IRISH AND SPANISH

Irish and Spanish Educational system in L2 1
Comparison between the Irish and the Spanish Educational system in post-
compulsory secondary education
Isabel María Quintero Montesinos
Departamento de Filología Ingles, Francesa y Alemana
Facultad de Filosofía y Letras
Universidad de Málaga

Comparison between the Irish and the Spanish Educational system in post- compulsory secondary
education
In just a relatively short period of time we have seen the development of Applied Linguistics dealing
with the learning and teaching of foreign languages, especially English as a second language (L2) where
according to Silva and Taifeller (2010) its main domains are psycholinguistics, ethnolinguistics,
sociolinguistics, translation and contrastive linguistics. As everybody considers English as a Lingua Franca or
the language of communication, many studies have been carried out in English or had English as the language
of study. However, recent data collected by Fernández Vitores (2012) shows us that 495 million people talk
Spanish, this fact makes Spanish the second more spoken language around the world learned by 18 million
students (p.3). This information makes us think about the situation of Spanish as L2 and how people in different
countries learn Spanish. Due to it we wanted to know: first, how students learn Spanish as L2 in an Anglo
Saxon country, in this case Ireland, and in Spain having these two European countries the most powerful
languages in the occidental world, English and Spanish; second, the main differences in their teaching programs
dealing with the foreign language; third, why students in both countries have problems to achieve a level of
proficiency in their L2. Because of that we have analysed the teaching programs corresponding to the last level
of the Upper studies in Ireland, Senior Level, and the post-compulsory education in Spain, Bachillerato
focusing our attention in how students learn their Native Language L1; how students learn their L2; the
linguistic assessment criteria considered in both countries; and the main aspects both linguistic policies must
consider to get an improvement in the students' level of proficiency.
Before analysing both educational systems, we must take into account Ireland has two official languages
Irish and English, and students must study both of them in primary and secondary education. One of the main
aspects of teaching and learning foreign languages is that students must have language awareness in their native
language and their foreign language, cause they can make connections between them. The main problem Little
(2003) finds in the English syllabus is that “Language Awareness” is connected with the ability students have
to use the conventions of paragraphing, sentence structure, punctuation and spelling (p.8). This syllabus avoids
textual features, moreover it is completely focused on two skills, reading and writing, resting importance to

listening and speaking. That simple factor makes difficult to link the native language with the foreign one
because students just take written exams so they cannot develop their presentation skills. Dealing with Irish,
Little (2003) underlines what he considers a problem: native speakers of Irish and foreigners who study Irish
share the same syllabus. Little (2003) states “Irish-medium and English-medium students, achieves the worst
of both worlds, offering the minority of native speakers and Irish-medium students what is effectively a foreign
language syllabus while placing unrealistic demands of the majority of non-native speakers” (p.9). We must
also underline students of Irish have to learn Irish through English, that makes impossible they can develop
proficiency in Irish due to the lack of competence in listening and speaking skills. According to Little (2003)
Recent studies developed by the Department of Education and Sciences show students of Irish have lack of
vocabulary, frequent resort to English, poor grammar, syntax and spelling (p.10). Students study Irish not as a
modern language, but like a subject which is part of their curriculum and a requirement to go to university. Irish
students do not have to use Irish as a language of communication because it is not necessary in their daily life.
Due to the lack of competence in listening and speaking Irish students have in their both official languages
Irish and English, Irish students cannot develop their autonomy when learning a foreign language. In Spain
there are four different co-official languages but we consider in our research the common official language all
the communities have castellano known as Spanish language outside Spain. The Organic Law (LOE 2/2006),
considers Spanish students must get oral and written proficiency in their native language (p.171172) and the
Royal Decree in Andalusia (REAL DECRETO 1467/2007) establishes students must understand oral and
written language in different social and cultural backgrounds, they have to communicate with one another
coherently and properly having into account the different communicative situations, and its communicative
finality; students must use and value the oral and written language as a channel to develop their interpersonal
communication, the acquisition of their new knowledge, the understanding and study of reality and the
rational organization of the action; and they have to acquire grammar, sociolinguistic and discursive knowledge
to use them in text analysis and in the planning, composition and correction of their own productions
(p.45402) . Taking into account these educational laws we can analyse the level of proficiency students acquire
in their L2 in the non-compulsory secondary education is quite high, so they know how to manage in order to
develop their autonomy in the four different skills when they are learning a foreign language.

