Appendix 4: Assessment Framework for Te Reo Māori Contents: 1. Introduction 20 2. Te reo Māori in the New Zealand Curriculum 20 3. What will the assessment of te reo Māori tell us? 21 4. Making valid claims about te reo Māori assessment results 21 Tables: Table A4.1 Summary of reference points in NZ curriculum statements, as applicable to the assessment of te reo Māori 20 Table A4.2 Conceptual assessment framework for te reo Māori assessment 21 Table A4.3 Item map for an assessment of te reo Māori 22 Introduction Ko te reo te mauri o te mana Māori • The language is the life force of mana Māori Sir James Henare Te reo Māori is an official language of Aotearoa New Zealand. The te reo Māori group-administered assessment is designed primarily to monitor students’ knowledge and understanding of te reo Māori words and phrases in Year 4 and Year 8, in English-medium schools. This document locates the assessment of te reo Māori in relation to the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC), and provides an overview of the framework that guided development of the assessment. Te reo Māori in the New Zealand Curriculum Te reo Māori is included in the learning languages area of the NZC. The three inter-related strands of learning languages as they can be applied to te reo Māori are: communicative competence: the use of te reo Māori to engage in meaningful social interactions language knowledge: the accurate use of te reo Māori, from the single-word level to more complex language structures cultural knowledge: an awareness of cultural beliefs being expressed through te reo Māori and cultural practices. Te reo Māori differs from other learning areas in that there is no compulsion to teach te reo Māori to a particular level of proficiency in particular years in English-medium contexts. Therefore, a student’s age is not necessarily related to their knowledge of te reo Māori (arguably, a 5-year-old and a 13-year-old could
Table A4.3 Item map for an assessment of te reo Māori Main questions Related sub-questions Item types Respond in Māori to Māori selected-response English to Māori, selected-response Māori to English, selected-response English to Māori, short written response Māori to English, short written response To what extent are students developing: Can students: communicative competence in te reo Māori? recognise appropriate responses to simple questions in te reo Māori? accurately record equivalent English words for te reo Māori words, and vice versa? language knowledge associated with te reo Māori? identify English equivalents of te reo Māori words in common use by English speakers (‘loan words’ such as haka and kai), and vice versa? identify English equivalents of te reo Māori words (e.g., body parts, classroom objects), and vice versa? cultural knowledge associated with te reo Māori? identify English equivalents of te reo Māori words associated with tikanga Māori (e.g. formal speech), and vice versa (e.g. karanga)?
References Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington: Ministry of Education. Ministry of Education. (2009). Te Aho Arataki Marau mō te Ako i Te Reo Māori – Kura Auraki/Curriculum Guidelines for Teaching and Learning Te Reo Māori in English-medium Schools: Years 1-13. Wellington: Author.