ETBI Journal of Education - Vol 2:2 November 2020 (Irish-medium Education)

ETBI Journal of Education November 2020
Immersion Education and Language Revitalisation
Prof. Muiris Ó Laoire Institute of Technology, Tralee.
This article discusses immersion education in the
context of language revitalisation. From the emphasis
placed on language planning in recent years (The
Twenty Year Strategy, Language Planning in the
Gaeltacht and the Policy on Gaeltacht Education),
it is clear that the State expects to revitalise and
strengthen the language through the medium of
education. This question is examined here in the
context of immersion education.
INTRODUCTION
Immersion education is going from strength to
strength in this country, and in other countries and
regions around the world. There are many reasons
for the demand for immersion education schools,
related to educational achievement, delivery of
education, resources and so on. But a fundamental
question has been posed for a long time now
regarding the potential function of immersion
education in the context of language revitalisation.
Is immersion education producing capable, active,
new-age speakers of the language to contribute
to language revitalisation? In the case of Irish, the
question is raised as to how widely Irish is used by
immersion education learners after leaving school,
and in the following years? In this article, “new”
immersion education is discussed, along with the
multiple benefits associated with it, and questions
are raised conceptually regarding the challenge of
language revitalisation.
IS IMMERSION EDUCATION
PRODUCING CAPABLE, ACTIVE,
NEW-AGE SPEAKERS OF THE
LANGUAGE TO CONTRIBUTE TO
LANGUAGE REVITALISATION?
LANGUAGE REVITALISATION
“New” immersion education has been flourishing
around the world for almost twenty years,
particularly in countries and regions where a
minority or native language is threatened by
a dominant language. Immersion education
functions as a strategy for language rennaisance
or revitalisation. These two terms, “revival ”
and “revitalisation”, are used interchangably to
describe the process in which an attempt is made
to bring a language into use again in areas or
domains where it had previously fallen out of use 1 .
Although the two terms are in use, there is a
significant difference between them. The term
1 For example, on the topic of immersion education and
language revitalisation, Hinton (2001:181) has commented: There
is no doubt that this is the best way to jump-start the production
of a new generation of fluent speakers for an endangered language.
There is no other system of language revitalisation that has such
complete access to so many members of the younger generation
(who are the best language learners) for so many hours per day
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