{"id":153,"date":"2020-05-01T01:30:17","date_gmt":"2020-05-01T01:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/drkevinsmith\/?p=153"},"modified":"2025-10-30T05:13:41","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T05:13:41","slug":"learning-welsh-what-pupils-really-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/drkevinsmith\/learning-welsh-what-pupils-really-think\/","title":{"rendered":"How Should We Teach Welsh in School?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a special “guest post” from my good friend and colleague Dr Mirain Rhys<\/a>, a lecturer in Psychology at Cardiff Metropolitan University. In this post, she discusses research she and I have undertaken in understanding pupils’ experiences learning Welsh as a second language.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\"Dr<\/p>\n

Prior to my current position at Cardiff Met<\/span>, I\u00a0<\/span>worked as a researcher on<\/span>\u00a0the<\/span> WISERDEducation <\/span>Multicohort Study<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>at WISERD (<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>Wales Institute of Economic Research Data & Methods)<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>One intriguing finding from this study was that the most disliked lesson in the schools we surveyed was Welsh.\u00a0<\/span>As someone who grew up speaking Welsh as a first language in<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>arguably the \u2018Welshest\u2019 place on earth (Caernarfon!)<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>learning\u00a0<\/span>this<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>was a genuine shock<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>I wanted to know why\u00a0<\/span>students<\/span>\u00a0felt this way. So<\/span>, together with Dr Kevin Smith, I went in search of answers.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cymraeg<\/span>\u00a0has seen it<\/span>s fair share of highs and lows. Currently, we are at the beginning of a new era in Welsh language development<\/span>\u00a0with Welsh Government aiming for<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>1 million\u00a0<\/span>Welsh speakers by 2050<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>This<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>has huge implications for education in terms of provision and attainment \u2013 but also (and<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0arguably, most important) attitudes and motivation towards the language.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Welsh as a second language<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>has long been neglected\u00a0<\/span>(<\/span>Estyn, 2018<\/span><\/a>)<\/span>\u00a0as a pathway to fluency. Many people feel betrayed at the promise of learning their country\u2019s language only to receive a\u00a0<\/span>meagre<\/span>\u00a01 hour lesson every two weeks, making their chances of even becoming conversational in the language slim\u00a0<\/span>(<\/span>National Assembly for Wales, 2010<\/span><\/a>).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We asked groups of students<\/span>\u00a0(ranging from years 9-13)\u00a0<\/span>what they thought of\u00a0<\/span>Welsh<\/span>\u00a0lessons<\/span>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/span>what\u00a0<\/span>did they like, dislike and h<\/span>ow were they different to other lessons they\u00a0<\/span>had in school<\/span>\u00a0(especially in other \u2018core\u2019 subj<\/span>ects)<\/span>. We also asked,\u00a0<\/span>if they could, how would they change Welsh\u00a0<\/span>lessons,<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>should\u00a0<\/span>they\u00a0<\/span>be learning the language<\/span>?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Students were\u00a0<\/span>generally\u00a0<\/span>positive abo<\/span>ut\u00a0<\/span>Cymraeg<\/span>.\u00a0 T<\/span>he majority<\/span>\u00a0thought it should continue as a living language\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0<\/span>many\u00a0<\/span>were passionate about their own\u00a0<\/span>Welsh\u00a0<\/span>identity.\u00a0<\/span>However, many\u00a0<\/span>students<\/span>\u00a0were ambivalent when asked if they felt a<\/span>\u00a0responsibility to\u00a0<\/span>conserve the language.\u00a0<\/span>In addition, most<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>students<\/span>\u00a0were not confident in speaking\u00a0<\/span>Welsh<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>consistently<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>described<\/span>\u00a0lessons<\/span>\u00a0as badly planned<\/span>, poorly taught<\/span>\u00a0and<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>pointless<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

All we do is pass papers. They<\/span><\/i>\u2019re\u00a0<\/span><\/i>teaching us to pass the exam<\/span><\/i>, but you\u2019re\u00a0<\/span><\/i>not going to take exams for the rest of your life. If you\u2019re taking Welsh at\u00a0school\u00a0then you want to learn Welsh rather than just prepare to take an exam.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For these\u00a0<\/span>students<\/span>, time spent studying Welsh that did not lead to fluency<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0wasted time, limited their GCSE choices and\u00a0<\/span>negatively affected their perception of the language<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It was much better in primary,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>the teachers made\u00a0it\u00a0so you\u00a0<\/span><\/i>like<\/span><\/i>d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0to lear<\/span><\/i>n, and you\u2019re using<\/span><\/i>\u00a0the basics so it\u2019s easy to\u00a0<\/span><\/i>learn. Now, it\u2019s pointless. We don\u2019t speak enough Welsh, mostly we just copy recipes, translate useless conversations<\/span><\/i>,<\/span><\/i>\u00a0and pass papers.