Using dual language picturebooks to teach language contact phenomena in a tertiary context

ABSTRACT

Increasingly, New Zealand English and Te Reo Māori are being woven together in Aotearoa New Zealand. This weaving is evident in the text of many dual language picturebooks. While the combination of text and image in picturebooks creates a powerful pedagogical tool, there is little research exploring their use with tertiary Arts students. In this article, we explore how dual language picturebooks were used in a tertiary Arts class to introduce language contact concepts. The responses of a tertiary educator and students to this pedagogy are analysed and discussed, confirming the value of this pedagogical approach.

KEYWORDS:

• dual language picturebooks
• tertiary education
• language contact
• arts students
• Te Reo Māori
• New Zealand English

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the participants in this research. As always our gratitude goes to our colleagues in the university library for their consistent support in accessing resources.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 From the Division of Education Ethics Committee at the University of Waikato.

2 The set of dual language picturebooks chosen for tutorial activities comprised:

How Maui slowed the sun (1982) written and illustrated by Peter Gossage; Oh Hogwash, Sweet pea! (2003) written by Ngāreta Gabel, translated and adapted from te reo Māori by Hannah Rainforth, illustrated by Ali Teo and Astrid Jensen; Koro’s Medicine (2004) written by Melanie Drewery and illustrated by Sabrina Malcolm; Roimata’s Cloak (2007) written by Esther Tamehana and illustrated by James Molnar; and The Little Kiwi’s Matariki (2016) written and illustrated by Nikki Slade-Robinson.

3 A te Reo Māori edition of this book entitled ‘Haere’ was also published in 2003.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nicola Daly

Julie Barbour is a Senior Lecturer in Linguistics in Te Kura Toi (School of Arts) at the University of Waikato, specialising in the documentation and analysis of the indigenous languages of Malekula Island in Vanuatu. Julie conducts and supervises community language research in Vanuatu in the areas of documentary, descriptive, comparative and historical linguistics. While primarily a grammarian, Julie has also presented on and published in the areas of sociolinguistics and educational research. She is involved in a long term project with colleague Associate Professor Nicola Daly in the analysis of picture books from Aotearoa, which focuses on the weaving together of te reo Māori and New Zealand English in children’s literature