The language teaching landscape in Ireland has changed considerably over the last 30 years as a result of substantial and sustained inward migration into the country during this period. These social and demographic developments have added to the country's already bilingual context and created a much more varied multilingual landscape than had…

This study responds to calls for more research on motivations for learning languages other than English (LOTEs) in the new era dominated by global English. In particular, it focuses on the role of societal contextual factors surrounding the status of English and the status of the LOTE as an L2/L3, as factors which may offer a more nuanced…

The launch of Ireland's first official language education policy Languages Connect, Ireland's Strategy for Foreign Languages in Education 2017--2026 (DES 2017) envisages wide-reaching changes for foreign language learning and teaching, both at primary and secondary sector. This study asks if the policy is equipped to address Ireland's main…

Many English language tutors have little training in working with traumatised students, especially regarding second language acquisition. A literature review was undertaken on work carried out to identify issues surrounding memory and retention in relation to second language acquisition in traumatised adult refugees, as well as the link between…

With Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) gathering momentum in Irish universities and elsewhere, this paper provides insights into a language curriculum re-designed around the Sustainable Development Goals, thus responding to the urgency of the global challenges encapsulated in Agenda 2030 (UNESCO. 2016. Transforming our world: the 2030…

Today, higher education (HE) faces new challenges, such as incorporating consideration of diversity and inclusion into its operations. Such challenges, many of which are part of strategic institutional plans, offer teachers an opportunity to introduce new practices in the classroom. In this paper, we look at introducing language students to the…

This paper examines the construct of bilingual phonemic awareness in Irish-English bilinguals. Though traditionally viewed as a skill or ability which transfers across languages, recent accounts have considered whether phonemic awareness has a language-specific component. This study used a cross-sectional design to examine this question. A total…

In the two decades preceding Irish independence the Gaelic League (Conradh na Gaeilge, founded 1893), an organisation dedicated to the revival of the Irish language, campaigned to persuade both national and intermediate commissioners of education to reposition the language within the curriculum to reflect what the League believed was both its…

This article draws on a qualitative study of insights and reflections from the COVID-19 pandemic completed for a master's thesis. It centred on the experiences of seven English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) practitioners in Ireland, considering the practical ways they responded to the public health measures, but also how they felt, how…

Sign language learners are a heterogenous group who have different motivations for embarking on formal studies. It is apparent at the outset that many learners are uninformed about sign languages and the deaf community. It has been previously noted that societies often lack the understanding that signed languages are valid languages, and have…

This descriptive study presents the first research cycle with four synchronous telecollaborative language learning sessions on Zoom between Irish and Chinese teenagers. Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS) post-questionnaire results show that the mean of interaction enjoyment scale is the highest compared to the other four categories, which…

Self-efficacy, the system of beliefs that individuals possess which enables them to exercise control and actions when faced with a specific task, is an essential component to language learning, as it has the potential to promote the self-regulatory capacity required for successful language acquisition and performance. One way in which…

Second Language Pragmatics (L2 pragmatics) research focused on the study abroad (SA) context points out the benefits of this context for second language (L2) pragmatic development while also illustrating the non-linearity of this development, as it is shaped by different contextual factors and individual differences. Nevertheless, this research…

Despite the increasing popularity of Chinese and the recognition of the growing commodifying ideology of Chinese language in many contexts [Liu, Y., & Gao, X. (2020). Commodification of the Chinese language: Investigating language ideology in the Irish media. "Current Issues in Language Planning," 21(5), 512-531.…

This is the introductory chapter of the volume, "Using Digital Resources to Enhance Language Learning: Case Studies in Italian." The volume includes papers presented at the Society for Italian Studies (SIS) Biennial Conference, held in Oxford, UK in 2015. SIS's stated aim is "to further the study of Italy, Italian language,…