Conference Programme (PDF, 1019KB) - Trinity College Dublin

abstracts by stream and session
Answers to the question how optimal language education for underachieving immigrant minorities can be organized has equally reflected
a polarised division into camps: immersion into the majority language (the voice most often heard) versus bilingual education (sometimes
with positive reference, more often with negative reference); language assimilation (the dominant voice) versus language maintenance,
etc. One of the important questions to be raised is how such choices interact with the de facto multi-ethnic and multilingual dynamics of
urban neighbourhoods and the schools situated in them.
The education system of the Flemish Region in Belgium is characterized by a denial of the linguistic capital of plurilingual learners from
immigrant minorities. The dominant language ideology is monolingual (Dutch only). Languages spoken by low-status minority groups
are undervalued and seen as an impediment to social integration and scholastic achievement. This ideology pervades school policies
and practices: L2 submersion is widely taken for granted as the normal language education paradigm; some schools even ban the use
of home languages from the school premises. Attempts at bilingual instruction with immigrant pupils have met with mixed results so
far. Consequently, policy makers often brand multilingualism as problematic and bilingual education as ineffective. Furthermore, urban
inner-city schools have in recent years become so linguistically diverse that organising bilingual instruction in separate L1 classes tends
to become unfeasible.
These new challenges have undoubtedly put enormous pressure on ‘traditional’ bilingual education. Therefore, multiple alternative
approaches are tentatively being developed. They focus attention on the psycho-social and functional use of minority home languages
within linguistically diverse mainstream classes, and emphasise an additive and empowerment-oriented approach to multilingualism.
In this paper we draw on a current research study – the ‘Home Language in Primary Education’ project – which investigates educational
and sociolinguistic practices in four linguistically diverse inner-city primary schools in Ghent. We will illustrate to what extent teachers
in these schools mobilise home languages as a resource for rendering learning environments more powerful. Multilingual strategies are
developed to enhance a safe and positive learning climate, to render tasks more meaningful and to scaffold the learning process, while
individually supporting the plurilingual learners.
Piet Van Avermaet’s paper will be followed by a roundtable discussion.
Members of the roundtable:
Joana Duarte, Universität Hamburg, Germany
Fiona Kearney, Special Education Support Service, Ireland
Deirdre Kirwan, Principal, Scoil Bhríde Girls' National School, Blanchardstown, Ireland
Breda Naughton, Department of Education and Skills, Office of the Minister of State for Integration, Ireland
SESSION 6f The TII’s English Language Support Programme I
Teaching English to Immigrant Students in Irish Post-Primary Schools: the Irish School System, Students'
Identities & Access to Education
Rachael Fionda, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms offer both challenges and opportunities for policy makers and educators in Irish postprimary
schools, which in the past decade have responded to unprecedented immigration with a variety of responses in the education
system. Each school is unique and therefore differs in provision for both the English language teaching necessary for access to school
knowledge (in the English language medium schools) and the support for the development of subject knowledge needed for participation
in state exams.
My research began with systematic empirical explorations of Dublin based schools to discover variation in English language support
provision, and the results were analysed within a theoretical framework spanning education philosophy, linguistic minorities within
education, second language acquisition and learning processes. The outcome of my research, as presented in this paper, contributes to
emerging context-specific research (see Devine, 1999 & 2005; Keogh & Whyte, 2003; Nowlan, 2008; Lyons & Little, 2009; ESRI, 2009) to
determine the impact of immigration on schools and find out how schools are equipping themselves to provide an education for numbers
of students who speak English as a Second Language.
I will concentrate on three themes within my research; first, the existing boundaries of Irish second level education, in order to establish
an outline of existing resources which can be optimised and developed into efficient English language support. Second, issues which
have significant impact on the provision of mainstream education to students who speak a native language other than the language of
education. Finally, I draw the two previous themes together to make suggestions and observations on processes which promote best
practice in Irish schools and their English language support provision.
The academic language demands of the Irish post-primary curriculum and English language support for immigrant students
Stergiani Kostopoulou, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
The principal aim of English language support in Irish post-primary education is to help immigrant students acquire the language
of schooling so that they become fully integrated into the mainstream classroom. Research into current language support practices
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