Teanga sa Chistin

Despite a political environment that alternates between ambivalence and hostility, Irish-medium education (IME) is an important educational and community resource for the revival and reclamation of Irish language, particularly in the North of Ireland (Ó Baoill, 2007). While enrolment numbers have s...

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Main Authors: Mel Engman, Órla McGurk, Alison MacKenzie
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: The Irish Association for Applied Linguistics 2023-11-01
Series:Teanga: The Journal of the Irish Association for Applied Linguistics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journal.iraal.ie/index.php/teanga/article/view/5460
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author Mel Engman
Órla McGurk
Alison MacKenzie
author_facet Mel Engman
Órla McGurk
Alison MacKenzie
author_sort Mel Engman
collection DOAJ
description Despite a political environment that alternates between ambivalence and hostility, Irish-medium education (IME) is an important educational and community resource for the revival and reclamation of Irish language, particularly in the North of Ireland (Ó Baoill, 2007). While enrolment numbers have surged in recent years, an over-reliance on schools to reclaim language can miss community desires for connection and self-determination that are at the core of reclamation efforts (Hornberger, 2008). Here, we re-centre these aims by taking a language reclamation (Leonard, 2019) approach to Irish bilingualism, to consider the possible (dis)connections between home and school for families with children enrolled in IME. First, we discuss the social and political factors that have shaped Irish language learning and use in Belfast. We then describe a study of intergenerational language learning and use that aims to bring the language of school into the home. Six participating families were given ‘baking bundles’ of ingredients to bake bread, an instructional baking video and text-based language supports. Wearing point-of-view cameras, they filmed themselves baking together, and participated in interviews from January 2022 to January 2023. An interaction analysis of the videos (Goodwin, 2018; Jordan & Henderson, 1995) and thematic analysis of recorded interviews (Terry et al., 2017) identified ways in which dominant practices and ideologies associated with school are transformed in bilingual family learning. This study illustrates the importance of connections between school and home learning for reclamation purposes and calls for further research on the learning and use of Irish for strengthening and sustaining relationships.
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spelling doaj.art-2a2ba72399b9460f8fa93111a6a8175e2023-11-14T18:50:16ZengThe Irish Association for Applied LinguisticsTeanga: The Journal of the Irish Association for Applied Linguistics0332-205X2565-63252023-11-01301Teanga sa ChistinMel Engman0Órla McGurk1Alison MacKenzie2Queen's University BelfastGlór na Móna, Queen's University BelfastQueen's University Belfast Despite a political environment that alternates between ambivalence and hostility, Irish-medium education (IME) is an important educational and community resource for the revival and reclamation of Irish language, particularly in the North of Ireland (Ó Baoill, 2007). While enrolment numbers have surged in recent years, an over-reliance on schools to reclaim language can miss community desires for connection and self-determination that are at the core of reclamation efforts (Hornberger, 2008). Here, we re-centre these aims by taking a language reclamation (Leonard, 2019) approach to Irish bilingualism, to consider the possible (dis)connections between home and school for families with children enrolled in IME. First, we discuss the social and political factors that have shaped Irish language learning and use in Belfast. We then describe a study of intergenerational language learning and use that aims to bring the language of school into the home. Six participating families were given ‘baking bundles’ of ingredients to bake bread, an instructional baking video and text-based language supports. Wearing point-of-view cameras, they filmed themselves baking together, and participated in interviews from January 2022 to January 2023. An interaction analysis of the videos (Goodwin, 2018; Jordan & Henderson, 1995) and thematic analysis of recorded interviews (Terry et al., 2017) identified ways in which dominant practices and ideologies associated with school are transformed in bilingual family learning. This study illustrates the importance of connections between school and home learning for reclamation purposes and calls for further research on the learning and use of Irish for strengthening and sustaining relationships. https://journal.iraal.ie/index.php/teanga/article/view/5460Irish immersion educationlanguage revitalisationfamily and community
spellingShingle Mel Engman
Órla McGurk
Alison MacKenzie
Teanga sa Chistin
Teanga: The Journal of the Irish Association for Applied Linguistics
Irish immersion education
language revitalisation
family and community
title Teanga sa Chistin
title_full Teanga sa Chistin
title_fullStr Teanga sa Chistin
title_full_unstemmed Teanga sa Chistin
title_short Teanga sa Chistin
title_sort teanga sa chistin
topic Irish immersion education
language revitalisation
family and community
url https://journal.iraal.ie/index.php/teanga/article/view/5460
work_keys_str_mv AT melengman teangasachistin
AT orlamcgurk teangasachistin
AT alisonmackenzie teangasachistin