Cognitive Advantages of Second Language Immersion Education
Eanáir 28, 2014
The linguistic and educational success of second language immersion education is now well established (see here). What has been less clear until recently was whether children who attend immersion programs show the same kind of advantages in cognitive skills, such as metalinguistic awareness and executive control, as do children who are early bilinguals. Metalinguistic awareness is our explicit knowledge of different aspects of language (sounds, words, syntax, and so on) and, when needed, our capacity to talk about these properties. It is crucial in the development of literacy, for example. As for executive control (also known as executive function), it is a set of complex cognitive processes that include attention, inhibition, monitoring, selection, planning, and so on. Inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility are three core aspects of executive control.
In a recent study, York University professor Ellen Bialystok and her colleagues Kathleen F. Peets and Sylvain Moreno studied the development of metalinguistic awareness in children becoming bilingual in an immersion education program. They gave different tasks to second and fifth grade English-speaking children in a French immersion program and compared their results with those of children in a regular English program. The tasks involved morphological awareness (adding correct morphological forms to nonsense words), syntactic awareness (making grammaticality judgments), and verbal fluency (generating words that belong to a semantic category or that begin with an initial letter). These three tasks differed in their need for executive control, from the least in the first task to the most in the third task.
The researchers found that the metalinguistic advantages reported in studies of early bilinguals emerged gradually in these immersion children, with tasks requiring less executive control giving positive results sooner than tasks requiring more executive control. Thus all immersion children outperformed their monolingual counterparts in the morphological awareness tasks, even after two years of immersion, and fifth grade immersion program children were more accurate in the syntactic awareness tasks than their monolingual counterparts. The verbal fluency tasks began as a problem for the younger children in the immersion program (literacy instruction in English only starts in third grade) but the older children had regained the ground and performed equivalently to monolingual children. The authors concluded that the advantages previously reported for early bilingual children could already be detected in children learning another language in an immersion program.
What about the advantages in executive control as such that children brought up bilingually show systematically over their monolingual counterparts? Do immersion children also show these advantages? Belgian scientists Anne-Catherine Nicolay and Martine Poncelet examined this. They tested third grade French-speaking children in an English immersion program and compared them to a similar group following a monolingual curriculum. They assessed attentional and executive skills by means of six different tasks such as alerting, auditory selective attention, divided attention, mental flexibility, and so on.
The results they found showed that in four of the six tasks, the immersion children did better than their monolingual counterparts. This is quite remarkable as the children had only had three years of immersion education which involves less intensive exposure to a second language than in early bilingualism. And yet, the immersion experience had already produced some of the cognitive benefits associated with early bilingualism.
The one negative finding that surprised the researchers (i.e. no difference between the two groups) concerned interference inhibition. In the task they used, the flanker task, children were presented with a central arrow pointing to the left or to the right, and flanker arrows above or below pointing in the same direction or in the opposite direction (in this latter case, the flanker arrows create an interference that has to be inhibited in order to answer correctly). Children had to concentrate on the central arrow and press a left button when the central arrow pointed to the left and a right button for the arrow pointing to the right. The authors explained the lack of a difference between the two groups by the fact that young emerging bilinguals in immersion programs (third grade children here) have not yet had much practice at inhibiting interference since they devote less time to second language production in a classroom situation than in real life.
Do children who have had further experience of immersion education show better control of interference inhibition? The answer comes from a paper by Ellen Bialystok and Raluca Barac who also used a flanker task but this time in two different studies with immersion children. In the first, they tested second and third graders who attended school in Hebrew, and in the second, they tested second and fifth graders in a French immersion program. In both studies they found that executive control performance improved with increased experience in a bilingual education environment. Basically, the length of time spent in an immersion program—some of their children had had two more years of immersion than in the Belgian study—determines the extent to which executive control is affected.
So the news is excellent for all those who are putting time and energy in immersion education—teachers and staff, parents and, of course, children. As Ellen Bialystok, Kathleen F. Peets and Sylvain Moreno state so nicely: “The road to bilingualism is incremental, and so are the accrued advantages”.
