Classroom language arrangements compared with
age group of pupils
As pupils move up in school and become more confidently bilingual,
translanguaging and linguistically integrated work features more promi-
nently at the top end of primary schools (7–11 years old) and in secondary
schools. Table 7.6 presents a crosstabulation of observation of teachers’ lan-
guage arrangement in the classroom relative to the age group of pupils.
Monolingual arrangements for bilingualism tend to occur predominantly
in primary schools reflecting a heritage language approach for L1 Welsh
pupils and the immersion approach for L2 Welsh pupils. The results reflect
information about language allocation and access to bilingual provision in
Wales which is explained in the Welsh-medium Education Strategy (Welsh
Assembly Government, 2010: 8) as follows:
‘Welsh-medium education between the ages of three or four and approxi-
mately seven usually means delivering provision primarily through the
medium of Welsh. From seven to eleven years of age (Key Stage 2 of the
national curriculum), English-language skills are also developed through
appropriate use of the language as a subject and medium.’
Therefore it can also be argued that the age of pupils can be included in
the existing ‘eight non-independent dimensions along which the classroom
separation of languages occur’ which include subject or topic, person, time,
place, medium of activity, curriculum material, function and student, as dis-
cussed by Baker (2010: 69). Although translanguaging was evident in all age
groups, the highest percentage (i.e. 50.0%) occurred within the 7–11 age
group. This result suggests that pupils in age range 7–11 years are encouraged
to make flexible use of their bilingual skills as the emphasis is often on bilin-
gual instruction for all pupils in the classroom. It is possible for some of these
pupils to choose a particular language of instruction after transfer to some
secondary schools (for example, move to either a Welsh stream or English
stream) and therefore will possibly not have the same opportunity as in
primary school to complete translanguaging activities. Various forms of
translation were observed in all age groups; whole class translation and
Language Arrangements within Bilingual Education 153Table 7.5 Observation of combinations of concurrent two language use
Combinations of concurrent two language use (see Table 7.4) Lesson frequency
Translation (for the whole class) & Subject-related terminology 5
Translation (for the whole class) & Translation for L2 learner 4
Translation (for the whole class) & Translanguaging 2
Translation (for the whole class) & Teacher’s response to language
input of the pupil
3Total 14