title: Kia matatau ki te reo: Factors influencing the development of proficiency in te reo Māori with adult learners

authors: Rātima, Matiu Tai

subjects: te reo Māori

abstract: This thesis sought to answer the question: what factors help or hinder adult Māori second language learners to become proficient speakers of te reo Māori? I ask this question at a moment in history when te reo, like other indigenous languages, sits on the edge of a precipice in terms of its survival as a living language. Ambivalence and inaction will almost certainly constitute a push towards oblivion. Nothing less than concerted effort can pull te reo back from the brink. But what kind of concerted effort is needed and how can individual learners optimise their efforts to learn te reo?
Te reo must survive because, as Sir James Henare put it, ‘ko te reo te hā o te Māoritanga’, meaning ‘the language is the essence of Māori culture.’ Without te reo the very survival of Māori people as Māori is in doubt. My questions and the thesis occupy a multidisciplinary space, drawing on research from adult second language acquisition, teaching pedagogy and language revitalisation. The thesis makes an original contribution to all three bodies of literature by examining data from a previously untapped source; successful adult Māori language learners. 
I interviewed 17 participants. All highly proficient second language speakers of te reo. All learned te reo as adults.  Adult second language learning of endangered languages is broadly acknowledged in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) as essential to re-establishing Intergenerational Transmission of Language (ITL) in the home to ensure an endangered language is passed on to future generations.
The interview questionnaire was based loosely on 10 help/hinder factors I identified through a review of the literature from the three research fields (adult second language acquisition, teaching pedagogy and language revitalisation). The ten factors identified in the review were; language aptitude, age, learner attitudes and motivation, learning strategies, instruction, agency and anxiety, wairua (the spiritual dimension), demography, language status, and language planning.

text: Kia matatau ki te reo: Factors influencing the development of proficiency in te reo Māori with adult learners This thesis sought to answer the question: what factors help or hinder adult Māori second language learners to become proficient speakers of te reo Māori? I ask this question at a moment in history when te reo, like other indigenous languages, sits on the edge of a precipice in terms of its survival as a living language. Ambivalence and inaction will almost certainly constitute a push towards oblivion. Nothing less than concerted effort can pull te reo back from the brink. But what kind of concerted effort is needed and how can individual learners optimise their efforts to learn te reo?
Te reo must survive because, as Sir James Henare put it, ‘ko te reo te hā o te Māoritanga’, meaning ‘the language is the essence of Māori culture.’ Without te reo the very survival of Māori people as Māori is in doubt. My questions and the thesis occupy a multidisciplinary space, drawing on research from adult second language acquisition, teaching pedagogy and language revitalisation. The thesis makes an original contribution to all three bodies of literature by examining data from a previously untapped source; successful adult Māori language learners. 
I interviewed 17 participants. All highly proficient second language speakers of te reo. All learned te reo as adults.  Adult second language learning of endangered languages is broadly acknowledged in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) as essential to re-establishing Intergenerational Transmission of Language (ITL) in the home to ensure an endangered language is passed on to future generations.
The interview questionnaire was based loosely on 10 help/hinder factors I identified through a review of the literature from the three research fields (adult second language acquisition, teaching pedagogy and language revitalisation). The ten factors identified in the review were; language aptitude, age, learner attitudes and motivation, learning strategies, instruction, agency and anxiety, wairua (the spiritual dimension), demography, language status, and language planning.

year: 2013

title: Raising Māori Medium Students' Academic Oral Language Proficiency Through Self and Peer Assessment

authors: Shandley, Rosina Mary

subjects: Māori Medium Education

abstract: In 2012 there were 24,474 year 1 to 8 students being educated in the range of Māori medium bilingual and immersion programmes that exist throughout Aotearoa. This figure made up 25% of the total primary school population.

To ensure the survival of te reo Māori, and the cognitive advantages associated with bilingualism, Māori medium students need to reach a high level of proficiency in both the English and Māori languages over their time at school. They need to develop their language skills beyond basic conversational competency to academic language proficiency.

