In this podcast Dr Barbara Skinner interviews Dr. Ian Collen (Director, Northern Ireland Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research (NICILT) & lead researcher) Caroline O’Shaughnessy (Head of French, Banbridge Academy) and Jude Brannigan (aged 13, Year 9 pupil, St. Malachy’s High School, Castlewellan) about the biennial Language Trends Northern Ireland Survey commissioned by British Council Northern Ireland.
The research centres on the teaching and learning of languages in Northern Ireland schools and surveyed over 15 per cent of primary schools, 57 per cent of post-primaries and over 1,500 Year 9 (aged 12 – 13) pupils to learn more about language provision here. It follows on from British Council Northern Ireland’s inaugural research in 2019, which showed a steep decline in language learning over the past decade.
Results from the Language Trends Northern Ireland 2021 research were released recently. You can find out more information and read the full report on the British Council Northern Ireland website.