François Grosjean, Ph.D., is Emeritus Professor of psycholinguistics at the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland and the author of Bilingual: Life and Reality, among other books.
References
Ellen Bialystok & Raluca Barac (2012). Emerging bilingualism: Dissociating advantages for metalinguistic awareness and executive control. Cognition, 122, 67-73.
Ellen Bialystok, Kathleen F. Peets & Sylvian Moreno (2012). Producing bilinguals through immersion education: Development of metalinguistic awareness. Applied Psycholinguistics, 2012, 1-15, doi:10.1017/S0142716412000288
Anne-Catherine Nicolay & Martine Poncelet (2013). Cognitive advantage in children enrolled in second-language immersion elementary school program for three years. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 16 (3), 597-607, doi:10.1017/S1366728912000375
www.psychologytoday.com
How did we get the teaching of Irish so wrong?
Eanáir 28, 2014
Irish is our official first language.
We spend at least 13 years studying it and yet very few of us would claim to be able to speak it. What is the problem with Irish in our education system? In a chilly hall in Loreto Bray, Co Wicklow, a group of Transition Year students are arguing about whether learning Chinese would be a better option than learning Irish. It’s the usual debate about culture versus practicality. Impressively, at least one girl has experience of both: “I’m learning Chinese and trust me, Irish is way easier.” These girls are taking part in a student outreach roadshow that youth co-ordinator for Conradh na Gaeilge Aodhán Ó Dea has been presenting in various schools during the past three years. The idea is to get students thinking about their attitudes to Irish and to inspire them to use the language outside of school.
“A lot of the time I’d find that students like the idea of the language,” says Ó Dea. “They don’t want to lose it, but often they say they don’t enjoy learning it. In some of the wealthier schools, the level of Irish is good, but the attitude towards it is downright hostile, and on the other hand some schools where standards aren’t great, the students are really receptive and enthusiastic about its importance to our culture.” It’s a thorny subject. Why, with 13 or 14 years of instruction and learning in Irish, does research show standards continue to fall? A 2006 report by Dr John Harris from Trinity College found a sharp fall in the standard of Irish among sixth-class students between 1985 and 2002. It also found a quarter of Irish primary school teachers believed their own standard of Irish to be “weak”.
Last November, the chief inspector’s report said students’ learning was “less than satisfactory in almost a quarter of Irish lessons in primary schools and almost a third of Irish lessons in post-primary schools”. The report was also concerned about language competence of teachers in a “small but significant number of classrooms”. Irish can be successfully taught, the students in Loreto Bray, for example, have a really good level of Irish, but that success is less common than it should be. So how can we improve?
Plans at primary level
At primary level a new integrated language curriculum is due for junior classes this September. It’s not before time. The curriculum in place since 1999 intended to encourage a communicative, task-based approach, but while the document itself is wonderfully child-centred and idealistic, it seems to ignore the fact that for most children, and indeed, teachers, Irish is a second language and needs to be learned rather than absorbed. Another, very simple problem with the old curriculum is that it was only available in Irish. For a busy teacher, this is an added obstacle, even for those with a reasonable proficiency in the language.
“We need an integrated teaching programme of Irish for English-medium schools,” says Deirbhile Nic Craith, education officer with the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO). “Previously, we had the Buntús Cainte which had step-by-step lessons for teachers. In Irish-medium primary schools, they have the Séideán Sí which is excellent but we have nothing like that for English-medium schools. We need a programme that integrates the various curriculum strands so busy teachers aren’t entirely left up to their own devices to plan.” This is an important point. Teachers need the support of a formal structure, an ABC of what to teach, right from oral Irish lessons in infant classes. There needs to be a clear and steady progression through the course. At the moment, there is no structure for teachers to follow. A clear, step-by-step, framework of Irish lesson plans, similar to French or Spanish, would benefit children and teachers who are less confident in their own command of the language.
