LANGUAGE LEARNING: "Irish is not really being taught as a language - just a school thing for exams and points." So says Dr Muiris Ó Laoire, a lecturer at Tralee IT who is involved in two full-time research projects on the teaching and learning of Irish.

Ó Laoire told EL that while there is a welcome commitment, in theory, to communication-based learning, in practice Irish-language textbooks are "dire and overpriced for what they offer teachers and students. If you look at the Irish textbooks being produced, there is no emphasis on the importance of language for communication. It's really on how to write this essay or that essay, with tips for exams, but with no tasks for students on how the language should be used and processed."

He says the State's relative failure with Irish has a bearing on the learning of other languages too. "There is a need to open up the debate again on the teaching of Irish by putting a new emphasis on how all language learning takes place," Ó Laoire says. "Language acquisition or revival is dependent on knowledge, motivation, and opportunities for use. When people fail to master Irish, as appears to be happening, this might impact negatively on their approach to learning other languages. In Ireland we are way down the list in the European barometer of language learning and our perception of the importance of languages."

As part of a team with Dr Helen Kelly-Holmes and Dr Sue Wright of Aston University, England, and Dr Tadhg Ó hIfearnáin of the University of Limerick, Ó Laoire has researched how non-English speaking immigrants are affecting the learning of English and Irish in schools in Limerick, Clare and Kerry; a significant number of students are now learning Irish whose first language is not English.

Ó Laoire sees some cause for optimism in the success of gaelscoileanna, helping students to use Irish in day-to-day school activities, and TG4, providing a modern image for the language.

Dr Ó Laoire is president of the Irish Association for Applied Linguistics and has been invited to study the revival of the Maori language as a visiting scholar and professor for a year at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. An international conference will be held in Tralee next year, when linguists from all over the world will examine and present data on language learning.