Laughing at Mistakes: Language Politics, Counter-Hegemonic Actions, and Bilingual Education in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Abstract

This article analyzes how minority-language students responded to what they felt to be disrespectful behavior of a mainstream teacher towards their language from a case at an Aotearoa/New Zealand school in 1997–1998. Even when minority language is recognized officially and institutionally, as in Aotearoa/New Zealand, some minority-language speakers still face disrespectful behavior towards their language in daily life. However, previous research on empowering minority language speakers has tended to focus on macrolevel reforms or microlevel survival strategies. By analyzing Māori/English bilingual students' laughing at a mainstream teacher's mispronunciation of Te Reo words, which had loaded effects due to the current cultural politics in Aotearoa/New Zealand, this article explores a microlevel strategy for minority language speakers to effectively challenge hegemonic norms that marginalize their language in daily life.