TALES from an Irish Constructionist Classroom

This paper explores the possibilities for enhancing the Irish-language learning experience through students collaboratively constructing digital artefacts in the form of stories via design-based learning activities aligned with curricular knowledge in and through the medium of Irish. Irish is one of Ireland's two official languages where Irish is the national minority language and English is the dominant majority language. For quite some time, however, significant weaknesses have been noticeable in the teaching of Irish as a second language in the primary education system. This study culminates in a practical innovative model called TALES (Technology, Activity, Language Learning, Engagement and Story) and offers a possible solution to the problem of underachievement in Irish.

TALES integrates all four language skills through the storytelling phase and maps them to four corresponding multimedia skills during the digital recreation phase, developing language and technology skills in the process. It externalises student thinking whilst co-creating sharable learning artefacts, negotiating meaning and deepening learning. TALES engages students in the meaningful production of the Irish language, and provides them with increased and spontaneous opportunities to speak and write the language through creative writing and digital recreation activities. It supports a curriculum-aligned, student-centred, technology-enhanced, design-based, constructionist and collaborative approach to language learning. Students demonstrated a more positive attitude towards Irish and were intrinsically motivated to learn it. They became more digitally fluent as they became more adept at designing and creating, developing interpersonal, communicative and problem-solving skills in the process.