supporting tiriti-based curriculum delivery in mainstream early ...

Brodie saw how her initial attempts with te reo Māori drew positive
responses from whānau Māori. Similarly, for teachers in this study, developing
skills in te reo Māori was a strong part of their vision. They reasoned that positive
relationships with whānau Māori could best be initiated by speaking te reo Māori
and by moving towards bilingualism. Although teachers were progressing their te
reo Māori skills from single words to simple phrases they still experienced
problems.
In line with previous research (Cubey, 1992; Ritchie, 2002b) this study
found that teachers had difficulties with pronunciation of te reo Māori.. In the
questionnaire I asked respondents on a scale of 1-5 (with 5 representing Māori
spoken fluently and 1 being not at all) to self rate their spoken te reo Māori. Just
over half the respondents (n=39, 56%) rated themselves as 2, which means that
from this sample at least there was a hesitancy with speaking te reo Māori.
However, they developed strategies for helping each other as this excerpt from P
shows:
Some pronunciation is not correct but staff correct each other and
support each other (Tr: P, 7/11/08).
Lenneberg's Critical Period Hypothesis (Lightbown & Spada, 2007)
suggests that due to biologically determined stages of brain development, native-
like fluency can only be achieved for second language learners when they start
second language acquisition pre-puberty. Whilst helping each other is an effective
strategy for improving pronunciation, gaining assistance from whānau Māori was
seen as an even better way of enhancing performance, as noted by Alison:
K [Māori parent] said she could assist with pronunciation which will be
wonderful (Jl: A, 8/6/04).
As well as concerns about pronunciation and fluency, teachers were
anxious about the extent to which they understood the meaning of the te reo Māori
they were using:
Te reo [is] linked to acquisition of social and cultural values. English
interpretations often lack depth of meaning. How useful are Māori words
and phrases used at most centres? (Jl: S, 26/2/04).
This study affirms earlier findings of teachers lacking confidence in
speaking te reo Māori, as highlighted by Cubey (1992) and Ritchie (2002b).
Survey respondents rated their confidence at a low level with nearly two thirds
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