As suggested in the regulations for the degree, this discourse on the nature of the Te Whanake series of Maori language textbooks and resources is being submitted with the series in support of the application for the award of the degree of Doctor of Literature (LittD) at the University of Otago.
The purpose of this discourse is to make explicit some of the principles that underlie what is contained in the textbooks, the audio-and videotapes and the teachers� manuals. Some of this commentary repeats information provided in Maori or English in the teachers� manuals. As well as concentrating information about the nature of the Te Whanake series into one document, it is also for the benefit of those who do not understand Maori.
This commentary will:
outline the author�s background leading up to the writing of the Te Whanake series;
discuss the content of the textbooks and resources;
make explicit the teaching methodology underpinning the series and how these methods are implemented;
explain the principles used in creating the textbooks and tape-recorded exercises; and discuss the pedagogic grammar of the Maori language contained in the textbooks.
While the four student textbooks are central to the submission, the total set of resources needs to be considered. The description in Chapter Two will give an insight into what the four student textbooks, the teachers� manuals, the study guides and the audio-and videotaped exercises contain.
While the textbooks, teachers� manuals, study guides and audiotapes of the Te Whanake series are original work by the author, the series does draw on the work of fluent speakers and writers of Maori, especially in the more advanced textbooks and supporting resources. This was necessary to expose the learners to a variety of contemporary texts as well as examples by writers from last century when Maori was still very much the language of Maori communities.
It seems that by 1929 Maori was being offered as a unit for the Bachelor of Arts degree by the University of New Zealand, although there is conflicting information regarding the precise date when this started. However, it was not until 1951 that the language was actually taught by a permanent member of the faculty at any constituent college of the University of New Zealand when Professor Bruce Biggs was appointed Lecturer in Maori Studies at the University of Auckland.The other universities in New Zealand have gradually followed. The University of Waikato introduced Maori as a subject for a Bachelors degree early in its life in 1970 under the leadership of Timoti Karetu, but the University of Otago, which was established in 1869, only introduced Maori as a subject in 1981 despite having produced some outstanding Maori graduates such as Sir Peter Buck.
It was only with the production of the Te Whanake textbooks and resources that a comprehensive series designed to teach Maori as a second language to adults has become available. Prior to the production of these resources the material available for teaching Maori language to adults was limited to a few grammar textbooks, the best of which was Bruce Biggs� Let�s Learn Maori. Other textbooks available were designed for teaching the language to children, the most notable of which are the more advanced textbook by Timoti Karetu called Te Reo Rangatira. There were no Maori language textbooks designed for developing the receptive and productive skills of adult learners of Maori. Some European languages such as English, French, Spanish and German have a variety of helpful and well designed textbooks and accompanying resources for adult foreign language learners. Maori had no such resources.
The Te Whanake series provides the basis for a structured Maori language programme from beginner level through to the advanced learner of Maori. While further resources will continue to be added to the series, with the publication in 1996 of Te Whanake 4 Te Kohure and its set of six videotapes there is finally a comprehensive set of resources for teaching Maori to adults.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/266513 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Moorfield, John C, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Otago. Te Tumu - School of Maori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies |
| 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 John C Moorfield |
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