The new curriculum, which will be introduced to junior classes (up to second class) in September 2014, will give teachers far more support in terms of what to teach and how to teach it. It will include a step-by-step guide about how to achieve particular curricular objectives. The curriculum will be published online to enable teachers to click through to the material and supports. Making an English-language version of the document would certainly help teachers, but some people involved in teacher-training acknowledge that such a move would be met with hostility from Irish language groups.
Pádraig Ó Duibhir of St Patrick’s College Drumcondra, with his colleague Prof Jim Cummins of the University of Toronto, has conducted a review for the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) of strategies proven to work for language learning in the lead up to this upcoming curriculum review. “Part of the issue is the system of 30 or 40 minutes a day for Irish in primary school,” says Ó Duibhir. “That drip drip approach has not been successful for Welsh in Wales or French in Canada. Schools achieving good results here have children using Irish outside the Irish class. One school, for example has had great success with a Lá na Gaeilge where everyone makes an effort to speak Irish on one day each week. The children have a need to use it. In practising it, they experience success, which further motivates them.”
An approach to language learning that takes the language outside of the language class has been successful. In Cordoba in Spain teachers are encouraged to teach one subject apart from English, through English. “PE and art are easy ways into that sort of approach. Science could work too,” Ó Duibhir says. Such an approach assumes a good level of competence from teachers and, as seen in the Harris report, that assumption is not always accurate. “Take teacher-training for second level,” says Anna Ní Ghallachair, director of the Language Centre in NUI Maynooth. “Entrants need a BA or a Masters’ in Irish, but what exactly does that mean in terms of their competence in the language? For primary-school teaching, higher-level Irish is a pre-requisite for entry into college, but again, does that really tell us anything about their language competence?”
One suggestion is for teachers to achieve a minimum level of competency as laid out by the common European Framework of Reference for Languages. This is a guide to describe the achievements of language learners across Europe. It is standardised and allows teachers and students understand what level of skill they have attained. The European certificate of Irish, the Teastas Eorpach na Gaeilge (TEG), has been designed within this framework. People taking the TEG can sit a series of six exams that test for proficiency from absolute beginner right through to advanced.
Siuán Ní Mhaonaigh, the director of TEG, says “I firmly believe much of the tinkering being done to syllabi is unnecessary,” she says. “A practical and valid testing system would go a long way towards improving things for Irish. At the moment we are not asking the right questions in our exams.”
Lack of acceptable standards
Indeed, a lack of a recognised acceptable standard is a problem across the board. In first year of secondary school, a maths teacher can assume a certain level of numerical ability among students and can therefore build on that. An Irish teacher on the other hand could be faced with students who have excellent Irish alongside others who have barely a word. They aren’t so much building on a foundation as being forced to start from scratch.
“Standardised tests in Irish have been developed,” Nic Craith says. “If they were used it would give us some idea of what teachers could expect.” Nic Craith agrees that using the common European Framework of Reference for Languages could be a very useful tool, both within schools and in teacher-training. It would be an independent benchmark of a student or a teacher’s true ability and it would give students and teachers something to work towards. Proper assessment can be a motivator in and of itself.
However, by the time students reach second level, for many, a rot has already set in. Those who have a good level of Irish face boredom while the teacher tries to bring other students along, while students who have already experienced eight years of fruitless teaching and learning are more resistant and discouraged than ever. Students who are willing and happy to learn French and Spanish don’t see Irish in the same light. They have already learned it for eight years, they can’t speak it and therefore must be terrible at it.
The Leaving Cert’s two papers and the oral and aural exams can seem like too much work and many students opt for ordinary level as a strategy to allow them to focus on other subjects. The literature, it is argued, is off-putting and distracts from Irish as a language. Conradh na Gaeilge proposes that Irish at Leaving Cert should be subdivided into communicative Irish, which would be compulsory and which would take the oral language, written communication, comprehension and so-on, and an advanced option which would encompass poetry and literature. Others argue this would dumb down the subject with no evidence that the language would experience any boost as a result.
