Multilingual Early Language Transmission (MELT) - Mercator ...

This is supported by research showing that the types of groups that children experience can
impact significantly on their chances of using the target language. Carrigo (2000) found that
when Spanish-speaking and English-speaking children were together in an immersion
setting, the children from different language backgrounds reacted differently to different
kinds of groups: the Spanish-speaking children were significantly more likely to speak
Spanish together when they were engaged in activities with other Spanish-speaking children,
but much less likely to speak Spanish when they were mixing with English speakers. On the
other hand, the English speakers maintained only a low use of Spanish with other children
regardless of whether they were mainly Spanish or mainly English speakers. Similarly, Hickey
(2001) also found that Irish L1 children in Irish-medium preschools were influenced by the
composition of their group: in groups where L2 learners dominated, minority L1 children
became significantly less talkative and produced significantly less of the target language
(their own L1) than when they were in groups where there was a majority of children from
bilingual homes or from Irish-only homes. The children from English-speaking homes
(acquiring Irish as L2), on the other hand, were not influenced by the mix in the group, but
maintained a fairly low level of output in the target language regardless of whether they
were in groups dominated by L2 learners or L1 speakers of Irish. Thus, when planning
children’s range of activities there needs to be some consideration of the types of groups
they are likely to experience over the course of their session, given the finding that native
speakers are more likely to speak the target language if they are playing with another native
speaker than an L2 learner, while L2 learners may benefit less from being mixed with native
speakers than is generally believed, unless adults also participate in such groupings. This
consideration of group size and mix adds to the complexity in immersion preschools, and
may require some shift in focus from de facto prioritization of L2 learning in such mixed
groups, to equal provision for effective L1 maintenance and enrichment.
Developments and Challenges for Irish-Medium Preschools
The legislative, administrative and curricular changes in the area of Early Years provision in
Ireland in recent times has contributed to a greater interest and growth in this sector. A
continuing challenge for Irish-medium preschooling is the need to keep training for Leaders
abreast of the changes in the wider sector in Ireland, but also to allow provision of the
particular training needs for the immersion setting. Immersion preschools are not simply
preschools which are identical to non-immersion preschools, apart from the fact that they
happen to be through the medium of a particular language. A current challenge is the need
not to lose sight of the particular aims and objectives of immersion in the drive to implement
a new early years’ curriculum. Finding sufficient staff with the specialist training and skills, in
addition to a high level of fluency in Irish, who are prepared to work for what are still
relatively low levels of remuneration, is likely to be an ongoing challenge in meeting the
demand from parents. It will take some time for recent innovations to ‘bed in’ and there will
need to be review of how well they are being adapted to the particular needs of early
immersion preschools. Finally, given the apparently accelerated pace of language shift (Ó
Giollagáin et al., 2007) away from Irish, it is important that training for Leaders prepares
them to offer differentiated input that adequately serves language learning by all children,
whether mother-tongue speakers of varying degrees of proficiency or second language
learners. There is a pressing need to continue to develop teacher training initiatives that
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