Glossary of English terms
This glossary describes how terms that appear in bold (on their first occurrence) are used within this document.
Accuracy
Accuracy is the ability to produce error-free spoken and written language appropriate to the context.
Achievement objectives
Achievement objectives are broad statements of anticipated learning outcomes. At each curriculum level, new achievement objectives are introduced. As a group, these achievement objectives represent the expected outcomes for that level.
Curriculum guidelines
Curriculum guidelines inform teachers’ programme planning by setting achievement objectives for students to work towards and by suggesting a range of possible tasks and activities through which students can meet these objectives. Although these guidelines for te reo Māori include high-frequency vocabulary that could be integrated in a holistic way at each level, this is not a prescribed list. Nor do the guidelines specify the content of te reo Māori programmes for each group of Māori language learners in any particular context. (See also “Programme of work”.)
Curriculum level
In New Zealand Ministry of Education curriculum documents, there are eight levels that define a progression of difficulty through increasingly complex achievement objectives. The curriculum levels do not necessarily coincide with year levels. (Refer to page 23 for more on curriculum levels.)
Declarative knowledge
Declarative knowledge is knowledge about the language. It relates to “knowing that …”, for example, knowing that the word whare is usually a noun; knowing that whaikōrero has certain structural elements. (See also “Procedural knowledge”.)
Discourse competence
Discourse competence is the ability to understand and produce the range of spoken, written, and visual texts that are characteristic of a language so that they are well-formed and clear. It includes the ability to convey information coherently to those who listen to, read, or view those texts.
Fluency
Fluency is the ability to listen to, speak, read, or write a language, so that it “flows” readily, by recognising and producing spoken words and rapidly decoding and making meaning from written text.
Form-focused instruction
(also referred to as language-focused instruction) This means the conscious attempt to teach language items (such as vocabulary or structures) where the focus is not on the learner communicating a message but on their learning a particular feature of the language.
Formative assessment
Formative assessment is the monitoring that occurs throughout the process of learning, providing students with feedback on how they are doing and what their next learning steps are.
Language mode
Reference is made to six language modes: reading, writing, viewing, listening, speaking, and presenting. Speaking, writing, and presenting involve producing language (that is, output), and listening, reading, and viewing involve processing language produced by others (that is, input).
Language learning context
Language learning cannot take place without contexts that provide meaning and purpose. These include relevant sociocultural themes (for example, manaakitanga/hospitality), topics (for example, sport and leisure gatherings), and text types (for example, posters, flyers, and email messages). (See “Curriculum guidelines” for the reason for doing this.)
Meaning-focused input
This is spoken or written input that learners receive by listening, reading, or viewing and where only a small proportion of the content is unknown. (Ideally, 98 percent of the vocabulary used in meaning-focused input will be familiar to the learners.) Extensive reading of texts at the right level of difficulty is a very good way for language learners to benefit from meaning-focused input.
Meaning-focused output
This is language that is produced by speaking, writing, or presenting in such a way that those listening, reading, or viewing can understand its meaning.
National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA)
The National Certificate of Educational Achievement for secondary school students is based on achievement standards and unit standards that describe broad outcomes and recognise three levels of performance.
Presenting
Presenting is one of six language modes (reading, writing, viewing, listening, speaking, and presenting). It involves producing texts that have visual features, either stand alone or in combination with verbal features, such as the combination of words and images in advertising brochures, or gestures and body-positioning in performance. (See “Viewing”.)
Procedural knowledge
Procedural knowledge is “knowing how”; for example, in using te reo Māori, knowing how to pronounce a word or greet manuhiri. (See “Declarative knowledge”.)
Productive skills
Productive skills are those that involve using knowledge and understanding of a language to speak, write, and present information for different purposes and audiences. (See “Receptive skills”.)
Productive use
Productive use occurs where learners not only recognise words and expressions but also use them accurately and appropriately. (See “Receptive acquisition”.)
Proficiency target statement
A proficiency target statement describes the kind of language students should be able to understand and produce by the end of each pair of curriculum levels. There are four proficiency target statements for the eight curriculum levels.
Programme of work
A programme of work is a plan for teaching and learning in a specific subject area. It may cover a single term’s work, a year’s work, or more. Programmes of work in te reo Māori will be based on the achievement objectives in these curriculum guidelines and will specify how students will learn and how they will demonstrate that they have met the achievement objectives. Planning a programme of work involves specifying the intended content of the course, the intended approaches to teaching and learning, the intended materials, and the intended learning, assessment, and evaluation tasks. It will include, or describe, specific lessons or unit plans. A programme of work will always be open to revision in view of the students’ developing needs and interests.
Receptive acquisition
This process occurs where learners can recognise and understand words and expressions but cannot yet use them accurately and appropriately themselves. (See also “Productive use”.)
Receptive skills
Receptive skills are those of receiving and interpreting information, that is, listening, reading, and viewing. (See “Productive skills”.)
Self-access centre
This facility is a resource centre where students can access Māori language materials (or those in other languages that they are learning). It supports self-directed learning and the development of learner autonomy.
Sociocultural themes
Sociocultural themes are ideas or concepts that are socially or culturally significant. The suggested sociocultural themes at each curriculum level relate directly (for example, whakapapa/genealogy) or indirectly (for example, te akomanga/the classroom) to tikanga Māori. Well-chosen sociocultural themes can provide an overall context that gives unity to the teaching and learning at that level.
Sociolinguistic competence
This means understanding social and cultural effects on language use and producing language that is appropriate to various contexts and interactions.
Strategic competence
Strategic competence is the ability to repair breakdowns in communication, using a range of strategies such as repetition, paraphrasing, miming, avoiding problematic concepts, and asking for help.
Summative assessment
Summative assessment takes place at the end of a unit (or units) of work.
Text types
Examples of written text types are personal and business letters, forms, manuals, and reviews. Spoken text types include weather forecasts, lectures, sports commentaries, and news bulletins. Visual text types may include performance, static images, web pages, signs and symbols, television, and other media. Some text types are specific to certain communities and have cultural significance. Thus, for example, Māori communities include whaikōrero among spoken text types. In the tables at each level, culturally significant text types (for example, waiata Māori) precede more general text types (for example, video presentations).
Topics
Topics are subjects for reading, writing, debate, and discussion. They are suggestions only; there are no prescribed topics. In the tables at each level, topics relevant to tikanga Māori precede more general topics.
Viewing
Viewing is one of the six language modes (reading, writing, viewing, listening, speaking, and presenting). It involves processing texts that have visual features, either stand alone or in combination with oral and/or written language, such as advertisements made up of combinations of words and images; films that involve spoken language; moving images and visual language; or performances that incorporate gesture and body positioning. (See also “Presenting”.)