C&Pa Learning Focused Culture: Learning Languages 2
Historical, political and social backdrop to the Learning Languages curriculum
As early as 1847, Governor George Grey prioritised teaching in English in an Education Ordinance. The Native Schools system set up in 1867 expanded this policy. The 1867 the Native Schools Act, established a system of secular village primary schools under the control of the Department of Native Affairs. As part of the Government’s policy to assimilate Māori into Pākehā society, instruction was to be conducted entirely in English. Under the Act, it was the responsibility of Māori communities to request a school for their children, form a school committee, supply land for the school and, until 1871, pay for half of the building costs and a quarter of the teacher’s salary. Despite this, many communities were keen for their children to learn English as a second language and by 1879 there were 57 Native Schools.
During the 1970s, sociologist Richard Benton (1972) identified that the Māori language was in serious decline and motivated by his findings two groups: Ngā Tama Toa and Te Reo Māori Society, petitioned the government to allow the Māori language back into the school curriculum (Te Rito, 2008). In 1975, Whina Cooper, aged 79, marched over 1,000 kilometres on foot from the northern most tip of country bringing national attention to the Māori language and in 1975 the campaign evolved into Māori Language Week. By 1980, Richard Benton (1991) identified that the number of native Māori language speakers (those whose first language is Māori) was less than 20% as a direct result of colonization. Māori communities were also considering what action needed to be taken to maintain the Māori language. This concern for the language prompted Māori communities to establish Kohanga Reo (Language Nests) in 1982. The Māori language immersion early childhood (preschool ages 0-4) education centres were established by elders and other adults as a means of revitalising the Māori language and Māori educational philosophies. The initiatives were not funded by the government, and Māori communities rallied together to support their children and grandchildren attending the centres. Kura Kaupapa Māori or Māori language primary/elementary schools (ages 5-12) were established in 1985 (Ministry of Education, 2010).
He kōrero mō te reo Māori: Te reo Māori
“Te reo Māori is the ancestral language of the Māori people of Aotearoa. It derives from eastern Polynesia and is most closely linked to the language family that includes the Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian, and Hawaiian languages. Māori have a rich and complex language and culture. Māori oral literature takes many forms, including whaikōrero, karanga, waiata, haka, poi, whakataukī, and pepeha. The visual language includes body language and gesture, dance, and drama. The visual culture is expressed in a multitude of ways, including carved and woven art works made for both personal and community use, clothing, personal ornaments, tools, weapons, and architectural structures (Ministry of Education, 2004 and 2007a).
Pedagogic Approaches to Learning Languages in Aotearoa/New Zealand
There are 3 main pedagogic approaches to teaching non-English languages in New Zealand classrooms. These have been taken from the following report:Ellis, R. (2005). Instructed Second Language Acquisition: A Literature Review. Report to the Ministry of Education. Wellington: Crown.
Oral-Situational Approach: Draws from skill building theory and often employs PPP methodology (present-practice-produce). Based on theory of linguistic competence and accuracy.
•Notional-Functional Approach: Based on a theory of communicative competence. It focuses on the purposes for which language is used and teaching and learning is built around these (i.e. ordering food, greeting, inviting someone to your birthday). Uses PPP methodology.
•Task-Based Approach: A strong communicative approach. Primacy given to fluency over accuracy. Premised on the learning principle of interactional authenticity as opposed to unnatural contexts of the oral-situational approach.
Oral-Situational Approach
…focus is primarily on linguistic accuracy and is highly controlled by the teacher and follows set expectations for language delivery.
It primarily uses the PPP methodology. PPP stands for present-practice-produce.
Present: Teacher presents highly scaffolded sentences structures and phrases.
e.g. The aim of this session is to learn the sentence structure for asking someone what they are doing and knowing how to respond when somebody asks you in Te Reo.
- Kei te aha koe? What are you doing?
- Kei te moe au/ahau. I am sleeping.
Practice: Students practice in pairs. One student is role-playing sleeping and the other student asks, ‘Kei te aha koe?’. The sleeping student responds (sleepily!), ‘Kei te moe ahau.’ Students then swap roles and practice the other part of the question/response couplet.
Produce: Then I would encourage students to find 5 more verbs in Te Reo to help increase their vocabulary and write new responses to the question, ‘Kei te aha koe?’ The students then produce a role-play where they practice this question/response couplet to the class.
Notional-Functional Approach
The notional-functional… pedagogical approach privileges real-life notions or purposes children are involved in every day and uses the functions of language from those notions/purposes to ascertain the language patterns/tenses/structures/phrases that the teacher will teach to students in their classroom.
The notional-functional approach still utilises the PPP methodology but is less focused on linguistic accuracy than the oral-situational approach and more on communication and fluency. It is known as a communicative pedagogical approach to learning languages.
Task-Based Approach
“In a task-based approach, learners learn by doing. Task activities are usually rich in language, involving a wide variety of language areas, as well as all the skills; reading, writing, listening and speaking. By definition, a task must involve the processing of information, and some kind of communication or interaction. And a task can be something that you do alone, or that you do with someone else or in a group.” https://www.netlanguages.com/blog/index.php/2017/06/02/what-is-task-based-language-learning/
The advantages of TBL
Task-based learning has some clear advantages
- Unlike a PPP approach, the students are free of language control. In all three stages they must use all their language resources rather than just practising one pre-selected item.
- A natural context is developed from the students’ experiences with the language that is personalised and relevant to them. With PPP it is necessary to create contexts in which to present the language and sometimes they can be very unnatural.
- The students will have a much more varied exposure to language with TBL. They will be exposed to a whole range of lexical phrases, collocations and patterns as well as language forms.
- The language explored arises from the students’ needs. This need dictates what will be covered in the lesson rather than a decision made by the teacher or the coursebook.
- It is a strong communicative approach where students spend a lot of time communicating. PPP lessons seem very teacher-centred by comparison. Just watch how much time the students spend communicating during a task-based lesson.
- It is enjoyable and motivating.
For more information see ‘A Framework for Task-Based Learning’ by Jane Wills, Longman; ‘Doing Task-Based Teaching’ by Dave and Jane Willis, OUP 2007.
Also see www.willis-elt.co.uk