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ABSTRACT
With over 200 languages spoken in Ireland (CSO, 2017) and growing childhood multilingualism, there is an urgent need to accommodate the diverse language and literacy needs of children with English as an additional language in primary school classrooms. Yet studies from over fifteen years and a growing body of recent research point to prevailing organisational and pedagogical challenges in providing appropriate support for our changing school population (e.g., Connaughton-Crean & Ó Duibhir, 2017; La Morgia, 2018; Little & Kirwin, 2019; 2021; Murtagh & Francis, 2011; Nowlan, 2008; O'Duibhir & Cummins, 2012; O'Tool & Skinner, 2018; Smyth, Darmody, McGinnity, & Byrne, 2009). Based on curricular and policy reform at primary level (DES, 2017a; NCCA, 2019a) and the ad hoc, add on to special educational needs (SEN) approach towards supporting EAL learners (Gardiner-Hyland & Burke, 2018; Quigley, O'Toole, Gardiner-Hyland, & Murphy, 2020) as demonstrated in the currently-used model for SEN (DES, 2017a), this article draws on qualitative data in a series of interviews conducted with teachers (N=16) practising in diverse primary schools. It will subsequently outline some of the authentic experiences and issues currently facing Irish primary teachers in catering for learners with English as an additional language (EAL), particularly at the beginning stage of their language learning. Using a thematic analysis process outlined by Braun and Clarke (2006), it highlights four main issues identified from this research: teachers' perceived levels of language development and diversity knowledge, the issue of collaboration and professional development, the need for inclusive practices and resources and accommodating and embracing diversity challenges. The article concludes by highlighting the supports needed for primary school teachers in order to develop linguistically and culturally responsive teaching approaches for meaningful, contextualised language and literacy development for EAL learners in Irish mainstream classes.
KEYWORDS
English as an additional language (EAL), a plurilingual approach, linguistically and culturally responsive teaching.
1.INTRODUCTION
There are over 200 languages spoken in Ireland (CSO, 2017). During the mid-1990s and economic boom (2000-2008), there was an unprecedented rise in the number of students learning English as an additional language (EAL) in Irish primary school classrooms (i.e., learners of English who speak and possibly read and write English (and Irish) in addition to at least one home language). Previous to this, classrooms in...