“We need to ask ourselves, are we teaching Irish for cultural reasons, or for it to be used?” says Dr Muiris Ó Laoire, a lecturer and researcher on multi-lingualism in IT Tralee. “If we want it to be used, we need to rethink what we’re doing. How are we going to provide meaningful opportunities for use? It can be done but it is a challenge.” “The teaching and learning of the language can, and does work,” says Ní Ghallachair. But for it to be more successful, we need to acknowledge the effort needed. We need to examine how teachers are trained to teach, how students are taught to learn and how all are motivated to use it. “Irish depends on the commitment of a school and teachers in a way other subjects don’t,” says Ó Duibhir. “But I think our expectations are unrealistic. That’s not to say the way things are is okay, but I do think that when it comes to Irish, perhaps we need to redefine what success is.”
www.irishtimes.com
Lá Mór na Gaeilge – 15 Feabhra 2014
Eanáir 28, 2014
Coláiste beo beathach
Eanáir 28, 2014
Tá na coláistí samhraidh do dhaltaí scoile athraithe ar fad.
Sa sean-am bhí córas an-dian i bhfeidhm i gcoláistí áirithe. Má labhair dalta Béarla, cuireadh abhaile é.
Ach, d’ainneoin sin, bhain na daltaí sult as na cúrsaí Gaeltachta agus tháinig siad ar ais bliain i ndiaidh bliana.
Tá borradh agus biseach ar na coláistí anois agus is léir ó chláracha teilifíse go mbíonn na daltaí sna coláistí uilig ó Mhacaire Rabhartaigh go Corca Dhuibhne ag déanamh aoibhnis ar a laethanta saoire ansin.
Tá na háiteanna go léir don samhradh seo i gColáiste Lurgan, Conamara lán ó bhí an Nollaig ann! Mura bhfaca tú daltaí an Choláiste ag ceol ar an Late, Late Show, gabh chuig YouTube anois!
Canann siad leithéidí ‘Amhrán na gCupán’ agus ‘Is tú is áille ’tá beo’(aistrithe ón Bhéarla).
Tá an cóiriúchán ar fheabhas. Fuair siad na milliúin buille ar YouTube.
Cuireann Uinsionn Mac Dubhghaill agallamh ar bhainisteoir an Choláiste, Mícheál Ó Foighil san eagrán reatha de beo.ie.
Tugann Mícheál freagraí gan cham. Is breá liom a bharúlacha ar theagasc na Gaeilge.
Deir sé go bhfuil na billiúin euro caite gach bliain ar an Ghaeilge, nócha faoin chéad de sin tríd an chóras oideachais.
Ach caitear an deich faoin chéad eile ag iarraidh dul i ngleic leis an dochar atá á dhéanamh taobh istigh den chóras oideachais!
Aontaím leis dá mba rud é go raibh múineadh na Gaeilge ceart agus go raibh a cur i láthair ceart nach mbeadh an méid sin eagraíochtaí ‘ Gaeilge’ gan mhaith atá againn de dhíth.
Baineann an Coláiste an-úsáid as an teicneolaíocht nua.Tá áis nua d’fhoghlaimeoirí curtha amach aige: Oide.
Teanglann ar líne atá ann: tá an foghlaimeoir in ann taifead a dhéanamh agus tá an múinteoir ábalta éisteacht leis ar líne agus é a cheartú.
Tá Coláiste Lurgan i dtiún leis an 21ú haois ach ar an drochuair, níl an Rialtas.
Déanann an Coláiste an sárobair seo gan an tacaíocht atá tuillte aige.
www.derryjournal.com
Gradaim Idirlín do Scoláirí Óga
Eanáir 27, 2014
Spriocdháta d’iarratais ar an gcomórtas idirlín do scoláirí óga sínte go dtí 7 Márta 2014.