After analysing the main differences both educational systems have, dealing with their native language,
we will focus our attention in the target language. In this case we will analyse the contents both educational
systems consider in their syllabuses. In Ireland, the Leaving Certificate framework considers its contents into
its Behavioural Objectives, dividing them into Basic Communicative Proficiency, Language Awareness and
Cultural Awareness (2010, p. 6,18,20). Making use of Crystal's theories of language learning (1995) the
contents in the Leaving Certificate Spanish Syllabus are connected to the communicative approach which
makes us think about the contrast between the way Irish students learn English, Irish and the foreign language.
Students learn English by natural acquisition cause they are exposed to the language at school and in social
interaction, they are native speakers of English; students learn Irish through the traditional instruction
environment because they use English to communicate in their Irish lessons and the subject is focused on the
language and the vocabulary rather than on the information carried out by the language; and students learn the
foreign language through the communicative Approach, whose main feature is that students learn the foreign
language through experience using it and interacting and conversing with their classmates, teacher or
conversational assistant. In Spain Contents are divided into four different groups: Listening, Speaking and
Conversing; Reading and Writing; Language Awareness; and Sociocultural Aspects (REAL DECRETO
1467/2007) . Dealing with contents we can find in Spain students learn the second language through different
approaches not just the communicative Approach which is one of the most important and relevant approaches
teachers work with. In Listening Speaking and conversing we can find the behaviourist view, where teachers
encourage students to imitate different English sounds as similar as possible to the target language's, paying
attention to the pronunciation, rhythm and intonation as well as repeating structures used in the oral language.
This approach is quite useful when students are learning new sounds and structures that Spanish Language does
not consider. We must realise that with the behaviourist view, the native language can interfere in the the target
language, for example our students can learn the structure “I want you to buy an umbrella” but the Spanish
equivalent of that sentence is “quiero que compres un paraguas” so many students who have learned the
English structure, can use it wrongly because the Native Language has interfered in their knowledge causing a
frequent mistake which is “I want that you buy an umbrella” or dealing with pronunciation our students can

pronounce the word hut /hʌt/ like hat /hæt/ because Spanish language does not have as many vowel sounds as
English language has, so teachers use this approach but must be conscious of these kinds of mistakes. In
reading and writing teachers use the cognitive approach where students must use their cognitive abilities to
write, for example, a short composition. In this case students have to put into practice all the tools, structures
and rules they have learned to be creative using the target language. The problem the cognitive approach has is
that our students use a kind of language which is between the native and target language for example our
students can use the word “sensible” as “sensible” because both words are written identically in both languages,
so students can predict they have got the same meaning, or knowing the word “bore” means “aburrir” in
Spanish students can use structures like “I´m boring” instead of “I'm bored” because they think they are bored
in that precise moment and because of that they must use present continuous, something quite sensible dealing
with grammar. The cognitive Approach helps students to learn through their mistakes because students become
conscious of the foreign language system, we know this technique as error analysis and its problem is that
sometimes teachers do not understand what their students intended to say and identify the error with another
different one. In Language Awareness our students learn certain aspects of grammar through the traditional
approach, where they are focused on the grammar rules instead of focusing on the information the language
transmits. For example, when our students are learning the Saxon genitive, teachers use to give certain rules
students must learn by heart and sometimes students must translate sentences from the native language into the
foreign language like “el abuelo, del primo, del tío, de las gemelas, de mi vecina es ingeniero” a native speaker
of English will never use a sentence like that, but this kind of translations helps students to learn the rule. As we
can see in Spain teachers must work with different approaches cause the contents are more specific than those
considered in the Irish syllabus. Obviously in Spain as well as in Ireland the communicative approach is a the
main tool in the development of both syllabuses. However, the fact that our students in Spain have knowledge
about grammar (syntax and morphology) as well as a better knowledge in their oral and listening skills dealing
with the native language, make our students capable of using different approaches easily and to get the level of
proficiency in the foreign language faster than Irish students.
After analysing the contents students must work with to acquire the level of proficiency required in the

