Revitalizing the Maori Language: Focus on Educational Reform

Abstract

By the beginning of the last quarter of the twentieth century, it had become clear that the Māori language, which was intertwined with Māori culture, was in danger of dying out. The Government of New Zealand, in collaboration with Māori community leaders, invested considerable resources in efforts to revitalize Māori from the 1980s onwards. This study traces the linguistic experience of the Māori people over the period since their first contact with European explorers in 1769, the subsequent reduction of their language to writing, the introduction of a policy of assimilation in the nineteenth century, and reform to grant the language a deserved status in the educational system from the launch of Kōhanga Reo in 1982 till the declaration of the He Taonga Te Reo theme year in 1995 and the aftermath. The educational reform measures include the creation of hundreds of bilingual (Māori and English) schools. The successes of the reform measures as well as their weaknesses and problems are discussed from the standpoint of the Māori language revitalization effort.