Beidh Gradaim na nDamhán Alla de chuid Eircom ar siúl i gCumann Ríoga Bhaile Átha Cliath (RDS) ar 1 Bealtaine 2014. Is comórtas é seo a thugann aitheantas do shaothar teicneolaíochta dhaltaí scoile agus a múinteoirí i mbunscoileanna agus in iar-bhunscoileanna na tíre.
I measc na gcatagóir uile, tá gradaim ar leith don suíomh Gaeilge is fearr, bíodh sin ina suíomh Gaeilge amháin, nó ina suíomh dátheangach. Is féidir láithreán gréasáin nó blag a chur san áireamh don chomórtas seo, ach go mbeidh an Ghaeilge á húsáid ann ar bhealach cruthaitheach agus nuálach. Tá an catagóir don ‘Suíomh is Fearr’ urraithe ag Foras na Gaeilge.
Roinntear an comórtas i réimsí ar leith: MEGA do bhunscoileanna; GIGA d’ iar-bhunscoileanna, blianta 1-3; agus TERA d’iar-bhunscoileannta, blianta 4-6. Faoi gach aon réimse tá catagóirí ar leith d’ábhar áirithe.
Anuraidh ba iad Coláiste Íosagáin, Baile Átha Cliath a thóg leo an duais TERA don suíomh Gaeilge is fearr leis an suíomh ‘Níos Aclaí Anois’ agus bhí an bua ag Coláiste Cholmáin, Maigh Eo sa chatagóir céanna ag leibhéal GIGA lena suíomh ‘Irish Exam Guide’.
Glacfar le hiarratais ó scoláirí agus ag scoileanna ar na Gradaim go dtí 7 Márta 2014 agus eiseofar an gearrliosta ar an 28 Márta 2014. Bronnfar na gradaim ag ócáid speisialta ar an 1 Bealtaine 2014 san RDS i mBaile Átha Cliath 4 áit a mbeidh deis acu siúd ar fad a bhain an babhta ceannais amach a láithreáin ghréasáin a chur os comhair an phobail ag an ócáid.
Tá tuilleadh eolais faoin gcomórtas seo ar fáil ar www.juniorspiders.ie agus is féidir póstaer a íoslódáil agus a phriontáil do do scoil féin ach gliogáil ar an nasc seo: Póstaer don Scoil.
Foilsithe ar Gaelport.com
Stinging European criticism highlights need for Irish Language Act
Eanáir 27, 2014
IT’s now time to set a date for the introduction of an Irish Language Act, according to a local Irish language group.
The call comes in a week that the Stormont Executive came in for stinging criticism over how it promotes Irish here and in a week when some of the North’s leading Irish language groups lost key funding (see story above).
A report by the Council of Europe – a human rights organisation with 47 member states – said that more should be done to promote Irish, including in the courts, education, the media and in the Assembly. Every three years the Council uses information provided by various governments to compile a report on the state of minority languages. However, despite repeated requests, the Northern Ireland Executive has been unable to reach a consensus on its submission regarding Irish.
Reacting to the report, Janet Muller, CEO of Pobal, the umbrella organisation for the Irish language community in the north, said the report strongly urged that the Irish Language Act be introduced.
“It is in our opinion time to publish an agreed target date for its introduction and more forward” she added.
Agreement
Culture Minister Carál Ni Chuilín said she is committed to bringing forward legislation for an Irish Language Act.
“An Irish Language Act was agreed as part of the St Andrews Agreement, however this continues to be blocked by the unionists,” she said. “I am continuing to seek all party agreement around the Executive to bring forward the legislation as that is the only way it will be successful. The continuing growth of Irish medium education and the cross-community success of the Líofa initiative has shown that there is a demand for the rights of the Irish language speakers to be recognised and safeguarded in law. I will continue to work for an Acht na Gaeilge.”
