Maryanne Pale First year PhD candidate Faculty of Education
Educational Research for Tongan Students
Maryanne Feifai Pale is a first year Doctor of Philosophy in Education (PhD) candidate in the Faculty of Education at the University of Auckland. Her parents are Lauloe and Sinai Takala Pale from Vaini and they reside in Onehunga, Auckland, NZ.
Her interest in literacy development amongst Pasifika students began as a Primary school teacher. After a few years of teaching in South Auckland, she realized that the reading achievement gaps were apparent and it varied from year to year. She was keen to find out ways to enhance her teaching skills so that it may reduce the reading achievement disparities amongst students. She trained as Reading Recovery teacher which provided her with a specialized way of teaching students who were underachieving in reading. She continued to teach as a Reading Recovery teacher whilst she pursued her post-graduate studies at the University of Auckland.
Upon the completion of her Master of Education (Honours), she received an opportunity to work as a Research Assistant within the Woolf Fisher Research Center in the Faculty of Education at the University of Auckland. This research center looks at the development of education and schooling success within South Auckland communities which aims to promote research-based positive educational interventions working with children/students, teachers, communities and colleagues in South Auckland. There is a particular emphasis on Maori and Pasifika children’s educational achievement. As a research assistant her interest in educational research developed and it was during this time that she decided to pursue a PhD.
Maryanne’s PhD study will examine how vocabulary is taught in two Tongan Bilingual contexts in schools and the impact that vocabulary instruction might be on students’ reading comprehension. The achievement of Pasifika children is known to be generally very low compared to the majority of children in NZ. There have been success, for example, in the case of reading comprehension (McNaughton, MacDonald, Amituanai-Toloa, Lai & Farry, 2006), but there is yet evidence to show Pasifika achievement at and above national norms. In the case of students in Tongan bilingual contexts in schools, it is hypothesised that low vocabulary knowledge might be one of the areas to concentrate on as it has a stronger impact on reading comprehension. In other studies, it is known that teachers focus on vocabulary intensively during reading thus indicating that this is an important area to explore (Amituanai-Toloa, 2005). Currently there is no available research on the vocabulary instruction and reading achievement of students in Tongan bilingual contexts within schools here in NZ which is why Maryanne decided to take this path for her PhD study.
This PhD journey will act as a stepping stone for what lies ahead for Maryanne as a Tongan researcher. She believes that at the completion of her doctoral study, it will lead to inform teacher education and practice. She also believes that the best contribution that she can make to Pasifika education is to continue developing as an academic and continue to engage in educational research that makes a difference to Tongan student achievement as well as Pasifika student achievement.
Her advice for fellow Pasifika post-graduate students is to find a topic that you are most passionate about and strive to make a difference within your own faculty and within the Pasifika community at large. Who you are makes a difference.
Maryanne was the recipient for the NZ Ministry of Education Pasifika Research Study Award 2008 & 2009. Article submitted by Valentina Vaihu
Shot Meli….Keep up the good work!!!!
All the best Maryanne - from the Langi family
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