Ar Thóir na hInbhuanaitheachta — Múinteoirí in Iar-bhunscoileanna Lán-Ghaeilge ag Dul i nGleic leis an Idirghabháil Thrasteangeolaíoch chun aghaidh a thabhairt ar Ról an Bhéarla sa Chleachtas [Seeking Sustainability — Irish-Medium Second Level Teachers Exploring Cross-Linguistic Mediation to Address the Role of English in the Classroom]

Abstract

D’fhoilsigh Comhairle na hEorpa ‘An Comhleabhar’ (Companion Volume) — leagan nua den Fhráma Tagartha Comónta Eorpach (FTCE) in 2020. Sa leagan nua sin, rinneadh forbairt ar ghníomh teanga ar a mbaisteadh ‘an idirghabháil’ (mediation) — ceann de na ceithre ghníomh chumarsáideacha teanga. Is éard atá i gceist leis an idirghabháil ná gníomh teanga a éascaíonn cumarsáid idir daoine a bhfuil bearna chumarsáide eatarthu. D’fhéadfadh an gníomh idirghabhála a bheith ag tarlú laistigh de theanga amháin nó go trasteangeolaíoch ó theanga go teanga (an idirghabháil thrasteangeolaíoch). Tugtar spléachadh sa pháipéar seo ar thaighde a chuir roimhe féachaint conas mar a d’oirfeadh an idirghabháil thrasteangeolaíoch mar straitéis do mhúinteoirí iar-bhunscoile lán-Ghaeilge (IBLG) chun aghaidh a thabhairt ar ról an Bhéarla sa chleachtas — ról a aithnítear atá conspóideach. Chun teacht ar an léargas seo, tarraingíodh ar mhodheolaíocht an AFL (Anailís Fheiniméaneolaíoch Léirmhínitheach) chun iniúchadh a dhéanamh ar dhearcadh ceathrar múinteoirí faoin gcleachtas trasteangeolaíoch go ginearálta, forbraíodh clár oiliúna bunaithe ar an idirghabháil thrasteangeolaíoch, agus rinneadh tuairimí na múinteoirí faoi oiriúnacht an chláir sin a chíoradh leo. Tháinig sé chun solais gur tháinig forbairt agus claochlú ar dhearcadh na múinteoirí faoi úsáid an Bhéarla sa seomra ranga de thoradh na hoiliúna agus gur shíl siad go mbeadh ábhar na hoiliúna oiriúnach dá gcomhthéacs teagaisc.

The Council of Europe published the CEFR Companion Volume in 2020 — an updated and extended Common European Framework for Reference for Languages. In this version, descriptors were developed for ‘mediation’ — the fourth mode of communication in the CEFR. Mediation can be described as a language activity which facilitates communication between people who may have a gap in communication. The mediation activity can happen within the same language or across different languages (crosslinguistic mediation). This paper describes research which explored whether crosslinguistic mediation as developed in the Companion Volume could function as an appropriate strategy for subject teachers in Irish-medium post-primary schools to address the role of English in their practice. The research drew on IPA (Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis) to explore the perspectives of 4 teachers on crosslinguistic practice in general, a training programme in designing cross-linguistic mediation tasks was devised and implemented with the teachers, and their attitudes towards the efficacy and applicability of the training programme to their individual classroom settings was explored with them. It transpired that the teachers expressed a change in attitudes towards the use of English in the classroom as a result of the training and that they perceived the training to be suitable for their teaching contexts.