Promoting the Māori language to non-Māori: evaluating the New Zealand government’s approach

New Zealand’s two main government Māori language planning agencies, the Māori Language Commission and the Ministry of Māori Development, have engaged for some time in language planning targeting the attitudes and behaviours of non-Māori New Zealanders towards the Māori language. This activity is undertaken on the basis that the attitudes and behaviours of majority language speakers exert an important influence on the health of minority languages. To date, however, there has been little evaluation of the effectiveness of these agencies in this area of language planning. The present article examines the official policy and relevant policy initiatives undertaken by the Māori Language Commission and the Ministry of Māori Development to promote positive attitudes and behaviours towards the Māori language among non-Māori New Zealanders. It goes on to evaluate the effectiveness of these agencies in this area, focusing both on aspects internal to the organisations and external responses to relevant policy initiatives. Based on this combined analysis, the article discusses points for improvement and potentially effective future directions for this kind of language planning in New Zealand.