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Article published In: Language learning for language minority students in a globalized world
Edited by Mark Feng Teng and Fan Fang
[Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 46:2] 2023
► pp. 186–206

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Integrating Indigenous epistemologies into mainstream foreign language teaching

Teacher interpretations of government policy

ORCiD logo with link | The University of Auckland
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

This article was made Open Access under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license through payment of an APC by or on behalf of the author.

Published online: 27 March 2023
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https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.22039.wan
Abstract
This study explores teacher perspectives on a government policy that seeks to integrate Indigenous knowledge into mainstream foreign language education in New Zealand schools. Based on in-depth interviews, the study found that language teachers generally support this educational change because trans/languaging involving English and te reo Māori (the Māori language) has become an ordinary practice in their teaching and school lives. However, foreign language teachers expressed a need for discipline-specific materials and professional development to help them integrate mātauranga Māori (Indigenous knowledge of Māori) into their teaching. Their concerns can be understood as a lack of support in interpreting “what,” “how,” and “to what extent” the policy will be implemented. The study suggests using a decolonising approach to help teachers affirm the relevance of Indigenous knowledge in their discipline. It recommends that policymakers adopt a pluriversal stance to ensure that diverse knowledge systems can coexist and interact harmoniously rather than compete with one another in the new National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) curriculum.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Indigenous Māori epistemologies
    • 2.2Decolonising approach to language teaching: Theories and practices
    • 2.3Educational change
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Context
    • 3.2Participants
    • 3.3Data collection and data analysis
  • 4.Findings
    • 4.1Teachers’ general attitudes towards integrating mātauranga Māori
    • 4.2Teachers’ perceived challenges in integrating mātauranga Māori
      • 4.2.1Lack of basic knowledge
      • 4.2.2Lack of discipline/language-specific materials and training
      • 4.2.3Lack of a mechanism to prevent tokenistic integration
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • References
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