Te Reo Māori - National Moderator's Report

Insights

92092: Te Kōrerorero i ngā pārongo, i ngā ariā me ngā whakaaro 

Performance overview:

This standard requires students to interact in spoken reo Māori to share and respond to information, ideas and opinions that are unrehearsed and unscripted. The best evidence for this standard is seen in natural interactions where students have a range of strategies to initiate and sustain a conversation. Rather than moving from one prepared question to the next, they can interact in simple ways with what has been said by their partner and move the interaction along in the direction indicated by responses.  

The standard requires students to refer to present as well as two or more past events and/or experiences in the interaction. In many cases students only talked about present and future events or experiences but do not reference the past, which prevented them from achieving the standard. 

Practices that need strengthening: 

Students need to have the opportunity to provide unrehearsed language in order to provide evidence of language strategies to initiate and sustain the interaction. Evidence of rote learning with pre-arranged/scripted conversations do not allow students to achieve the standard. 

Interviews, where one student (or the teacher) asks questions and the other replies, do not provide sufficient evidence for the standard. Students need to show they can ask and respond to information, ideas and opinions. Tasks need to ensure that both participants have equal opportunity to control the direction of the conversation and take a full and active part in it. 

Successful strategies often included: 

• Asking and answering a variety of questions 
• Asking follow-up questions (Ākonga A: “I te māuiui ahau inanahi”. Ākonga B: “Auē, kei te ora koe ināianei”? Ākonga A: “Aē, kua piki te ora.”)
• Responding to what has been said (“nērā!”,“mīharo”, “auē”)
• Asking open questions which allow for more detailed responses rather than closed questions (‘He aha ō whakaaro mō te kēmu poitūkohu?’ rather than ‘I purei koe i te poitūkohu?’)
• Seeking further information or clarification to keep the conversation going. “Te mīharo hoki, i tūtaki koe ki a Miriama! He aha te kaupapa o tana kōrero ki a koe?”
• Engaging with an extending on specific detail in a partner’s response. (‘Kei te mōhio ahau ki taua wharekai. He tino reka te kai nērā?’)
• Signalling understanding, surprise, affirmation or disagreement with a variety of kīwaha. (‘E kī e kī, Kei runga noa atu koe’)
• Pausing or using expressions to indicate turn taking ( ‘me koe? he aha ō whakaaro?’). 

Everyday contexts need to allow students to use language up to and including curriculum level 6.  

The standard requires evidence of curriculum level 6 language, used to express information, ideas and opinions relevant to different events or experiences. To achieve at any level, students need to communicate about more than one event or experience. An event is anything that takes place or happens. Examples include a trip, a recreational or cultural event. An experience can be a feeling or opinion about something that happened at the event, a memorable encounter with a person or people or reflections or opinions about the event. For example, talking about a favourite place and then a special experience that happened there. 

It is possible for students to complete two shorter interactions rather than a single longer one, as long as each event and or experience is different. This allows a variety of language to be used. For example, the first interaction could be talking about an event that both students attended, and the second interaction could have been meeting a friend after not being in contact for a long time. Where there are two interactions the total sufficiency of four minutes is spread across both, i.e. the individual contribution would be a minimum of one minute for each of the two interactions. 

92093: Te whakapuaki whakaaro e pā ana ki tētahi horopaki e ora nei te reo

Performance overview: 

The standard requires students to communicate in te reo Māori in relation to a language vitality context. Students are expected to express information, ideas, and opinions relevant to the chosen context. The standard allows students’ choice on the mode they use for evidence presentation – written, spoken or a combination of writing and speaking. 

Practices that need strengthening: 

The greatest issue noted in moderation was the absence of a connection between the selected context and language vitality which prevents students from achieving the standard. All tasks require students to express information, ideas and opinions on why the context is important to the health or promotion of te reo Māori. In writing or speaking students typically gave information about the selected context without making a connection to show how the context promotes and strengthens the use of te reo Māori. Examples of how the context impacts te reo Māori include: 

• Inspiring and motivating te reo Māori learning and use
• Promoting Māori identity (tuakiritanga), language and culture
• Fostering a cultural connection for non-Māori to contribute to the revitalisation of te reo Māori
• Teaching tikanga, pūrākau, history
• Normalising the use of te reo Māori in society. 

Students may choose to connect at a personal/ whānau level with a revitalisation context but equally they could look at a societal or national level. For example, language champions such as Stan Walker are role models who show how te reo Māori can be reintroduced at a personal and whānau level and show how waiata can revitalise and promote te reo Māori.  

As for 1.1. students need to communicate about more than one event or experience and the language used needs to be clearly different in each. Many students only referenced a single event or experience. Tasks need to ensure that students can communicate on a minimum of two different events and/or experiences. 

91288: Waihanga tuhinga auaha, i te reo o te ao torotoro (2.5) 

91654: Waihanga tuhinga whai take i te reo Māori o te ao whānui (3.5) 

Performance overview: 

These writing standards focus on the process of crafting to produce written texts. The stages of the crafting process are brainstorming, drafting, proof-reading, revising and editing which are captured though a range of drafts prior to the final version which is then submitted for assessment.  

Practices that need strengthening: 

An increasing trend for both standards has been the inclusion of an English version of the writing as the only example of the crafting process. Examples include the complete English version of the written text, or a paragraph of English followed by the paragraph in te reo Māori. This practice does not meet the crafting requirements for 2.5 and 3.5 and may indicate the use of AI to generate reo Māori text which affects the authenticity of student evidence.   

The expectation is that the planning/brainstorming can be in either language but at least one revision draft needs to be in te reo Māori. This revision draft will show the editing undertaken by the student prior to completing the final draft which is assessed. 

Examples of editing the revision draft include: 

• Checking and correcting grammar 
• Checking and correcting punctuation (capital letters, full stops, spelling, typos, run-on sentences, syntax(word order) and macrons or double vowels) 
• Checking for the inclusion of relevant language features e.g. kīwaha, whakataukī, kupu whakarite, reo whakaahua  
• Re-arranging ideas and sequencing paragraphs to link coherently to meet the requirements of the text type and task 
• Checking ideas are supported with details, explanation and or examples.  

For moderation, the planning/brainstorming, at least one te reo Māori draft and the final edited version need to be included with the moderation submission, as indicated in the Explanatory Notes for 2.5 and 3.5. The inclusion will show the crafting process and authenticate the writing as the student’s own work. 

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