Textbooks for the teaching of te reo Māori

Time for change?

Abstract

As part of a recent study of the teaching and learning of te reo Māori (the Māori language) in English-medium secondary schools in Aotearoa/New Zealand, I asked a sample of teachers which textbooks they used. I then analysed some of those textbooks that were referred to most often, using focus points derived from a review of literature on the design of textbooks for the teaching of additional languages. What I found was that the textbooks analysed were inconsistent with the relevant curriculum guidelines document and were also problematic in a number of other ways. This article discusses a number of the problematic concerns and outlines what would be involved in designing more effective textbooks for Indigenous languages, and textbooks that are in line with current research findings.