About the project

To better understand the drivers influencing the acquisition of te reo Māori.  Specifically, to understand the impact of whānau attitudes to Māori culture and language on the acquisition of ability in te reo Māori by tamariki, intergenerational transmission of te reo Māori within the whānau, and the impact of Māori medium early childhood education – including Kōhanga Reo – on the acquisition of te reo Māori by tamariki.

The main research questions are:

1. What are the factors that influence te reo Māori acquisition in early childhood?

2. Do different whānau attitudes to Māori culture and language explain the variation of te reo Māori language acquisition in early childhood?

3. Do different ECE settings explain the differences in te reo Māori acquisition in early childhood?

4. What are the factors that influence participation in Māori medium early childhood education?

5. How do community, whānau and individual factors interact to have an impact in te reo Māori proficiency in early childhood?

The project seeks to use Growing Up in New Zealand (GUINZ) data related to language acquisition, including the environment the children lived in before going to school, specifically the cultural environment and the participation in Māori medium ECE.  

Multivariate regression will be used to answer the above questions.  Distance to Māori medium ECE may be used as an instrumental variable to understand causality.

The purpose of this research is to improve He Ara Poutama mō te reo Māori (HAP), a world-first microsimulation model that models te reo Māori acquisition in Aotearoa.

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Start date: 1/06/2023