Raising M Ori Medium Students' Academic Language Proficiency

To ensure the survival of the Mori language, and the cognitive advantages associated with bilingualism, Mori medium students need to reach a high level of proficiency in both the English and Mori languages over their time at school. As well as academic success, Mori medium whnau expect their students to gain a level of competence in te reo Mori that enables them to actively engage in authentic Mori cultural contexts. This is crucial as the historical interruption to the intergenerational transfer of te reo Mori means that today Mori medium graduates make up the main pool of speakers who can transmit our language into the future. This book describes an action research project in which a group of Maori medium students used a newly developed language matrix of writing outcomes to self and peer assess their learning in their literacy programme. The 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 Mori medium programme.