1
Challenges for Teaching Literacy in
Gaelic-Medium Primary Classrooms

• Irene Pollock
• University of Edinburgh
• Language Policy and Planning Series
• 22 November 2006

2
Overview of Presentation

• PhD Research Methodology
• Gaelic-medium/Immersion Education
• Minority Language Revitalisation
• Bilingualism
• Literacy
• Classroom Resources
• Teaching Techniques
• Oracy and the School Environment
• Challenges

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PhD The Acquisition of Literacy in Gaelic-medium
Primary Classrooms in Scotland

• Fieldwork-based analysis of literacy
• Case-study details
• Classroom observation in 2004-2005
• 7 P1-P3 classrooms in 6 schools (10 of total
  Central, Daliburgh, Meadowburn, Salen, Sleat,
  Stornoway)
• 8 observation sessions per classroom (130 hours
  total)
• 104 P1-P3 pupils (11 of total)

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PhD The Acquisition of Literacy in Gaelic-medium
Primary Classrooms in Scotland (2)

• Teacher questionnaires initial (35 - 43) and
  follow-up (18 86)
• Teacher interviews (15)
• Parent questionnaires initial (75 72) and
  follow-up (15 36)
• Other interviews
• Headteachers
• Staff at University of Strathclyde/Jordanhill
• Staff at Stòrlann
• Education officers
• Researchers

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Existing Literature

• Johnstone et al. (1994 1999)
• MacKinnon (e.g. 1977 1992 2004 2006)
• Murray Morrison (1984)
• Stradling MacNeil (e.g. 1995 1996 2000)
• 2001 census results

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Reasons for Research

• General paucity of research on Gaelic and
  Gaelic-medium education
• Literacy often unacknowledged
• Fieldwork-based studies rare
• Update of existing material

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Gaelic-medium Education

• National Guidelines for Gaelic 5-14 (1993
  revision forthcoming) the purpose of GME is to
  provide pupils with broadly equal competence in
  Gaelic and English, in all the skills, by the end
  of P7 (p.6)
• Immersion methodology (cf. Canada, Wales)
• Involves both first and second-language speakers

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Statistics on Gaelic-medium Education

• Number of Gaelic-medium Units
  1985-2005

• Comparison of Gaelic-medium Units
• across Authorities

Authority Units Units Pupils Pupils
Aberdeen City 1 1.6 45 2.2
Angus 1 1.6 16 0.7
Argyll Bute 6 9.8 157 7.6
East Ayrshire 1 1.6 30 1.5
East Dunbartonshire 1 1.6 46 2.2
Edinburgh City 1 1.6 90 4.4
Eilean Siar 25 41.0 492 23.8
Glasgow City 1 1.6 195 9.4
Highland 19 31.1 710 34.3
Inverclyde 1 1.6 24 1.2
North Lanarkshire 1 1.6 105 5.1
Perth Kinross 1 1.6 5 0.2
South Lanarkshire 1 1.6 84 4.1
Stirling 1 1.6 69 3.3

• Numbers of Pupils in Gaelic-medium
• Units 1985-2005

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Minority Language Revitalisation

• Worldwide language loss
• Revival v. revitalisation
• Bilingual and diglossic societies
• Intergenerational transmission
• Language planning
• Status
• Corpus
• Acquisition

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Bilingualism

• Changing attitudes detrimental, neutral, and
  additive effects
• Transfer and interference
• Balanced bilingualism
• Cognitive and social advantages
• Acquisition
• Dichotomies
• Simultaneous v. successive
• Compound v. coordinate
• Additive v. subtractive

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Literacy and Biliteracy Acquisition

• Learning to read and learning through reading
• Predictors of success
• Exposure to print and books in the home
• Attitude
• Oral skills
• Phonological awareness
• Vocabulary
• Order of introduction
• Rich get richer phenomenon

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Literacy and Biliteracy Theories

• Types of literacy
• Functional
• Critical
• Cultural
• Decoding and encoding
• Constructing meaning and decoding meaning
• Contributions to language development