Senior Level, we must think about who has chosen that level and how we can check whether our students have
reached to it or not. In this case we are talking about the Common European framework of Reference for
Languages: learning, teaching, assessment (CEFRL) a key aspect in the Irish and Spanish syllabus. The Council
of Europe published the CEFRL in 1996 and it was revised and commercially published in 2001. Their main
idea was the creation of an European society where all its citizens became multilingual. Nowadays this
linguistic Framework suppose a revolution in learning, teaching and assessment because it describes the
linguistic communication and the skills a learner must acquire to get the level of proficiency in the L2. The
CEFRL has developed Six different levels of proficiency in the L2 (Centro Virtual Cervantes, 2002): A1
Breakthrough, A2 Waystage, B1 Threshold, B2 Vantage, C1 Effective Operational Proficiency, C2 Mastery (pg
25 . The European countries follow these descriptors which are internationally known and followed being a key
aspect in the development of second language acquisition. The Organismo Autónomo de Programas Educativos
Europeos (OAPEE, 2010) states that the CEFRL is connected with the European Language Portfolio (ELP).
The ELP main characteristic is that anyone who is learning a new language can register their linguistic and
cultural experience so learners became conscious of their linguistic proficiency in the L2. Three different but
related parts constitute the ELP: Passport, language biography and dossier. In Passport students show what they
can do in the L2 and there is a section of self-assessment where students are concerned of their level of
proficiency in the four different skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing). Students can also upload all
those language certificates they have obtained; In Language Biography students describe their own experiences
when using the foreign language. Its main function is to guide and assess students so they can test their own
progress in the acquisition of the L2; and Dossier where students upload their linguistic works (written texts,
projects, videos, and other written material made by them.) to illustrate their linguistic knowledge. The EP has
become a key issue for developing students' autonomy thanks to these three parts, and Inspectors of Modern
languages consider its use can be helpful for assessment purposes.
One of the main characteristics of assessment in Ireland, which also shares Spain, is that teachers choose
when and how to test their students. Inspectors of modern languages in Ireland (Department of Education and
Skills, 2004) report almost all schools in Ireland have the traditional end-of-term and end-of-year formal written

assessments, and some schools have the continuous written assessment at the end of each teaching unit. Dealing
with the four different skills, Inspectors consider students must develop their oral skills in the L2 and because
of that, and having as a reference the EFRL, exams must include students' oral skills formally. When inspectors
focus on the Leaving Certificate year group, they find teachers work the four different skills, paying special
attention to students' oral skills through different mock exams and extra information as recordings teachers keep
to show them to students and their parents in order to analyse their improvement. This is due to the State
Examinations Commission (SEC) who is a non-departmental public body under the Department of Education
and Skills. SEC is responsible of the creation, assessment, accreditation and certification of the Leaving
Certificate and teachers, students and parents can find model examples exams in their website. Dealing with
Spanish as L2 we can find SEC gives two different kinds of written model exams: Spanish – Ordinary Level
(Appendix 1), where students must develop five different exercises dealing with written comprehension, and
another two exercises dealing with written production; or Spanish Higher Level (Appendix 2) which is divided
into three sections, Section A dealing with vocabulary and written comprehension; Section B devoted to
vocabulary, written comprehension and written production; and Section C devoted to the written production.
The majority of the exercises' wordings in the written comprehension are in English or ask students to answer
in English instead of Spanish, and the majority of the exercises devoted to written production have not got a
limit of words. The Oral comprehension model exam known as Aural (Appendix 3) is the same for the ordinary
and higher level. It consists on an audio with seven sections: an announcement, two dialogues, two descriptive
passages, a weather report, and a news item. Students hear each section three times and complete the exercises
of the exam papers in English. The speakers in the audio use standard Spanish and speak slowly. The audio is
36.42 minutes long. The model oral exam (Appendix 4) consists on five situations, however the SEC website
does not specify if students must develop one or the four situations. In the exam students must interact with the
examiners trying to keep a dialogue about daily situations connected with the Spanish culture. Oral production
exams take place between the 15th
and 26th
April 2013, many weeks before the written and aural papers which
take place the 18th
June 2013. According to Little (2003) written and oral exams must be connected in order to
improve our students' proficiency (p.13) . In Spain and specifically in Andalusia, teachers must follow the
assessment criteria published in the Royal Decree 1467/2007 (REAL DECRETO 1467/2007) but they are free

