Pamela Louderback, Day 53

I have been spending a great deal of time reading material on the analysis of achievement in Irish Medium education (IME) for the last two days.  Understandably, results are mixed; I suppose that's a given with any research topic.  Studies on bilingual children have shown that the child has an approach to language that is different to that of the monolingual child.  The child understands at a much earlier age that there is more than one way to describe something.  And because there is a close link between language and thought, this influences the child's thought process.  Experts claim that the bilingual child attaches more importance from an early age to the meaning of a word than to its sound and that this could increase his/her ability to deal with abstract ideas.  Some also maintain that the bilingual child has a mroe fliexiible mind and greater linguistic creativity.  Having a second language also helps the child to acquire a third or fourth language.

In spite of the fact that most of the research done on bilingualism for the last twenty plus years, shows that it is of great benefit to children to have two languages from an early age, some people may still try to persuade parents that speaking two languages to a young child can hinder his/her intellectual development.  Research in Canada, the United States, and Wales shows that there is comparatively little difference between bilingual and monolingual children from the point of view of intelligence.  There is some evidence to show that where children have a high level of fluency in two languages their intelligence is superior to that of monolingual children.

Much comes down to the methodology of teaching.  In the late 1960's, the Department of Education pushed audio-visual conversation courses in primary schools, the Nuachúrsaí. The general expectation was producing a new geenration of children with a basic speaking competence inIrish.  That hasn't been successful.  Many factors come into play here.  Teaching time - or the number of hours of instruction - must be substantial.  Having opportunities to use the language in extra-curricular activities, and at home or in the community setting also helps strengthen learning.  Taking a language as a 'subject' rather than being taught some or all subjects in a language (i.e., learning math in a second language) is not as effective, according to some research.  Irish Immersion, or Irish-Medium education (IME) models seem quite successful as it relates to mastery and proficiency.  The challenge is that there are very few opportunties to attend an IME school beyond the primary level, partly due to economics and government/educational policies.

To me, it seems that the benefits of IME, or any language immersion model, would be well worth following.  Vocabulary is enriched, greater proficiency is achieved (in speaking and reading), and overall intellectual development appears to improve.  Maybe I am missing something here, or maybe I am looking at this in too much of a simplistic -- even naïve -- manner.   But I am out of reading material which requires another trip to the Library!  Maybe I will discover some answers with further reading.