PPLI Primary Guidelines REVISED EDITION - Flipbook - Page 14
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Language and Languages in the Primary School Some guidelines for teachers by David Little and Déirdre Kirwan
1.4 An integrated approach to the teaching and learning of Irish and English
As we pointed out in section 1.1, the Primary Language Curriculum embodies a version of the plurilingual approach
because it aims to provide pupils with a learning experience in which English, Irish and MFLs support one another.
The rationale for the curriculum recognizes that language is “central to how and what we learn” and “our chief means
of intrapersonal and interpersonal communication”, noting that language “develops through communicating – by
giving, receiving and making sense of information”. 21 The rationale defines language learning as an “integrated process”
that is the product of “meaningful interactions and conversations” and entails the transfer of skills between languages.22
To adapt a key formulation from the CEFR, the Primary Language Curriculum aims to help pupils to develop a
communicative competence to which all knowledge and experience of English, Irish and other languages contributes
and in which English, Irish and other languages interrelate and interact.
The pedagogical principles implied by the CEFR’s plurilingual approach (see section 1.1) are thus directly relevant to
the Primary Language Curriculum:
•
The teaching and learning of Irish and English should be grounded in language use that is spontaneous and
authentic; this ensures that both languages are an integral part of pupils’ daily communicative experience.
•
Teaching and learning should draw on all the linguistic resources available to learners, whether or not the class
includes pupils with a home language other than English or Irish.
•
Teaching and learning should acknowledge that English and Irish are discrete entities that differ greatly as regards
vocabulary, morphology, syntax and phonology.
•
By encouraging reflection on the similarities and differences between the two languages, teaching should help
pupils to develop language awareness and understand what it means to learn how to learn a language. Teaching
English and Irish in this way from the beginning prepares pupils for the inclusion of HLs when present and for the
introduction of MFLs in stages 3 and 4.
21
22
Primary Language Curriculum, p. 7.
Primary Language Curriculum, p. 8.
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