Table Of ContentSocial Context and Fluency in L2 Learners
NEW PERSPECTIVES ON LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION
Series Editor:Professor Viv Edwards,University of Reading, Reading, Great Britain
Series Advisor: Professor Allan Luke,Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Two decades of research and development in language and literacy education have
yielded a broad, multidisciplinary focus. Yet education systems face constant
economic and technological change, with attendant issues of identity and power,
community and culture. This series will feature critical and interpretive, disciplinary
and multidisciplinary perspectives on teaching and learning, language and literacy in
new times.
Recent Books in the Series
Distance Education and Languages: Evolution and Change
Börje Holmberg, Monica Shelley and Cynthia White (eds)
Ebonics: The Urban Education Debate (2nd edn)
J.D. Ramirez, T.G .Wiley, G. de Klerk, E. Lee and W.E. Wright (eds)
Decolonisation, Globalisation: Language-in-Education Policy and Practice
Angel M. Y. Lin and Peter W. Martin (eds)
Travel Notes from the New Literacy Studies: Instances of Practice
Kate Pahl and Jennifer Rowsell (eds)
Other Books of Interest
Bilingual Education: An Introductory Reader
Ofelia García and Colin Baker (eds)
Continua of Biliteracy: An Ecological Framework for Educational Policy, Research,
and Practice in Multilingual Settings
Nancy H. Hornberger (ed.)
Developing Minority Language Resources
Guadalupe Valdés, Joshua A. Fishman, Rebecca Chávez and William Pérez
Language and Identity in a Dual Immersion School
Kim Potowski
Language and Literacy Teaching for Indigenous Education: A Bilingual Approach
Norbert Francis and Jon Reyhner
Language Learning and Teacher Education: A Sociocultural Approach
Margaret R. Hawkins (ed.)
Language, Space and Power: A Critical Look at Bilingual Education
Samina Hadi-Tabassum
Language Minority Students in the Mainstream Classroom (2nd edn)
Angela L. Carrasquillo and Vivian Rodríguez
Multilingual Classroom Ecologies
Angela Creese and Peter Martin (eds)
Disinventing and Reconstituting Languages
Sinfree Makoni and Alastair Pennycook (eds)
Understanding Deaf Culture: In Search of Deafhood
Paddy Ladd
For more details of these or any other of our publications, please contact:
Multilingual Matters, Frankfurt Lodge, Clevedon Hall,
Victoria Road, Clevedon, BS21 7HH, England
http://www.multilingual-matters.com
NEW PERSPECTIVES ON LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION
Series Editor: Viv Edwards
Social Context and
Fluency in L2 Learners
The Case of Wales
Lynda Pritchard Newcombe
MULTILINGUAL MATTERS LTD
Clevedon • Buffalo (cid:127) Toronto
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Newcombe, Lynda Pritchard.
Social Context and Fluency in L2 Learners: The Case of Wales/Lynda Pritchard
Newcombe.
New Perspectives on Language and Education
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Language and languages–Study and teaching–Social aspects–Wales.
2. Welsh language–Study and teaching–Social aspects. I. Title.
P53.8.N43 2007
306.4409429–dc22 2007006871
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN-13: 978-1-85359-995-8 (hbk)
ISBN-13: 978-1-85359-994-1 (pbk)
Multilingual Matters Ltd
UK: Frankfurt Lodge, Clevedon Hall, Victoria Road, Clevedon BS21 7HH.
USA: UTP, 2250 Military Road, Tonawanda, NY 14150, USA.
Canada: UTP, 5201 Dufferin Street, North York, Ontario M3H 5T8, Canada.
Copyright © 2007 Lynd a Pritchard Newcombe.
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any
means without permission in writing from the publisher.
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To Robert
“Allthesecondlanguagespeakersknowntomeachievedfluencyby
-
abandoningorevenignoringtheformallearningprocessandvolun
-
tarilyimmersingthemselvesinthecompanyofnativespeakers.Moti
vationisahardthingtomeasure,butthesepeopledefinitelyhaveit,
for they are subject to all the pressures to which so many others
succumb.Itisnotofcoursesimplyaquestionofendurance.Successful
learnersarethosewhomanagetofindasuccessfulsetofstrategiesfor
coping with the stress.”