As well as academic success, Māori medium whānau expect their students to gain a level of competence in te reo Māori that enables them to actively engage in authentic Māori cultural contexts. This is crucial as the interruption to the intergenerational transfer of te reo Māori caused by colonisation means that today Māori medium graduates make up the main pool of speakers who can transmit our language into the future.

Substantial research has evidenced effective pedagogies for supporting students’ second language acquisition internationally. However, to date there have been no empirical studies to evidence effective second language pedagogies that can raise Māori medium students’ academic language in particular. This study aimed to bridge that gap by providing evidence of effective classroom practices that can raise Māori medium students’ academic language proficiency, with a particular focus on oral language competency.

This action research project aimed to raise a group of Māori medium students’ academic oral language proficiency through the practice of self and peer assessment. The participants were a group of eight year 5 and 6 students being educated in a level one Māori medium classroom in a mainstream school in Southland, New Zealand.

Over the 20 weeks of the study the students used a newly developed language matrix of writing outcomes to self and peer assess their learning in their literacy programme. The quantitative and qualitiative results of the study revealed that the confluence of self and peer assessment practices and the new language scaffolds raised the students’ academic oral and written language competency significantly beyond what was normally expected in a Māori medium programme in 20 weeks.

The study findings provide an option for those teachers wishing to develop their Māori medium students’ academic Māori language proficiency. The study also highlights the need for further research into Māori language acquisition pathways, to inform Māori medium oral language progressions and associated assessment development.

text: Raising Māori Medium Students' Academic Oral Language Proficiency Through Self and Peer Assessment In 2012 there were 24,474 year 1 to 8 students being educated in the range of Māori medium bilingual and immersion programmes that exist throughout Aotearoa. This figure made up 25% of the total primary school population.

To ensure the survival of te reo Māori, and the cognitive advantages associated with bilingualism, Māori medium students need to reach a high level of proficiency in both the English and Māori languages over their time at school. They need to develop their language skills beyond basic conversational competency to academic language proficiency.

As well as academic success, Māori medium whānau expect their students to gain a level of competence in te reo Māori that enables them to actively engage in authentic Māori cultural contexts. This is crucial as the interruption to the intergenerational transfer of te reo Māori caused by colonisation means that today Māori medium graduates make up the main pool of speakers who can transmit our language into the future.

Substantial research has evidenced effective pedagogies for supporting students’ second language acquisition internationally. However, to date there have been no empirical studies to evidence effective second language pedagogies that can raise Māori medium students’ academic language in particular. This study aimed to bridge that gap by providing evidence of effective classroom practices that can raise Māori medium students’ academic language proficiency, with a particular focus on oral language competency.

This action research project aimed to raise a group of Māori medium students’ academic oral language proficiency through the practice of self and peer assessment. The participants were a group of eight year 5 and 6 students being educated in a level one Māori medium classroom in a mainstream school in Southland, New Zealand.

Over the 20 weeks of the study the students used a newly developed language matrix of writing outcomes to self and peer assess their learning in their literacy programme. The quantitative and qualitiative results of the study revealed that the confluence of self and peer assessment practices and the new language scaffolds raised the students’ academic oral and written language competency significantly beyond what was normally expected in a Māori medium programme in 20 weeks.

The study findings provide an option for those teachers wishing to develop their Māori medium students’ academic Māori language proficiency. The study also highlights the need for further research into Māori language acquisition pathways, to inform Māori medium oral language progressions and associated assessment development.

year: 2013

title: Human visual-vestibular interaction during curvilinear motion in VR

authors: Garnett, Aden C.

abstract: When people move through the world they use retinal image motion to form an estimate of self-motion, although how this is achieved is not yet fully understood. Furthermore, the process is not fool-proof and many conditions create incorrect percepts of self-motion. In particular, experiencing rotation makes it difficult for humans to correctly perceive heading during movement from visual input alone. 