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These findings are supported by data generated from the Wales multicohort study questionnaires, which indicate that students\u2019 negative perceptions of Welsh increase the further along they are in school.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The students also told us how they would change Welsh lessons.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u00a0<\/span><\/i>want<\/span><\/i>\u00a0to\u00a0<\/span><\/i>speak<\/span><\/i> Welsh. Not like, in front of everybody \u2013 like a test \u2013 just like, have a conversation with friends, with the teacher \u2013 to talk to each other. <\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Other students felt the aims of Welsh language education needed to change.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s no point to take Welsh lessons\u00a0<\/span><\/i>to<\/span><\/i>\u00a0just to pass exams. Having a GCSE in Welsh might help me get a job, but it won\u2019t help me speak Welsh while doing it.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, pupils recognised many of the\u00a0challenges\u00a0teachers face in preparing and delivering lessons due to a lack of resources.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There aren\u2019t any good books in Welsh \u2013 not for our age. The teachers\u00a0<\/span><\/i>make\u00a0<\/span><\/i>things up as go they go along because they don\u2019t have things like books, videos \u2013 music, and so we end up translating sentences like \u201cdo you like technology?\u201d What kind of question is that? How is that supposed to help me speak Welsh?<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Children\u2019s attitudes and motivations towards learning a second language are formed at a young age (<\/span>Thomas, Apolloni & Lewis, 2014<\/span><\/a>). Future work needs to be concentrated on those early days of education, where children are forming opinions about the world. The new curriculum will thread the Welsh language through\u00a0all of\u00a0its\u00a0AOLEs\u00a0but training is required to foster positive attitudes towards the language; what impact does the way we speak about Welsh have on young minds?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Listening to those who experience the educational policies dreamt up in board rooms in Cathays park is vital; these individuals are the future of the language \u2013\u00a0<\/span>and sowing the seed early on might just mean that they will want to be advocates for the language when they themselves enter the world of work. The new curriculum is a chance to pass the language on to all children accessing state education in Wales<\/span>\u00a0so that<\/span>\u00a0they become\u00a0<\/span>proponents<\/span> for their country\u2019 beating heart; Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb galon. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Reflective Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. When did you have the most success in learning a language? What do you attribute to that success?<\/li>\n
  2. How important is it for pupils to enjoy a subject?<\/li>\n
  3. In consideration of the new, curriculum framework for Wales, how might schools best support both <\/em>the instruction and every-day use of Welsh?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Author’s Bio
    \n<\/strong>    Dr Mirain Rhys<\/a> is a Psychology lecturer at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Her research interests lie in the fields of Education and Bilingualism, especially in relation to Welsh and other minority languages. Prior to working as a lecturer, Mirain was a Research Associate at WISERD (Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data) on a variety of educational research projects, including the Wales Multicohort Study and evaluation of the Foundation Phase in education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Why do so many pupils say they dislike Welsh lessons? In this post, Dr Mirain Rhys examines what learners themselves think about studying Cymraeg\u2014and what needs to change. From calls for more authentic speaking opportunities to concerns about exam-focused teaching, the findings offer powerful insights for anyone committed to the future of Wales\u2019s living language.","protected":false},"author":1081,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[6,93,12,41,89,11,92,42,10,90,91],"class_list":["post-153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-educational-research","tag-educationalresearch","tag-bilingualism","tag-curriculum","tag-curriculum-for-wales","tag-cymraeg","tag-cymru","tag-language-instruction","tag-school","tag-wales","tag-welsh","tag-welsh-as-a-second-language"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"meta_box":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/drkevinsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/drkevinsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/drkevinsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/drkevinsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1081"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/drkevinsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/drkevinsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":187,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/drkevinsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions\/187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/drkevinsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/drkevinsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/drkevinsmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}