Carol Trosset(1984: 48)
“IwenttothreeorfourlessonsbutIlearnedinthecommunityafterthat.I
wouldnotspeaksowellwithoutthehelpofthecommunity.Justgoingtoclass
is not enough.”1
AliceTraille James (2002)
Welsh Learner of the Year 2002
“Idon’tthinkthereisanythingsadderthanseeingsomeonewhohaslearned
Welshandisfairlyfluentleavingalearninginstitutionwithoutknowinghow
2Welshfromthenonbecauseitisnotinaclassthatone
theyaregoingtouse
learns a language but through using it.”
HelenProsser (2005)
Senior Lecturer in Welsh at the University of Glamorgan,
Former Director of Teaching at the Welsh Language Teaching Centre, Cardiff University
1. ThisandallsubsequentquotationstranslatedfromtheWelshareitalicisedthroughout
thetext.WelshquotationsaretobefoundinNewcombeandNewcombe(2001b)and
Newcombe (2002a, 2002c).
2. Thewords‘practise’and‘use’areusedinterchangeablythroughoutthetextreflectingthe
observationofoneoftheparticipantsthat,whenstudentsspeakWelshinthecommunity,
it is often difficult to distinguish between what is use and what is practice.
1232 FM 7/4/07 4:35 PM Page vii
Contents
Acknowledgements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Foreword by Miquel Strubell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Learners of Lesser-Used Languages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Why Wales? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Abrief history of Welsh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The current situation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
The capital: Cardiff (or Caerdydd) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
The Present Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Structure of the Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2 Adult Language Learners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Characteristics of Adult Learners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Welsh for Adults (WfA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Intensive language learning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Other Adult Provision. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Cyd[Together] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Nant Gwrtheyrn Welsh Language
and Heritage Centre (YNant) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Literature and media provision for Welsh learners . . . . . . . . . . 24
Plans for Reforming WfA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Language Le arning Methodology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Cymraeg Byw[Living Welsh] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
WLPAN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Consolidating Learning in the Community. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3 The Learner’s Experience in the Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Beyond the Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
vii
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viii Social Context and Fluency in L2 Learners
Language Switching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Reasons for native speaker reluctance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Negative attitudes to the language. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Renegotiation of the language of communication . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Accent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Seriousness of intent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Conceptual difficulties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Reasons for learner reluctance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Positive experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Code Switching and Code Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Speed of Natural Conversation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Dialect Differences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4 Issues of Culture and Identity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
More Than Just Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
What Is Welshness?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
AWelsh Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
5 Anxiety and Lack of Confidence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Affective Factors in Language Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Learner Perceptions of Confidence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Trait or state anxiety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Two steps forward, one step back. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Confidence and the interlocutor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
6 Time and Opportunity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
The long road to fluency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Time available . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Opportunity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
7 Sustaining Motivation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Motivation of L2 Learners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Who Are the Adult Welsh Learners?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
The Motives of Adults Learning Welsh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
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Contents ix
Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Regaining a family language. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Integration with Welsh-speakers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Children in Welsh-medium education. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Instrumental motivation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Motivation on intensive residential courses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Learners without Welsh roots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Motivation to use in specialised areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Learners outside Wales. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Motivation of Students in the AWLPStudy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Regaining a family language. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Integration with Welsh-speakers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Children in Welsh-medium education. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Instrumental motivation and the workplace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Wider issues for Welsh in the workplace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Motivating teachers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
8 Conclusions and Recommendations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
The Main Findings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Support for Learners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Support from providers and teachers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Support from native speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
The Role of the Adult Welsh Learner in Language Shift . . . . . . . 115
Appendix A: Instructions to Participants for Journal Writing. . . . . . . . . 117
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
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Acknowledgements
I owe a great debt of gratitude to the students who agreed to participate
in the longitudinal study of Welsh learners. They gave willingly of their
time to take part in a pioneering research venture in Wales. Without them
this book would not have been possible. Language learners from Cardiff
and elsewhere who did not participate in this project have also enhanced
the research by providing language autobiographies and perceptive com-
ments on the research.
Many tutors, tutor organisers, other professionals, language learners,
and friends have given of their time to read all or part of this book and have
offered valuable insights. They are too numerous to list here, but I am very
grateful to them all. I am particularly grateful to my husband, Professor
Robert G. Newcombe for his statistical input, constructive observations,
and consistent support. Finally, I would like to thank Professor Viv
Edwards who has been more than conscientious as an editor and without
whose encouragement this book may well not have been written.
x
