultaneously.
Dr Vincent Olsen-Reeder, whose doctoral research investigated the effectiveness of bilingualism as a theoretical approach to revitalisation, also contributed to the media commentary. He commented that the average adult in Aotearoa can grasp the meaning of around 1,000 Māori words with varying degrees of accuracy and confidence because these words are so frequently used in New Zealand English. And as many as 70 Māori words are decoded by New Zealand English speakers with both high accuracy and confidence.
We are ever grateful to our network for their willingness to share their expertise and contribute to important kaupapa. You can read more about their responses in the ‘In the news’ section at the end of this e-pānui.
Kia kaha te reo Māori!
Ngā Pou Matarua | Co-Directors
- Professor Tahu Kukutai
- Professor Melinda Webber