Trades speak bilingual booklets to help Tongan tradespeople

1 January 2022

Associate Professor Averil Coxhead (School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies), along with graduate and former summer scholar Falakiko (Kiko) Tu'amoheloa have developed a series of bilingual Tongan/English booklets to help learners and teachers in four trades (Carpentry, Plumbing, Automotive Technology, and Fabrication) with the technical vocabulary of their fields.

Averil and Kiko received a Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences research grant which allowed them to edit the booklets, further check the translation, and travel to Tonga to take the booklets for libraries in schools and polytechnics. Next, they plan to begin work on a new project on vocabulary in trades in Tonga, which will focus on the integration of the technical vocabulary into teaching and learning.

“The bilingual word lists will be useful for Tongan speakers who are studying the trades in schools and polytechnics, as well as apprentices and those in the workforce who might have high levels of technical skills in the trades, but need help with technical terms in English. We are keen to see them in the hands of teachers, learners, materials designers, and dictionary makers as soon as possible,” says Averil.

Kiko originally completed the translation with Tongan tradespeople in Wellington, and trades educators in Tonga as part of his Summer Scholarship in 2016–2017. This was part of the Language in Trades Education (LATTE) project with Averil and Dr Jean Parkinson. It also resulted in the publication of an article: Using Talanoa to develop bilingual word lists of technical vocabulary in the trades.

The booklets will be published as part of the English Language Institute Occasional Publications and will be available from Vic Books from early October.