Research Study 3

The research study

The Welsh Government awarded a grant in June 2020 to a research team from the universities of Bangor and Aberystwyth and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David to undertake this study.

Research area

Drawing upon evidence from a sample of schools, the research considers the impact of the pandemic on learners’ engagement with and/or use of Welsh in both the Welsh-medium/bilingual and English-medium sectors, with a particular focus on children attending Welsh-medium schools who are living in non-Welsh-speaking households.

Methodology

Survey data was collected between November 2020 and January 2021 from teachers and parents/carers at Welsh-medium, bilingual and English-medium schools across Wales. In addition, interviews and focus groups were held in March 2021 with lecturers and students in initial teacher education.

Main findings

1. The new blended and distance learning environment created challenges in securing the regular use of Welsh by learners owing to issues associated with safeguarding, technological limitations, the lack of suitable resources and learners’ automatic use of English in the home environment.
2. Despite these challenges some schools supported families effectively during this period.
3. In the case of Welsh-medium and bilingual education, parents/carers noted that schools communicated with them bilingually when setting work for learners, although in some instances they were not able to support their children because this was done primarily in Welsh.
4. Parents/carers did not find it helpful when provided with direct translations of tasks or where the feedback that was provided was largely in Welsh. They would have appreciated more guidance on the aims and purposes of the tasks in order to support their children to complete the tasks in Welsh.
5. The ability of schools to develop learners’ Welsh language oral skills was adversely affected by the lockdown.
6. There were also difficulties in setting work commensurate with the Welsh language competence of learners, leading to learners with both high and low levels of competency not being sufficiently engaged in the work.
7. While some children continued to flourish, many others who were not in regular contact with Welsh required additional support on their return to school.
8. Teachers reported, however, that when such children were offered appropriate support, they quickly regained their competencies.
9. Students in initial teacher education had to rapidly enhance their technological skills and ability to develop resources for blended- and distance-learning environments.

Recommendations

1. A review should be undertaken of effective use of blended- and distance-learning strategies in the context of Welsh-language learning, including resources to support learning outside of school.
2. Guidance should be provided for schools on effective ways of communicating bilingually with parents/carers beyond direct translation.
3. Guidance should be developed on how the use of Welsh outside of schools can best be encouraged and supported.
4. Professional learning opportunities should be provided for teachers on effective:

• use of technology to support bilingualism
• feedback to parents/carers and learners in Welsh-medium/bilingual contexts
• retrieval approaches to capture what learners already know
• support for ALN learners

5. Initial teacher education partnerships should identify digital learning champions who are able to support developments in this area across the partnership.
6. Schools should:

• identify a staff member as a key contact point for parental queries on how best to support children in their use of Welsh
• review their language policies to reflect the experiences of the pandemic and ensure these are communicated to staff
• reflect, following the experience of the pandemic, on how best to differentiate work for learners so that it is suitable for their levels of language competency
• consider adopting the principles of translanguaging whereby learners receive information in one language (English) and use or apply it in another language (Welsh)
• consider introducing intensive language revision sessions following long periods of learner absence

Further information

The full research report will be published in the summer of 2021 in the NSERE area of Hwb. For further information contact Professor Enlli Thomas: enlli.thomas@bangor.ac.uk