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It’s more the invisible benefits – multilingual parents’ experiences of immersion education and their reasons for choosing immersion

Ní Dhiorbháin, Ashling orcid logoORCID: 0000-0001-5307-2516, Nic Aindriú, Sinéad orcid logoORCID: 0000-0001-8959-253X, Connaughton-Crean, Lorraine and Ó Duibhir, Pádraig orcid logoORCID: 0000-0003-2316-027X (2023) It’s more the invisible benefits – multilingual parents’ experiences of immersion education and their reasons for choosing immersion. Language and Education . ISSN 0950-0782

Abstract
The participation of multilingual children in minority language immersion programmes is under-researched internationally. The Republic of Ireland (RoI) has become a linguistically and culturally diverse society. In the RoI, parents have the opportunity to educate their child in English-medium or Irish-medium (IM) schools. However, the cohort of multilingual children attending IM schools is very small. This study investigated the reasons why parents who spoke a home language other than Irish or English chose to enrol their children in IM primary education. It also investigated parents’ perceptions of the benefits of this form of education. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 15 parents from a variety of language backgrounds. It was found that parents were motivated to enrol their child in IM primary schools to provide them with the opportunity to learn a variety of languages at an early age. Benefits associated with learning multiple languages and immersion in Irish culture and heritage were seen as the main advantages of IM education. A minority of parents chose an IM school when there was no space for their child in an English-medium school. Parents reported that they did not experience significant challenges in IM immersion. Recommendations arise to support the participation of multilingual families in immersion education.
Metadata
Item Type:Article (Published)
Refereed:Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:Immersion education; Irish; Irish-medium; multilingualism; multilingual parents; plurilingualism
Subjects:Humanities > Irish language
Humanities > Language
Social Sciences > Education
DCU Faculties and Centres:DCU Faculties and Schools > Institute of Education > School of Language, Literacy, & Early Childhood Education
Publisher:Routledge (Taylor & Francis)
Official URL:https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2023.2238680
Copyright Information:© 2023 The Authors.
Funders:An Chomhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta [The Council for Gaeltacht and Irish-medium Education]
ID Code:29680
Deposited On:08 Mar 2024 11:26 by Melissa Lynch . Last Modified 08 Mar 2024 11:26
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