to assess their students when they like, although students use to take the L2 exam after finishing the teaching
unit so teachers can check if they have understood the contents given. In the second year of the post-
compulsory education, students who want to go to university must take an especial exam named Prueba de
Acceso a la Universidad (PAU) composed of different disciplines. The English Exam model-example Junta de
Andalucía has (appendix 5) explains the different parts which compose the exam: written comprehension, use
of English and written production. This exam, in contrast to the SEC's exams, does not consider the listening
and speaking skills but the writing comprehension and the writing production. PAU follows the CEFRL and
show students should have the levels A2 or B1 to pass the exam. SEC does not inform about the EFRL,
however, Ireland forms part of the European Network of Policy-Makers for the Evaluation of Educational
Systems (European Network) who try to improve the Educational policies in the EU (Evaluating languages,
2009). The European Network create exams to get their reports on L2 teaching and learning base on the EFRL,
so SEC must take the EFRL into consideration. Paying attention to SEC exams, the level students must reach to
pass them is between A2 and B1, depending if students are taking the ordinary or higher level. As we can see,
and having into account students must finish PAU in one hour and a half and SEC exam in two hours and a
half, we can find PAU model exam is more complex than SEC, although this last exam has more exercises and
considers all the skills. PAU exam through the Use of English exercises, guides students to show their
proficiency dealing with grammar, which is quite specific, restricting students' autonomy when using the
foreign language. Obviously, the way policy considers assessment criteria in both educational systems requires
a change and it is one of the main aspects inspectors and academics have underlined in several reports and
articles. Nowadays both Educational systems are working in the elaboration of different documents to include
the four different skills: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing.
After finishing their academic year and taking these exams, our students go to university, however their
level of proficiency in L2 is inferior in relation to other students in different countries. Irish students can speak
English with foreigners because English is considered a Lingua Franca. This makes students not to take their L2
seriously. At the same time in Ireland, according to Department of Education and Science (2004) the learning
of foreign languages is not compulsory at any stage, students must study the two official languages but those
students who want to go to university must take unless a foreign language, because that is a requisite the

University of Ireland ask for (p.6) . Little (2003) considers a language policy must be introduced to recognise
the importance of learning L2 because students could stop learning foreign languages as long as the University
decides not to require them as one of the main requisites to go to university (p 44). Spanish has not got the
same impact as English because it is not considered a lingua Franca. However, in USA Spanish is getting more
and more impact due to its proximity to South America, where Spanish is the most spoken language, and the
increasing number of immigrants living in the States. This fact makes Spanish language more attractive to learn
than any other foreign language so Spanish speakers are not worried about getting proficiency in their L2, nor
even in English. A way to make Spanish students more conscious about the importance of learning foreign
languages is through University. National Universities have chosen as a requirement that students must get the
B1 certificate in any Foreign language in order to be graduated. As a model-example, the University of Málaga
(UMA) establishes this requirement the 21st
July 2011 (Secretaría General, 2011). Since then Spanish students
are continuing their formation in the foreign language they studied in Bachillerato.
English and Spanish are among the most spoken languages around the world. That fact makes native
speakers not to get a proficiency level in their L2 as they can communicate with foreign speakers using their
native language. The importance of foreign languages is a current topic nowadays thanks to the EFRL, so a
reformation in teaching and learning foreign languages is taken place in both countries. However, it is
necessary a reinforcement in some points. Ireland must reinforce the presentation skills in L1 because it helps
students to develop different linguistic tools useful for learning foreign languages. At the same time the foreign
language must be compulsory in secondary education and teachers must use different approaches to develop the
four different skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking, and students' knowledge of the foreign language
culture. In Spain, laws consider the four different skills in its objectives and contents, however exams and PAU
do not consider listening and speaking skills.

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Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Appendix 3

Appendix 4

Appendix 5

IRISH AND SPANISH

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