Mixing Beginners and Native Speakers in Minority Language Immersion: Who is Immersing Whom?

Abstract

The mixing of L1 speakers with L2 learners occurs regularly in immersion situations where a minority language is the target language. This study looks at early immersion in Irish among children from diverse language backgrounds. It examines the children's frequency of target language use and the effect of the group's linguistic mix on that use. A sample of 60 children from different language backgrounds was drawn from pre-school classes with different compositions of children from Irish-only, Irish-English, and English-only homes. The results showed relatively low levels of target language use even by the native speakers. The linguistic composition of the group significantly affected the frequency of target language use by the L1 children and the children from bilingual homes but had less effect on the use by English speakers. The importance of addressing the needs of native speakers as well as those of beginners in such immersion situations is explored, and the implications for teacher training and teaching strategies are considered.