West Belfast Sinn Féin MLA and the party’s spokesperson on the Irish language, Rosie McCorley, said the Council for Europe report highlights unionist “intransigence” when it comes to Irish.
“The Council for Europe report is saying what we already know. unionist politicians refuse to accept the rights and needs of the Irish language community,” she said.
Niall Comer, president of Comhaltas Uladh of Chonradh na Gaeilge, said he welcomed the support of the Council of Europe for the use of Irish in the courts and on bilingual street names in the north.
“The lack of political consensus on the Irish language and the persisting hostile climate in the Assembly, as noted in the report of the Council, has long hindered the development of a much-needed Irish Language Act to protect the rights of Irish speakers on this island,” he added.
Andersonstown News
Foilsithe ar Gaelport.com
‘Irish language policy risks being seen as a sham’
Eanáir 27, 2014
Only six of the 16 officers responsible for the use of Irish in Government departments can speak the language themselves, the outgoing Irish language commissioner has said.
Seán Ó Cuirreáin pointed the fact out to TDs and senators who he addressed about his decision last month to resign from the job in February. He said he is stepping aside two years ahead of schedule because he can do no more for the language rights of Irish speakers and Gaeltacht communities. After 10 years in the role, he said Government policy on Irish is in danger of being seen as a sham with inadequate access to public services and departments self-auditing compliance with legal requirements. The job was advertised publicly last week, but Mr Ó Cuirreáin told the Oireachtas sub-committee on the 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language the same problems will exist for his successor.
He said the amalgamation of the work of his office later this year into the Ombudsman’s office was never discussed with him before being announced two years ago. Mr Ó Cuirreáin said there is no possibility of success for a new system to increase the number of civil servants fluent in Irish; and the system to develop language plans or language schemes in State bodies is in a sorry state because of ineffective implementation. He said it is more than two years since a review of the Official Languages Act began, but first steps to amend it have not yet been taken by publishing heads of a bill, now due before the summer.
“If the State can not provide assurances, when the legislation is being amended, that it will ensure that it can communicate in Irish with Gaeltacht communities without terms and conditions, and that it will have adequate staff in public administration with proficiency in Irish, then I believe that its policy will be viewed as a sham,” he said. He said the 16 officers nominated by Government departments to implement the act and liaise with his office were all very talented and diligently carry out their responsibilities. But only six out of the 16 officers in question have Irish themselves, he said. Sinn Féin senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh said this was scandalous when there are people in the public service with Irish who would be happy to use it in their day-to-day work but do not get the chance.
Mr Ó Cuirreáin said it was no good if a department returns a call with someone who can speak Irish but has no knowledge of the subject the caller wanted to discuss. Sub-committee vice- chair, Fianna Fáil’s senator Labhrás Ó Murchú, said minister of state Dinny McGinley will be given a chance to respond when he appears before it soon. Sinn Féin TD Peadar Tóibín said they should also bring in secretaries general of each department and Education Minister Ruairi Quinn. The commissioner said two cases investigated by his office caused concern about the Department of Education’s attitude. In one, the department had directed a Gaeltacht primary school to appoint a teacher from a panel of teachers up for redeployment who said they did not have enough Irish to teach there. In another case, he said the department refused to provide the option to study subjects through Irish up to Leaving Certificate at a school in the Donegal Gaeltacht. Mr Tóibín said it was disrespectful to the commissioner and to people in the Gaeltacht that there was no Government TD at the hearing. The absent coalition members were committee chair Michael McCarthy and Kevin Humphries (both Labour TDs), and Fine Gael senator Hildegarde Naughton.
www.irishexaminer.com
Aip dhátheangach d’Eamhain Mhacha
Eanáir 27, 2014
Tá aip dhátheangach thurasóireachta deartha ag grúpa déagóirí i gcontae Ard Mhacha don láthair oidhreachta, Eamhain Mhacha.
