33618 ciaran dawson_universitycollegecork

Using Online Discussion toEnhance the Learning Experienceof Learners of MinorityLanguagesDr Ciarán Dawson: University College Cork

Irish LanguageNíIt is not atá ann a bhfuil Irish Accent. Béarla English with an blas na hÉireann air.

An Indo-European Language

Number of Speakers: Ireland Population Irish Speakers North 1,617,957 75,125 South 4,057,646 1,656,790 Total 5,675,603 1,731,915

Legal and Constitutional StatusArticle 81. The Irish language as the national language is the first official language. 2. The English language is recognised as a second official language. 3. Provision may, however, be made by law for the exclusive use of either of the said languages for any one or more official purposes, either throughout the State or in any part thereof. 1st January 2007: Irish was recognised as an official language of the European Union. All legislation and documents of major public importance or interest are now produced in Irish.

Ionad na Gaeilge Labhartha The Centre for Oral Irish University College Cork

UCC: Student GroupsMedical StudentsLaw StudentsSports Studies StudentsEducation StudentsOverseas StudentsAdult Learners

Adult LearnersTwo Year Part-time Diploma in Applied Irish LanguageAttend UCC one evening a week.Participate in one online module each year• The History of Irish as an Applied Language• Applied Irish in the Modern WorldWorkload:• Participate in fortnightly online debates via UCC’s VLE (Blackboard).• Submit one project/essay per term.

Adult LearnersWanted two things to promote reflection on their use of Irish: • to provide the students with the option of cooperating in groups, • to facilitate an easy asynchronous discourse amongst them around their use of Irish language in their professional lives.Blackboard Discussion Tool presented itself as solution.

First YearTopics ranged from the links between the Celtic Languagesto the causes of the decline of Irish in 19th Century.Used the Journal Tool in Blackboard mostly.Students made entries based on material provided online.They were given feedback on both their language and content.Class never fully embraced the use of the Journal.Switched to the Discussion Tool towards the end of the year.

Second YearStudents participated in 10 discussions.The first 5 dealt with Applied Irish in Contemporary Ireland.The second 5 dealt with Applied Irish in the Contemporary World.Discussions were built around relevant YouTube Videos.Students had to make at least one original post and reply to twocolleagues.The were also encouraged to find and share similar relevantonline material

Feedback to StudentsThere were 8 marks for each discussion:• 4 for language skills,• 2 for content of their original posting,• 2 for the depth of their engagement.Each student also received feedback on their use of language.Began to develop a series of interactive tests based on common errors.

Evidence of LearningIncidence of errors reduced for all students over the two years.The greatest improvement is in sentence structure.A fuller quantitative analysis will be carried out after end of year exam.

Feedback from StudentsFeedback was gathered from students in an online survey and a face-to-facefocus group.

Focus GroupStudents were in agreement that the online discussions had both enhancedtheir language skills and enriched their knowledge of Irish and the generalexperience of minority languages.They all felt that the discussions benefitted their spoken as well as theirwritten language.They stated that the online work in general added to the coherence of thegroup.They regreted the fact that there was not a greater use of the online tests andrecommended that this should be integrated with the discussions in the future.

Some CommentsWithout doubt it has helped my Irish. Afterreviewing everything I’ve written since thebeginning of the course it is clear that the level oferrors has decreased. I also understand muchmore about the Irish language and how it functions.

Some CommentsMy Irish benefited from the debates and thefeedback – and of course from the input of ourcolleagues.

Some CommentsI enjoyed and benefited from all the debates. Themode gave me the opportunity write and debate inIrish using modern technology – something I hadno experience of until now.

Some CommentsI must say that I achieved my own aim – to improvemy Irish and build confidence in speaking thelanguage.

Some CommentsThe grammar exercises were good; I needed themto learn and see patterns in the language.

Some commentsIf we had had more regular grammar tasks basedon the more common errors in the online debates.

Some CommentsI enjoyed the debate about the minority languagesmost. I enjoyed doing research on otherlanguages in the world such as Basque and Maori.

Some CommentsIf I had known beforehand that I would have towork online I wouldn’t have taken the course.

Future PlansCourse resumes in the Autumn with a new cohort.Am performing an indepth analysis of the errors over the two years.Will be developing a comprehensive of feedback utilising Panoptoand online exercises.

33618 ciaran dawson_universitycollegecork

by Blackboard Inc. on May 16, 2012

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

Statistics

33618 ciaran dawson_universitycollegecork Presentation Transcript