Learning Māori in the workplace: non-Māori learners’ assessment of the value of te reo

ABSTRACT

In New Zealand, te reo Māori (or just te reo) is currently being learned as a second language by record numbers of non-Māori, many of whom are increasingly able to access it through language courses offered by their employing organisations. Considering recent research and policy advocating the value of te reo for all New Zealanders, workplace courses of the language represent important new spaces for the development of normalising discourses and initiatives. Drawing on a small-scale qualitative study, we examine how the value of te reo is understood by adult non-Māori staff who choose to learn it at a New Zealand university. We find that the learners assess te reo according to categories of value that exist in close relation to one another as part of personal systems of value, within which organisational discourses about te reo are integrated. The language is perceived as valuable not only in instrumental terms for the participants' professional life, but as a meaningful symbol of national identity, of exemplary citizenship, and of their responsibility toward creating a more harmonious society. Overall, the study provides preliminary evidence of the potential contribution of workplace courses of te reo for its wider normalisation across New Zealand.

KEYWORDS:

• Te reo Māori
• Language Revitalisation
• New Zealand
• Indigenous languages
• Language value
• LOTEs (Languages other than English)

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 New Zealand’s founding document, which formalises the partnership between Māori and the British Crown.

2 The sacred communal space at the heart of traditional Māori community life, used for community meetings and reunions, functions and celebrations.

3 ‘Treaty,’ referring to the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Arianna Berardi-Wiltshire

Arianna Berardi-Wiltshire is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics at Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand. Her primary areas of research are language learning motivation and heritage language education and revitalisation, with her most recent studies exploring the language maintenance efforts of NZ migrant families from a Family Language Policy perspective and the learning of te reo Māori as a second language in the workplace.

María Celina Bortolotto

María Celina Bortolotto is Senior Lecturer in Spanish at Massey University in New Zealand. Her research explores the relationship between cultural values and personal emotions, such as shame and humour. She also studies emotions and motivation in L2 learning. Among her latest relevant publications are Berardi-Wiltshire, A., Bortolotto, M. C., & Morris, H. (2020); Bortolotto, M.C.; Farnsworth, M. (2021). Los cuerpos de los otros: Mandatos patriarcales y cuerpos rebeldes de mujeres en Elena Sabe (2007) de Claudia Piñeiro. MIFLC Review, 20, 32–51.