Transformative pedagogies for Gaelic revitalisation: Report to Soillse of a study of Gaelic-medium teachers' perspectives on the potential of translanguaging as a classroom pedagogy

This report presents the findings from a small-scale study of teachers’ views on the potential of translanguaging as a classroom pedagogy in Gaelic-medium education (GME). Translanguaging refers to the pedagogical use of two languages in a language immersion classroom: both the target language (i.e. Gaelic in Gaelic-medium classrooms), and the other language widely spoken by pupils in the class (i.e. English in the case of most Gaelic-medium pupils). Interest in translanguaging as a pedagogical strategy initially emerged in Welsh-medium education in the 1990s, but has grown world-wide, particularly over the last decade. Several studies have been conducted in Wales and in the USA, and researchers in the Basque Country and in Ireland are beginning to explore the potential of this approach. As far as we are aware, this is the first Scottish study to date.