Using workplaces to research attitudes and behaviours towards the Maori language in Wellington

This research report discusses the workplace-based methodological design and selected findings of my PhD research on the attitudes and behaviours of non-Māori New Zealanders towards the Māori language. A participant recruitment approach at nine white-collar workplaces in Wellington was used to attempt to access non-Māori participants with a range of attitudes towards the Māori language. Although this workplace-based design was mainly intended to facilitate access to a range of participants, the data collection also resulted in a number of findings relating to Māori language in the workplace in particular. This report discusses a selection of these findings, including the association between participants’ workplaces and their attitudes towards the Māori language, participants’ stated behaviours towards the Māori language at work (including pronunciation of Māori words, using Māori words and phrases, and responding to the use of Māori by others) and participants’ views on how their workplace environment constrains and/or fosters their Māori language use.