Glossary of terms used

Bilingual: Competent in two languages. A bilingual person can speak two languages.

Cluster: see 'School cluster'.

Community languages: Languages spoken at home, at religious gatherings, at community meetings, and sometimes at school. These include the languages of migrant communities in New Zealand, such as Cantonese and Somali. Pacific languages are also community languages. The Ministry of Education's Tupu series provides materials in five Pacific languages.

ESOL: English for Speakers of Other Languages.

First language: 'Native language'; or 'mother tongue', that is, the first language a child learns, as distinct from other languages they learn later. Children born to parents who speak two different languages often acquire two 'first' languages. The term 'first', in this context, does not imply any suggestion of the status of a language within society.

Foreign language: An international language.

Immersion: In New Zealand, an immersion programme is defined as one where the whole curriculum is provided in a language other than English. A 'full immersion' programme uses the language other than English for more than 80 per cent of the time; a 'part immersion programme' for between 50 per cent and 80 per cent. The school environment reflects the culture and conventions of the immersion language. The New Zealand approach to 'immersion' education is partly modelled on developments in Quebec, Canada, which cater for children of English speakers who want their children to communicate fluently in French.

International language: A language that is neither the first language nor a community language of the students. In New Zealand, this term is generally preferred to 'foreign language'.

Language acquisition programme: A programme that helps learners to acquire fluency in communicating in another language, using second-language learning and teaching strategies within the cultural context of the language.

Language of instruction: The language in which the curriculum is taught, (usually English or te reo Māori).

Language maintenance programme: A programme that involves additional, focused, continuing use of the language, spoken naturally within the normal patterning of everyday life as the first language of the speakers of the group and supported within the school context. Bilingual and immersion programmes are examples of language maintenance programmes for many students.

LOTE: Languages Other Than English, (a term widely used in Australia).

Native speaker: A person who speaks a language as their ‘first language’.

NESB: Non-English-speaking-background. This acronym denotes students who speak a language other than English as their first language within their families and communities. The term is used to describe students from a wide range of ethnic, cultural, social, and linguistic backgrounds, including many who were born and brought up in New Zealand.

Official languages: English and te reo Māori are the official languages of New Zealand. English is the first language of most New Zealanders, but it is the second language for first language speakers of Māori, and also for many migrants to this country. Māori is the language of instruction in Māori immersion education, and is also taught in similar ways to international languages in many schools. Learning Languages may therefore be useful for schools that are setting up a programme for te reo Māori.

School cluster: A number of schools, usually in the same geographical area, that form a group or 'cluster' in order to work together and share resources.

Second language: Any language learned after acquiring the first language as a child. The term 'second language' may, in fact, encompass a third, fourth, or fifth language as additional languages are learned.

Target language or target culture: The language or culture aspired to in a specific learning and teaching programme.

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