Findings from the first phase of developing a receptive vocabulary test for the Irish language

Abstract

Aims and objectives: The aim of this study was to develop and pilot a test of receptive vocabulary for bilingual Irish-English-speaking children, based on a model from Welsh. Design/Methodology/Approach: 310 typically developing children aged five, six and seven years took part. The children were all attending Irish-medium education in Irish-dominant Gaeltacht regions and in immersion education schools outside of these regions. Data and Analysis: Participants were identified as being from either bilingual Irish- and English-speaking homes or English-dominant homes. A mixed-factorial analysis of variance found a significant main effect of age and language background, but no interaction. Post hoc comparisons revealed that those from Bilingual-speaking homes had significantly higher Irish receptive vocabulary scores than those from English-dominant homes. Linear regression models showed that the receptive vocabulary scores of children in immersion schools grew by an average of 21 words per year between the ages of five and seven, compared to almost 12 words per year in Gaeltacht schools. Findings/Conclusions: The findings demonstrate the advantages of immersion education and the need for vocabulary enrichment of children in the Gaeltacht. However, the complexities of developing assessments for first language speakers of a minority language that is in conflict with a second language variety of that language and the majority English language are also highlighted. Significance/Implications: The implications of this study are that immersion schooling is advantageous to the Irish vocabulary of children, but that children from Gaeltacht schools may require vocabulary enrichment that is sufficiently complex to address their needs. Limitations: Limitations to this study include the uneven number of children from each language background/school location and incomplete background details from the children, such as socio-economic status and language use amongst peers.

Majority language vocabulary and nonword repetition skills in children attending minority language immersion education

“…C. Gathercole et al, 2008;V. C. Gathercole & Thomas, 2009;Hoff et al, 2014;O'Toole et al, 2019;Smithson et al, 2014). Additionally, speaking one of the two languages at home prior to attending immersion education may allow more time for the L1 vocabulary skills to be consolidated before the onset of L2 education.…”

Assessment of minority language skills in English–Irish‐speaking bilingual children: A survey of SLT perspectives and current practices

“…In sum, our findings clearly indicate that despite some recent developments in the range and number of resources for assessing Irish language skills, (for example, see Müller et al 2019, Nic Fhlannachadh and Hickey 2019, and O'Toole et al 2020 the availability for clinical use is limited. Those which are available have limitations in terms of appropriacy for the full range of Irish language speakers.…”

“…The majority of the children in IME are L1 English speakers and are exposed to Irish for the first time through the education system (O'Toole & Hickey, 2017) either at pre‐school from 3 years old or school age level, 4–5 years old. This context raises a discussion around definitions of bilingualism and whether these children meet the definition (O'Toole et al., 2020); however, current UK professional guidance (RCSLT, 2018) adopts an inclusive definition which applies to any individual with the knowledge of more than one language. The immersion‐education model used in IME (Gaelscoileanna, 2019) is common in many parts of the world, for example, Māori‐medium education in New Zealand and French immersion in Canada, as well as in Wales and Scotland for Welsh and Scots Gaelic, respectively.…”

Mind the gap: Psycholinguistic and individual factors affecting expressive and receptive vocabulary skills in English-Gaelic bilingual children

“…In previous research focusing on the majority language skills (English) of the same English-Gaelic bilingual children as in this study, children who were exposed to Gaelic later in childhood tended to have larger vocabularies in English than children with an earlier age of exposure (AoE), although AoE was a contributing factor rather than a strong predictor in the study (Chondrogianni et al, 2022). The effect of exposure is larger on minority vocabulary development because it reinforces the contexts outside the school context where the minority language can be used (Dijkstra et al, 2016; Hoff et al, 2014; Gathercole et al, 2008; O’Toole et al, 2019; Smithson et al, 2014). This is over and above the effect of the language of schooling, which also leads to minority vocabulary size increase (Gathercole et al, 2013; Gathercole et al, 2008).…”

“…In a study with the Irish immersion educational context, O’Toole et al (2019) measured the receptive vocabulary abilities in Irish-speaking children aged between 5 and 7 years. The children were attending Irish-medium schools from English-speaking and bilingual homes, where English was the dominant language and Irish was spoken to a variable degree.…”