Bronn banc HSBC maoiniú ar Cairde Teo le hoiliúnt fhiontraíochta a sholáthar i gcathair Ard Mhacha agus chuir an Roinn Oidhreachta agus an Crannchur Náisiúnta airgead breise ar fáil le tionscnaimh thuarasóireachta a mhaoiniú.
Díríonn aip na ndéagóirí ar eachtraí Chú Chulainn sa cheantar. Tuigtear gur ón cheantar a d’eascair béaloideas na Ruaraíochta.
Thug Meon Eile cuairt ar na fiontraithe óga agus iad i mbun oibre.
Féach an físeán ar www.meoneile.ie.
Éirí as an Choimisinéara Teanga cíortha ag Fochoiste Oireachtais
Eanáir 27, 2014
An fhírinne shearbh inste ag Seán Ó Cuirreáin
Chuir an Fochoiste Oireachtais um Straitéis 20 Bliain don Ghaeilge agus Rudaí Gaolmhara fáilte roimh an gCoimisinéir Teanga, Seán Ó Cuirreáin, inniu áit ar pléadh éirí as an Choimisinéara ar 23 Feabhra 2014.
D’fhógair Seán Ó Cuirreáin don Chomhchoiste um Fhormhaoirsiú ar an tSeirbhís Phoiblí agus Achainíocha ag tús mhí na Nollag go mbeidh sé ag éirí as a ról mar Choimisinéir Teanga de bharr theip an Rialtais i leith chur i bhfeidhm beartais reachtaíocht teanga ag leibhéal an Stáit. D’fhógair an Roinn Ealaíon, Oidhreachta agus Gaeltachta an tseachtain seo go bhfuil léirithe spéise á lorg anois do ról an Choimisinéara.
Ag cruinniú an lae inniu chuir an Coimisinéir síos a thuilleadh ar an imeallú atá á dhéanamh ar an nGaeilge ag údaráis an Stáit. Dúirt sé go gcreideann sé go bhfuil daoine sa státchóras a thacaíonn go láidir leis an nGaeilge ach “go bhfuil fórsaí níos láidre agus níos forleithne fós ann ar cuma leo ann nó as dár dteanga náisiúnta”.
Níorbh i láthair an chruinnithe inniu ach Teachtaí Dála agus Seanadóirí ó lucht an Fhreasúra amháin agus cháin baill an Choiste easpa ionadaíocht an Rialtais go géar le linn an chruinnithe.
Agus cur i bhfeidhm na Straitéise 20 Bliain don Ghaeilge faoi chaibidil inniu, dúirt an Coimisinéir gurb é meon an Rialtais i leith phobal na Gaeilge agus na Gaeltachta, mar a fheictear dó, ná “labhraígí Gaeilge le chéile ach ná labhraígí linne í”.
Foilsíodh an Straitéis sa bhliain 2010 leis an bpríomhaidhm go n-ardófar an líon daoine a labhraíonn Gaeilge gach lá lasmuigh den chóras oideachais ó 83,000 go 250,000 agus an líon daoine a labhraíonn Gaeilge sa Ghaeltacht gach lá a ardú faoi 25% tríd is tríd. Naoi réimse gnímh atá i gceist léi agus leagtar amach inti spriocanna ar leith faoi gach aon réimse.
Inniu an tríú huair don Chomhchoiste teacht le chéile agus dar leis an gCoimisinéir níl aon iniúchadh ná léirmheastóireacht neamhspleách á dhéanamh ar fheidhmiú na Straitéise, “féin-mheastóireacht” amháin atá i gceist, dar leis.
Dallamullóg
Ag tagairt do chaint a thug Seosamh Mac Donncha, OÉ, Gaillimh, ag Tóstal na Gaeilge anuraidh, “fo-rannóg” a tugadh ar an Roinn Ealaíon, Oidhreachta agus Gaeltachta atá ag feidhmiú ag bun an tslabhra cumhachta, agus dar leis an gCoimisinéír, ag cur dallamullóg orainn féin atá muid má cheapann muid go bhféadfadh an Ghaeltacht a tharrtháil ná a chaomhnú faoi na cúinsí sin.