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Literacy and Biliteracy Teaching

• Teaching methods
• Phonics
• Whole Language
• Language Experience Approach
• Oral reading
• Shared and paired reading
• Assessment
• Oral fluency
• Comprehension
• Cloze testing
• Miscue analysis

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Literacy and Biliteracy Resources

• Importance of resources
• Translation
• Reading schemes
• 20-25 books outside of curriculum per year (Honig
  (2001))

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Literacy and Biliteracy Mechanics

• Sound-symbol correspondence
• Top-down v. bottom-up processing
• Print awareness
• Role of writing
• Letter names v. sounds
• Repetition, rhyme, and rhythm

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Fieldwork Results Classroom Resources

• Books, worksheets, posters, tapes/CDs,
  videos/DVDs, computer programs
• Schemes
• Reading (Storyworlds)
• Phonics (Facal is Fuaim)
• Maths (Matamataig Heinemann Alba)
• Reading for Information/Science (Discovery
  Worlds)
• Environmental Print
• Paste-overs
• Libraries

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Analysis of Library Books in Case-study Classrooms
Classroom Total Books Different Books Change Over Year Paste-overs
Central P1 217 170 3 121 (71)
Central P2-3 304 202 27 123 (61)
Daliburgh P3-4 270 55 4 0 (0)
Meadowburn P1-2 79 68 30 1 (2)
Salen P1-3 310 112 70 12 (11)
Sleat P1-2 162 132 43 69 (52)
Stornoway P1-2 465 148 7 30 (20)
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Fieldwork Results Teaching Techniques

• Learning letters
• Learning key words
• Word attack skills segmenting and blending
• Use of context
• Metalanguage of literacy
• Reading groups
• Reading aloud
• Choral v. individual
• Pointing
• Prompting

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Fieldwork ResultsTeaching Techniques (2)

• Concurrent development of writing
• Handwriting and letter formation
• Copying and scribing
• Reference use
• Spelling
• Dictionaries
• Punctuation
• Diacritics

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Fieldwork ResultsTeacher Responsibilities

• Marking progress
• Assessment
• Diagnosing learning disorders
• Supporting language development

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Fieldwork ResultsOracy

• Development of fluency
• Immersion v. bilingual methods
• Code-switching and calquing
• Songs and rhymes
• Linguistic creativity

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Fieldwork ResultsThe School Environment

• Integration v. isolation
• Size of unit
• Specialists
• Buddy systems
• Gaelic outside the classroom

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Challenges Policies

• Little practical guidance
• Variable at different levels
• National
• Authority
• Unit
• Teacher

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Challenges Pupils Language Background

• 17 with Gaelic language background (cf. Frasers
  (1989) 59)
• 3 of 104 case-study pupils monolingual Gaelic in
  the home
• 20 had 2 Gaelic-speaking parents 57 one
  Gaelic-speaking parent (native speakers less than
  half)
• Two-thirds had Gaelic-speaking siblings
• 59 learned Gaelic before age 3
• 25 considered native speakers
• 90 attended sgoil àraich

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Challenges Resources at Home

• Over half read aloud to regularly
• Most children prefer to read and be read to in
  English
• Childrens books
• Parental satisfaction

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Challenges Resources at School

• Multimedia and audiovisual
• Satisfaction most teachers satisfied with
  quantity 2/3 with quality half with range
• Storyworlds
• Translation
• Standardisation
• Size of libraries

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Challenges Techniques

• Vocabulary
• Flashcards
• Key words
• Pronunciation
• Definition
• Spontaneous speech
• Assessment of progress in reading
• Encouraging extra-curricular reading

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Challenges Education

• Teacher recruitment and retention
• Teacher training qualification and in-service
• Teacher language ability
• Specialists
• Registers of Gaelic the language outside of the
  classroom

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Challenges for Teaching Literacy in
Gaelic-medium Units

• Irene Pollock
• irenevarious_at_googlemail.com