Literacy experts say no problem with Māori words in book for learner readers
Photo:
RNZ / John Gerritsen
Literacy experts are challenging the Education Ministry's decision to
discontinue a junior reading book that contains six Māori words
.
The ministry said it would not reprint 'At the Marae' in its small book or 'reader' version because it included a higher number of Māori words, "which present decoding challenges within the phonics sequence used in the series".
"The primary challenge lies in the multisyllabic nature of many kupu Māori (e.g., karakia, wharenui), which have not yet been introduced at this stage of the series. Additionally, vowel sounds in these words differ from those specifically taught at this point, making them difficult for early readers to decode," it said.
The ministry said the book would be reprinted in a large format for teachers to read with their classes.
It said other books in the Ready to Read Phonics Plus series had Māori words and would continue to be printed as readers.
"Given the high proportion of non-decodable words, At the Marae is best suited for shared reading. This informed the Ministry's decision to reprint it as a big book, supported by updated and expanded teacher guidance to ensure it continues to be a valuable resource in the classroom."
The book's author, University of Canterbury senior lecturer in Māori education Jen Smith, said she was incredibly sad and disappointed because she wanted Māori children to see their culture reflected in their readers.
"Te reo Māori was absent from my own literacy learning," she said.
"And so I was thinking about all of the children that we've got out there, even though they're not learning in te reo Māori, still have a really unique relationship with it."
The book was one of more than 75 in a series written specifically to help children learn to read through structured literacy - a sequential approach focused on matching sounds and letters.
The books were written in tandem with Better Start, a structured literacy approach developed by Canterbury University and used by 1000 New Zealand schools
Better Start's founder Gail Gillon said discontinuing the reader version of 'At the Marae' was a "very odd decision".
"There's absolutely no evidence to suggest children are finding this reader confusing. And in fact, our data would suggest the opposite," she said.
Professor Gillon said the reader's focus was on words with "st" such as stuck and step and while it had a few more Māori words than other readers, that should not present any problems.
"There's absolutely no evidence that by introducing two or three more kupu Māori that reader is confusing children."
Professor Gillon said it was important children saw themselves and their cultures in the readers.
"It's just one reader within the series, and I think it would be a shame to to pull it from print. I know they're looking to keep it as a large picture book, but it's also really important that children are taking these little readers home and reading with their whanau," she said.
University of Waikato linguistics senior lecturer Julie Barbour said Māori's writing system was one of the least problematic of any language.
"There's nearly a perfect one-to-one relationship between sounds of speech and letters which are used to represent those sounds," she said.
"So when children are being taught to decode words sound by sound, te reo Māori is not going to cause problems for those children because there is a consistent regular pattern of one symbol reflecting one speech sound."
Barbour said the five Māori vowels matched five of the 12 English vowel sounds so that should not confuse children either.
She said children already knew the Māori words in the reader such as kai and whare and it was appropriate they learned to read them.
Barbour said close to one-fifth of the population identified as Māori and generations of Māori had been denied access to their language.
"So having children's books that have a sprinkling of kupu Māori is really the entry point for servicing any kind of education system for Māori children, so absolutely from the outset we need Māori words," she said.
Jennie Watts from structured literacy advocates, Lifting Literacy Aotearoa, said te reo was important.
She said teachers needed to prepare learner readers for words in Māori.
"It's important that the proportion of te reo Māori words that do turn up on the page is managed carefully so that the words can be taught first or children can be exposed to those words prior to being required to read the text themselves," she said.
Watts said books with a higher proportion of Māori words had a higher "cognitive load", meaning learners would find them more complicated.
She said children could cope with a small number of "non-decodable" words if they were explicitly taught about them beforehand.
"It's the skill of the teacher that is crucial here. Highly-skilled teachers can deliver the right texts at the right time for maximum effect."
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