Option 2: Building an pleasure-centric interdisciplinary methodology 

The teaching and learning of the Irish language at English-medium primary school level is both challenging and complex. Longitudinal evidence demonstrates a decline in proficiency amongst students (Harris et al., 2006) and successive inspectorate reports (Inspectorate, 2022, 2018) express concern with regard to an increasingly compromised ratio of positive learning outcomes for Irish learners compared to that of other school subjects. The learning context is further challenged by the lack of opportunity for the majority of children to speak and use Irish outside of school.  This paper examines the context of Irish language teaching and learning at primary level in English-medium schools as part of the broader realm of Irish language education through the discussion of existing and new imperatives that present for the language and its learners in this context. Imperatives which clearly present in this teaching and learning context include necessity to examine children’s, parents’ and teachers’ engagement with Irish at school level, (Inspectorate, 2022; Devitt et al., 2018; Harris, 2008), while I argue the less oft-articulated acknowledgement of Irish as an endangered language and related complexity therein in English-medium education (EME) also requires urgent discussion. More recently evolving imperatives are identified as both the ongoing implementation of the newly-introduced integrated Primary Languages Curriculum (PLC)  (NCCA, 2019; Little & Kirwan, 2021), and the proposed (re)introduction of Modern Foreign Languages at (MFL) as part of a new primary curriculum structure.

In response to the identified imperatives, the proposed teaching and learning are drawn from the teacher-researcher’s school-based participatory action research study (O’Toole, 2023) which piloted creative language learning pedagogy in order to engage and empower learners of Irish at primary level. Tutoring and technology-mediated language learning (TMLL) are proposed as the two primary elements of an overarching sociocultural theory (SCT) framework which informs the pedagogy, and a participatory action research approach was actualised in order to encourage and support learners’ ongoing engagement in the study. Findings indicated an increase in Irish language use and self-assessed ability in addition to sustained motivation levels amongst children, a positive learning experience for both children and parents, a notable increase in parents’ understanding of their child’s Irish language education and learning experience, and finally, the emergence of the participatory action research methodology as a crucial vehicle of the study for both children and parents alike. In conclusion, a number of recommendations for practice, policy and research are proposed in order to further support creative and democratic responses to the tenuous Irish language conundrum at EME primary level.  

 

Scholars have claimed that executives can influence the shape and content of legislation by their ability to veto whole bills. They have also argued that when executives have the extra ability to line item veto (LIV), i.e.; to pick and choose which parts of the bill become law, executives have even more power to influence bills. However, this literature has found no effect of the LIV on executives’ power to enact their agenda. 

 

I argue that the LIV main effect is exactly the opposite. It does not empower executives, but instead increases their discretion over the final content of a bill. Because legislators know that any negotiation with the executive can be undone at the last minute, they have fewer  incentives to negotiate with executives over the content of a bill in the first place. Thus, by granting executives the discretion to modify bills after the legislature approves them, the LIV prevents executives from influencing bill and reaching favorable agreements with legislators, contributing to increased gridlock and polarization. 

 

I analyzed US governors’ agenda success under different levels of veto discretion. I find that the higher the discretion of executives, the lower the success of the governors’ agenda, even after controlling for the preferences of legislators and executives. 

 

Executives with LIV power have a harder time enacting their agenda than executives with no discretion over the shape of final bills, who can only veto whole bills. 

 

Poverty reduction and environmental conservation are at the heart of many international donors' agenda and national forest policies. Reforestation policy and its’ successful performance and implementation hinge not only on proper policy design but how the policy fit with current local priorities and needs. During the policy implementation process, local institution and community leaders contribute significantly to the consultation and persuasion processes that could lead to the support the acceptance of policy in addition to technical feasibility and perceived benefits. This study used a case study approach to trace the implementation of a “nature-based” reforestation project in the context of a national reforestation policy in rural county government and village from 2012-2018. The study argued that insufficient understanding of the function and capacity of local institution hinder the long-term maintenance and sustainability of reforestation projects and its intended goal of community development and economic growth.  

Learning outcomes for learners of Irish at English-medium primary level continue to be less favourable when compared with other curriculum areas. In recent decades, a decrease in children’s Irish language proficiency in English-medium education is evidenced, coupled with limited opportunity for learners to experience Irish as a living language. This article addresses the existing challenges therein, in parallel with evolving imperatives for (Irish) language learning and teaching, within the broader context of Irish language (education) policy enactment and actualisation. The overarching purpose of the article is to identify creative and democratic approaches to the Irish language conundrum at English-medium primary school level, in addition to explicating the implications for policy and practice at societal and governmental level.  I argue that actualising creative pedagogy and the extension of democratic approaches to all learners of Irish in the learning process offers a path to language (re-)engagement and potential revitalisation to a sizable yet seemingly muted cohort of Irish language learners and educators with Irish education, and society at large. 

Being literate in our individual and communal capacities of pleasure aids resistance against sexist oppression as embodying pleasure hinges on agency and consent. 

Each individual’s ability to interrogate their own metrics of pleasure is critical to our communal capacity for re-examining our individual and collective relationships to pleasure and pleasure politics.

1. Subject-based claim: This research directly addresses concerns in relation to the teaching and learning of Irish in English-medium primary schools in Ireland, and the broader challenges of the language teaching and learning in an endangered language context.

 

2. Audience-based claim: This school-based research informs both practitioners and policy makers on the potential impact of innovative pedagogies within an endangered language context.

 

3. Literature based claim: This research informs endangered language teaching and learning pedagogy which specific reference to the teaching and learning of the Irish language in English-medium education.

 

4. Practice-based claim: This paper outlines learner outcomes in relation to Irish language usage and attitudes and motivation towards Irish language learning. The specific exploration of an socio-cultural theory-informed pedagogical approaches informs the teaching and learning of Irish as an additional learners for teachers, ITE students and teacher educators.

 

5. Method-based claim: In addition to exploring Irish language pedagogy in EME, this research reports on the efficacy of participatory action research as a key component in actualising learner engagement in an endangered language learning context. 

 

6. Theory-based claim: Provides insight into how a sociocultural theory (SCT) conceptual framework can inform the teaching and learning of an endangered language, learner engagement and peer support.

 

7. Implication-based claim: The findings can inform teaching and learning of Irish in EME and can compliment the rationale and pedagogical approach outlined in the integrated primary languages curriculum. 

 

8. Recommendation-based claim: The findings of the study inform a number of important recommendations for research, practice and policy in relation to the teaching and learning of Irish in English-medium primary schools. 

In brief…

Literature-based claim: My article analyzes an aspect of El Periquillo Sarniento that has been overlooked previously.

Findings-based claim? My article integrates a seemingly isolated episode into the arc (and/or) conclusion of the novel as a whole.

Disciplinary-based claim: My article contributes to new-ish transpacific studies approach to Periquillo. 

 

 

CREATING CATHOLIC MEMORY AT THE NATIONAL SHRINE OF SAINT JOHN NEUMANN