Dual Language Picturebooks in English and Māori

Dual language or bilingual picture books are extremely powerful resources in the education of children who come to school with multiple languages (Helot and O’Laire; Sneddon). The way languages are presented within such books reveals attitudes towards languages within sociolinguistic settings (Hadaway and Young). Children’s picture books featuring more than one language, known as Dual Language Books (DLBs), are not only important in maintaining community languages belonging to immigrant and refugee communities but also have an important role to play in maintaining indigenous languages (Hadaway and Young). In this paper, representations of te reo Māori (the indigenous language of New Zealand) in Dual Language Books are analyzed and discussed in relation to the current New Zealand sociolinguistic setting and to the educational policy supporting the use of te reo Māori in all classrooms.