Here we re-examined human perception of rotation during true and simulated curvilinear motion. Broadly, this was done by simulating movement along various paths using currently available head-mounted stereoscopic virtual reality displays. These displays overcome many of the shortcomings of historical equipment but also represent a significant departure from established setups. As such, the first two experiments, presented together in Chapter 2, replicated experiments from Banks, Ehrlich, Backus, and Crowell (1996) and Crowell, Banks, Shenoy, and Andersen (1998). This was to aid in determining the suitability of consumer-grade virtual reality headsets for self-motion perception research and to provide a point of comparison between this thesis and historical works. 

Following confirmation that the VR devices were suitable for research we developed a virtual line-based bendable response tool. This tool made use of tracked hand controllers to facilitate fast and intuitive reporting of self-motion perception without confounding heading and rotation perception errors. Using this tool we confirmed reports of curvilinear motion perception during linear travel with rotation. We then measured perception of heading and curvature during travel on linear paths of increasingly eccentric heading, finding that eccentric headings elicited perceptions of curvature. We also measured perceptions of travel along curvilinear paths so that a model of human visual-vestibular interaction \cite{perrone2018visual} as it applies to heading perception could be tested against participant performance. Finally, predictions from this model prompted us to measure curvilinear path perception while using a rotating chair that allowed us to provide a rough congruent vestibular signal.

Overall, we found consistent large individual differences in perception across all motion types, although each individual's perceptions were internally consistent. Furthermore, we found that participants perceived curvature while travelling on not only curvilinear paths, but also on linear paths with rotation and linear paths with eccentric headings. The tested model, as implemented, matched participant results well, proving able to explain the majority of the individual differences. Finally, we found that providing a rough congruent vestibular signal resulted in participants perceiving less curved paths compared to when the vestibular signal indicated no rotation.

text: Human visual-vestibular interaction during curvilinear motion in VR When people move through the world they use retinal image motion to form an estimate of self-motion, although how this is achieved is not yet fully understood. Furthermore, the process is not fool-proof and many conditions create incorrect percepts of self-motion. In particular, experiencing rotation makes it difficult for humans to correctly perceive heading during movement from visual input alone. 

Here we re-examined human perception of rotation during true and simulated curvilinear motion. Broadly, this was done by simulating movement along various paths using currently available head-mounted stereoscopic virtual reality displays. These displays overcome many of the shortcomings of historical equipment but also represent a significant departure from established setups. As such, the first two experiments, presented together in Chapter 2, replicated experiments from Banks, Ehrlich, Backus, and Crowell (1996) and Crowell, Banks, Shenoy, and Andersen (1998). This was to aid in determining the suitability of consumer-grade virtual reality headsets for self-motion perception research and to provide a point of comparison between this thesis and historical works. 

Following confirmation that the VR devices were suitable for research we developed a virtual line-based bendable response tool. This tool made use of tracked hand controllers to facilitate fast and intuitive reporting of self-motion perception without confounding heading and rotation perception errors. Using this tool we confirmed reports of curvilinear motion perception during linear travel with rotation. We then measured perception of heading and curvature during travel on linear paths of increasingly eccentric heading, finding that eccentric headings elicited perceptions of curvature. We also measured perceptions of travel along curvilinear paths so that a model of human visual-vestibular interaction \cite{perrone2018visual} as it applies to heading perception could be tested against participant performance. Finally, predictions from this model prompted us to measure curvilinear path perception while using a rotating chair that allowed us to provide a rough congruent vestibular signal.

Overall, we found consistent large individual differences in perception across all motion types, although each individual's perceptions were internally consistent. Furthermore, we found that participants perceived curvature while travelling on not only curvilinear paths, but also on linear paths with rotation and linear paths with eccentric headings. The tested model, as implemented, matched participant results well, proving able to explain the majority of the individual differences. Finally, we found that providing a rough congruent vestibular signal resulted in participants perceiving less curved paths compared to when the vestibular signal indicated no rotation.

year: 2020