Irish in Primary Schools Long Term National Trends in Achievement
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IPST Cover by DOE 6/19/06 9:35 AM Page 1 Long-Term National Trends in Achievement National Trends Long-Term Irish in Primary Schools: Irish in Primary Schools Long-Term National Trends in Achievement by JOHN HARRIS TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN Patrick Forde Educational Research Centre Peter Archer Educational Research Centre Siobhán Nic Fhearaile Institiúid Teangeolaíochta Éireann Mary O’Gorman Educational Research Centre J. HARRIS S. Nic Fhearaile • M. O’Gorman • P. Forde • P. Archer • P. Forde • P. ISBN 0-0000-0000-X Irish in Primary Schools Long-Term National Trends in Achievement by JOHN HARRIS TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN Patrick Forde Educational Research Centre Peter Archer Educational Research Centre Siobhán Nic Fhearaile Institiúid Teangeolaíochta Éireann Mary O’Gorman Educational Research Centre © 2006 Department of Education and Science Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Harris, John Irish in Primary Schools : Long-term National Trends in Achievement / John Harris . [et al.] xiv, 208p; 30 cm Includes bibliographical references. 1. Irish Language – Study and Teaching (Primary) – Ireland 2. Irish Language – Spoken Irish 2006 I Harris, John. II Title 375.415 Designed by TOTAL PD Printed by Brunswick Press Published by the Stationery Office, Dublin To be purchased directly from the Government Publications Sales Office, Sun Alliance House, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2 or by mail order from Government Publications, Postal Trade Section, 51 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2 Tel: 01-647 6834 Fax: 01-647 6843 €20.00 ISBN: Number Here iii Contents List of Tables and Figures v Acknowledgements xiv Chapter 1 Introduction 2 Achievement in Irish in ordinary schools . 3 Factors associated with achievement in Irish in ordinary schools . 4 Achievement in all-Irish and Gaeltacht schools. 8 Studies of achievement in subjects other than Irish . 9 Conclusion . 11 Chapter 2 Survey Procedures 14 Instruments . 14 Populations and samples. 16 Field work procedures . 22 Response rates . 23 Sampling weights . 24 Analysis of data . 26 Features of the 1985 survey and sample . 26 Conclusion . 27 Chapter 3 Irish Listening Achievement 30 Description and revision of the Irish Listening Test . 30 Irish Listening achievement . 34 Growth in all-Irish population and decline in ordinary-school achievement . 43 Conclusion . 47 Chapter 4 Irish Speaking Achievement 50 Description and revision of the Irish Speaking Test. 50 Irish Speaking: Mastery, minimal progress and failure in 1985 and 2002 . 55 Pupils with very low levels of achievement in Irish: Definitions and estimates . 68 Conclusion . 75 iv Irish in Primary Schools: Long-Term National Trends in Achievement Chapter 5 Irish Reading Achievement 80 Test development . 80 Results. 82 Description of achievement . 87 Distribution of school scores . 93 Conclusion . 94 Chapter 6 Relationships Between Key Variables and Achievement in Irish 98 The key variables . 99 Method of analysis . 101 Results. 101 Conclusion . 123 Chapter 7 Views and Practices of Teachers and Parents 126 Teachers’ views and practices . 127 Parents’ views and practices . 137 Conclusion . 153 Chapter 8 Conclusions and Recommendations 156 by John Harris All-Irish schools . 156 Gaeltacht schools . 159 Ordinary schools . 162 Significance in educational and language maintenance terms . 165 What caused the decline in achievement in Irish? . 166 Recommendations . 176 References 185 v List of Tables and Figures Tables Table 1.1 International assessments of achievement involving Ireland (1990- 10 2000) Table 2.1 Numbers of schools and pupils in the ordinary school population, 20 numbers of schools in the sample, and estimated numbers and percentages of schools and pupils in the designed ordinary school sample by stratum Table 2.2 Numbers of schools and pupils in the all-Irish school population, 20 numbers of schools in the sample, and estimated numbers and percentages of schools and pupils in the designed all-Irish school sample by stratum. Table 2.3 Numbers of schools and pupils in the Gaeltacht school population, 20 numbers of schools in the sample, and estimated numbers and percentages of schools and pupils in the designed Gaeltacht school sample by stratum. Table 2.4 Number of schools in the sample, the number of pupils in selected 21 schools in the sample minus the number of official exemptions, and percentage of the population of pupils in the sample. Table 2.5 Number of pupils in the designed and target sub-sample and the 22 number of pupils in the target sub-sample who took the Irish Speaking Test as a percentage of the number of pupils in the population. Table 2.6 Response rates in ordinary schools for Irish achievement tests and pupil 24 and parent questionnaires Table 2.7 Response rates in all-Irish