Professor Poia Rewi and his Te Mātāwai team presenting.
Massey was a key sponsor of a three-day conference run by Applied Linguistics in Aotearoa New Zealand, Applied Linguistics Association of Australia, Association of Language Testing in Australia and New Zealand (ALANZ-ALAA-ALTAANZ) held from 25-27 November in Wellington.
The theme of the conference was Applied linguistics in the Asia-Pacific region.
Over 220 delegates from around the globe attended the conference, which covered a wide range of topics including indigenous language issues, sign language learning and interpreting, heritage language maintenance, relationships between language, society and identities, language policy and language pedagogies.
As well as being a key sponsor, Massey also sponsored the opening presentation from Professor Poia Rewi and his team Te Mātāwai, titled Are those closest to the problem also the closest to the solution?
Te Mātāwai is Crown partner and has a key role in supporting and influencing the Crown’s initiatives in protecting, promoting and revitalising the Māori language.
Massey Lecturer Karangawai Marsh was part of the team, presenting the varied and exciting work that she and her group undertake to bring rich te reo experiences to whānau.
Massey’s presence was strongly felt throughout the conference, from Karen Ashton’s key role on the organising committee, to a number of Massey applied linguistics and languages staff (Dr Karen Ashton, Dr Oliver Ballance, Dr Arianna Berardi-Wiltshire, Dr David Ishii, Dr Grace Qi, Dr Gillian Skyrme, Dr Mitsue Tabata-Sandom, Dr Ute Walker) and past and present students (Huan Huang, Anne McCarthy, Hanna Svensson, Lyla Wang) presenting and chairing sessions.
Massey staff breaking for dinner.
A postgraduate breakfast and workshop offered students an opportunity for networking and developing a sense of belonging to the wider research community. As volunteers, Massey students also gained important practical experience in helping with on-the-ground running of the conference and supporting presenters.
Senior Lecturer Dr Karen Ashton says the conference provided a great opportunity to meet up and share current research with colleagues from all over the world, colleagues they haven’t seen face-to-face since before the pandemic.
“Massey staff shared their research on a very diverse range of topics, from the challenges of translating educational policies into everyday practice to support linguistically diverse learners in early childhood education, to supporting language learning in and beyond the classroom and family language policy among Spanish-speaking migrants in New Zealand.”
Current and past PhD students presented on topics such as perceptions of students’ willingness to communicate in Chinese online language learning, the influence of free-market choice belief on English language learning in New Zealand state secondary schools and linguistic inequalities in refugee settlement in New Zealand.
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