Deidre Kirwan

ABSTRACT

This presentation will describe the plurilingual approach to education developed and used in Scoil Bhríde (Cailíní) (SBC; St. Brigid’s School for Girls), a linguistically diverse primary school in Dublin. The goal of this approach is to ensure that immigrant pupils gain maximum benefit from their primary schooling. To do this, the linguistic diversity of the school is used for the benefit of all pupils and the inclusion of learners’ home languages in classroom communication is an essential feature. The development of SBC’s policy and practice, and its approach to plurilingual education, were influenced by the Irish Primary School Curriculum (1999) and the CEFR’s action-oriented approach to the description of language proficiency, its view of the language user/learner as an autonomous social agent, and the concept of plurilingualism (Council of Europe, 2001). SBC’s pupils achieve high levels of age-appropriate literacy in English (the principal language of schooling), Irish (the second language of the curriculum), French (in the last two years of primary school) and immigrant pupils’ home languages (included without instruction). The plurilingual approach used in SBC results in significant benefits for all pupils who develop an unusual degree of language awareness and frequently undertake ambitious language learning activities on their own initiative. It also fosters pupils’ self-esteem and promotes social cohesion.

Keywords

plurilingual approach; linguistic diversity; SBC; language awareness

References

1. Little, D., & Kirwan, D. (2019). Engaging with Linguistic Diversity: A Study of Educational Inclusion in an Irish Primary School. Bloomsbury Academic.

2. Little, D., & Kirwan, D. (2021). A Plurilingual Approach to Language Education at Primary Level: An Example from Ireland. In U. Lanvers, A.S. Thompson, & M. East (Eds.), Language Learning in Anglophone Countries (pp.405-423). Springer.