schools for Irish achievement tests and pupil 24 and parent questionnaires Table 2.8 Response rates in Gaeltacht schools for Irish achievement tests and 24 pupil and parent questionnaires Table 3.1 List of objectives on the Irish Listening Test and the number of items 31 used to test each. Table 3.2 Mean percentage difference in item difficulty in ordinary schools 34 between 1985 and 2002. vi Irish in Primary Schools: Long-Term National Trends in Achievement Table 3.3 Percentage of sixth-grade pupils in ordinary schools who attain mastery 35 on each listening objective on the Irish Listening Test in 1985 and 2002 Table 3.4 Percentage of sixth-grade pupils in ordinary schools who make at least 36 minimal progress (but not mastery) on each listening objective on the Irish Listening Test in 1985 and 2002. Table 3.5 Percentage of sixth-grade pupils in ordinary schools who fail each 36 listening objective on the Irish Listening Test in 1985 and 2002. Table 3.6 Percentage of sixth-grade pupils in all-Irish schools who attain mastery 37 on each listening objective on the Irish Listening Test in 1985 and 2002. Table 3.7 Percentage of sixth-grade pupils in all-Irish schools who make at least 38 minimal progress (but not mastery) on each listening objective on the Irish Listening Test in 1985 and 2002. Table 3.8 Percentage of sixth-grade pupils in all-Irish schools who fail each 38 listening objective on the Irish Listening Test in 1985 and 2002. Table 3.9 Percentage of sixth-grade pupils in Gaeltacht schools who attain 39 mastery on each listening objective on the Irish Listening Test in 1985 and 2002. Table 3.10 Percentage of sixth-grade pupils in Gaeltacht schools who make at least 40 minimal progress (but not mastery) on each listening objective on the Irish Listening Test in 1985 and 2002 Table 3.11 Percentage of sixth-grade pupils in Gaeltacht schools who fail each 41 listening objective on the Irish Listening Test in 1985 and 2002. Table 3.12 Mean raw scores of pupils on the Irish Listening Test in 1985 and 2002 44 in ordinary, all-Irish, and Gaeltacht schools. Table 3.13 Medium of instruction in schools by number of schools and number of 46 pupils in each category of schools Table 3.14 Hypothetical model of the effect on Irish Listening Test scores in 46 ordinary schools in 2002 of reintroducing the high-Irish-potential pupils ‘lost’ to all-Irish schools in the period since 1985. Table 4.1 List of objectives on the Irish Speaking Test and the number of items 52 used to test each. Table 4.2 Percentage of sixth-grade pupils in ordinary schools who attain mastery 56 on each objective on the Irish Speaking Test in 1985 and 2002 List of Tables and Figures vii Table 4.3 Percentage of sixth-grade pupils in ordinary schools who make at least 57 minimal progress (but not mastery) on each objective on the Irish Speaking Test in 1985 and 2002. Table 4.4 Percentage of sixth-grade pupils in ordinary schools who fail each 58 objective on the Irish Speaking Test in 1985 and 2002. Table 4.5 Percentage of sixth-grade pupils in all-Irish schools who attain mastery 62 on each objective on the Irish Speaking Test in 1985 and 2002. Table 4.6 Percentage of sixth-grade pupils in all-Irish schools who make at least 63 minimal progress (but not mastery) on each objective on the Irish Speaking Test in 1985 and 2002. Table 4.7 Percentage of sixth-grade pupils in all-Irish schools who fail each 63 objective on the Irish Speaking Test in 1985 and 2002. Table 4.8 Percentage of sixth-grade pupils in Gaeltacht Schools who attain 65 mastery on each objective on the Irish Speaking Test in 1985 and 2002. Table 4.9 Percentage of sixth-grade pupils in Gaeltacht schools who make at least 66 minimal progress (but not mastery) on each objective on the Irish Speaking Test in 1985 and 2002. Table 4.10 Percentage of sixth-grade pupils in Gaeltacht schools who fail each 67 objective on the Irish Speaking Test in 1985 and 2002. Table 4.11 Percentage of sixth-grade pupils in ordinary schools in 2002 attaining 70 mastery, minimal progress, and failing the Fluency of oral description and Communication objectives, and the percentage of pupils failing both objectives. Table 4.12 Percentage of sixth-grade pupils in ordinary schools in 1985 attaining 70 mastery, making minimal progress, and failing the Fluency of oral description and Communication objectives and the percentage of pupils failing both objectives. Table 4.13 Percentage of pupils in ordinary schools in 1985 and 2002 who fail 71 both the Fluency of oral description and Communication objectives. Table 4.14 Percentage of sixth-grade pupils in ordinary schools in 2002 who 72 receive a rating of 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 on nine topics (first nine items) on the second grade Communication objective. Table 4.15 Percentage of sixth-grade pupils in ordinary schools in 1985 who 73 receive a rating of 1, 2, 3 or 4 on nine topics (first nine items) on the second grade Communication objective.