Maidir le cúrsaí pleanála teanga, mhaígh an Coimisinéir gur bhronn Acht na Gaeltachta cúraimí pleanála teanga nár iarr siad féin ar phobail na Gaeltachta agus na Gaeilge ach ní fhágfaí an fhreagracht ar phobal ar bith maidir le pleanáil eacnamaíochta ná cinntí faoi fhorbairt tithíochta, bóithre ná cúrsaí comhshaoil – “Ach cúrsaí teanga”, a dúirt sé, “bhuel, sin scéal eile”.
Léiríodh an-imní maidir leis an gcaoi a gcaitheann an Roinn Oideachais leis an nGaeilge, go háirithe agus áit chomh lárnach ag an gcóras oideachais sa Straitéis, agus an dearcadh oifigiúil a léirigh an Roinn le linn dhá imscrúdú fhoirmiúla a bhí ar siúl ag a Oifig mar thoradh ar ghearáin ón bpobal.
I gcás amháin cuireadh brú ar scoil Ghaeltachta múinteoir a cheapadh ó phainéal ar a raibh farasbarr múinteoirí, cé gur chreid na múinteoirí sin agus údaráis na scoile nach raibh dóthain Gaeilge ag aon duine acu le teagasc i scoil Ghaeltachta.
Sa chás eile dhiúltaigh an Roinn ábhair an churaclaim a theagasc trí Ghaeilge go leibhéal na hArdteistiméireachta do dhaltaí scoile as ceann de na ceantair Ghaeltachta is láidre atá fágtha i dTír Chonaill. Chuir an Roinn argóintí dlíthiúla agus praiticiúla i láthair i dtaca leis an dá chás. Mhaígh an Coimisinéir gurb é “bun agus barr na faidhbe againn nach bhfuil aon cheangal ceart déanta againn idir foghlaim agus úsáid na Gaeilge sa tír seo”.
Focal scoir
Más ann don Straitéis, is gá tosú leis an staid réalaíoch, bunaithe ar an bhfírinne, dar leis an gCoimisinéir, in áit ródhóchas bréige gan chúis. “Níl ról ar bith ag grúpsmaointeoireacht i ngnó chomh tábhachtach le beatha teanga”, a dúirt sé.
Agus ré Uí Chuirreáin ag teacht chun críche, is cinnte gur thráth na cinniúna é seo don Rialtas i leith cheist na Gaeilge.
“Deirim an méid seo go cinnte libh inniu anseo i dTithe an Oireachtais”, a dúirt sé, ” gur le croí trom a thabharfas pobal na Gaeilge agus na Gaeltachta aghaidh ar chomóradh 100 bliain Éirí Amach na Cásca, faoi cheann dhá bhliain eile, mura bhfuil inár dteanga náisiúnta ach teanga shiombalach agus, seachas í a bheith ina croíchuid dár gcultúr agus dár n-oidhreacht bheo, go mbeadh sí brúite ar leataobh, fágtha ar an imeall agus in áit na leathphingine i saol an náisiúin seo”.
Foilsithe ar Gaelport.com
Tráth na gCeist Bórd Feachtas i gColáiste na Coiribe, Gaillimh
Eanáir 24, 2014
Beidh tráth na gceist boird á reáchtáil ag Feachtas do scoláirí dara leibhéal i i gColáiste na Coiribe, Gaillimh ar 29ú Eanáir 2014 ag 19.00. Má tá spéis agaibh foirne a chur chur isteach, déanaigí teagmháil le Ciara Ní Bhroin (ciara.feachtas@gmail.com), Oifigeach Forbartha Feachtas, chomh luath agus is féidir chun áit a dheimhniú ann. Bronnfar boinn agus teastais ar bhuaiteoirí na hoíche agus rachaidh siad ar aghaidh chuig ag gcraobh a bheidh ar siúl i mí an Mhárta.
