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

ETBI Journal of Education November 2020
Area of attainment - Mathematics
Discussion of Results
The significant gap in
mathematics between Band 1
DEIS IMS, 3 rd class and Band 1
DEIS schools nationally must be
recognised.
The high number of students
who score at or below the 10 th
percentile is concerning, along
with the low number of students
who score at or above the 90th
percentile in both bands and at
both class levels in DEIS IMS.
The difficulties associated with
the learning of mathematics in
the immersion language in DEIS
IMS are clearly demonstrated in
the results, and these may be the
cause of some of the differences
recorded in the attainment
scores. Gilleece et al. (2012)
recorded lower attainment
scores in national assessments
of Gaeltacht and Irish-medium
schools when compared to
schools on a national level.
Recommendations
The initial difficulties involved with learning a subject through the
immersion language may be the cause of this gap when no language
supports are provided, along with the strong emphasis on literacy in
the learning of mathematics (Dunphy et al., 2014). It seems that these
difficulties become less severe by the time students reach 6th class,
when the gap between the average scores in DEIS IMS and DEIS schools
nationally is not quite as statistically significant.
Strong data is presented here to suggest that there is an urgent need for
strong supports and interventions to serve the promotion of numeracy
in the immersion language.
The data shows the urgent need for specific language supports in DEIS
IMS to serve the language needs of students. The language ability of
students must be developed so that they will be able to fully access the
curriculum in the immersion education system. It is suggested that a
specific language support teacher be provided for DEIS IMS in order to
support the language development of students.
It is strongly recommended that integrated subject and language models
(FCÁT / CLIL) (Coyle, 2007; de Graaff, 2007; Snow & Brinton, 2017) be
implemented with regards to teaching and learning of mathematics in
the Irish-medium DEIS environment. Teachers need to be supported
in integrating language and content in IMS (Tedick & Lyster, 2020). A
model in which there is an emphasis on integration of subject and
language would provide students in DEIS IMS with the opportunity to
build a scaffold of the necessary language in order to begin learning
mathematics through the medium of Irish in a more effective way. A
stronger emphasis on mathematical terminology in the immersion
language could develop the child’s language ability in mathematics.
Although the field of research relating to the FCÁT has been strongly
developed in Ireland, (for example, see Ó Ceallaigh, Ó Laoire and Uí
Chongaile, 2019), it is recommended that a model be designed for
the Irish–medium DEIS setting in order to acknowledge the particular
challenges associated with that setting.
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