1999 was the first year that Year 8 Maori immersion students were included in national monitoring in New Zealand. The thesis explores how bilingualism, being a second language learner, and culture impact on student performance. It details the National Education Monitoring Project�s (NEMP) efforts to create fair and valid cross-language and cross-culture assessment. The thesis looks at overseas research on the development, translation and administration of tasks and relates this to NEMP�s processes. Issues and problems that arose during the development, translation and administration of tasks are discussed.
Several positions emerge from this thesis. Firstly, that despite the problems encountered, there were some clear �benefits�. Benefits lay primarily in: recognition of the complexity of cross-language and cross-cultural assessment, �improved� assessment and translation processes, professional development, new understanding and knowledge areas, identification of areas for future research and the accumulation of data (albeit in some instances problematic). Secondly, that NEMP went to great efforts to consult with and involve Maori. However, the relationship between NEMP and Maori was compromised in that some sectors within immersion education were ambivalent about participating in national monitoring. This ambivalence impacted in a number of ways on the project and the assessment of immersion students. Thirdly, that the inclusion of immersion students in national monitoring needs to be seen within the wider social, political and historical context of New Zealand. Assessment is not a neutral process. Assessment is a social and political activity that has the potential to advantage certain groups in society and disadvantage others.
Fourthly, despite NEMP�s efforts to be fair, inclusive and thorough in its processes there were significant issues that compromised students� performance and the quality of the information gathered. Limited language skills of some students, cultural differences, translation and task administration problems at times worked to the disadvantage of immersion students and raise questions about the validity of some findings. Finally, I suggest that the inclusion of Maori immersion students in national monitoring is in some respects premature and unfair. In particular, questions need to be asked about the fairness and validity of making comparisons between bilingual, second language learners in Maori immersion settings and monolingual Maori students learning in English in the mainstream.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/217596 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Pereira, Janet Aileen, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Otago. Department of Anthropology |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://policy01.otago.ac.nz/policies/FMPro?-db=policies.fm&-format=viewpolicy.html&-lay=viewpolicy&-sortfield=Title&Type=Academic&-recid=33025&-find), Copyright Janet Aileen Pereira |
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