students often chose to group themselves according to language cohorts.
Four of the lecturers grouped the Welsh-medium students together for the
duration of the term so that they could discuss their work together in Welsh.
One lecturer deliberately placed the students in linguistically mixed groups
and the students worked together in those groups throughout the term.
Another lecturer placed the students in linguistically mixed groups for some
specific subject-based activities only.
When the students are grouped separately in a bilingual session, the lan-
guage balance is facilitated as the students can discuss their work in their
preferred language among themselves and with the lecturer. During inter-
view, one lecturer said that he believed that the sessions would lose their
bilingual element if the Welsh-medium students were dispersed. It should be
noted, however, that the opportunities to interact and share experiences
with students from different backgrounds are limited in this situation.
The opportunity to interact is one of the obvious advantages of placing
students in linguistically mixed groups. Another advantage of this arrange-
ment is the opportunity for Welsh-medium students to practice their English
skills and for second-language Welsh students to practice their Welsh skills.
On the other hand, Welsh-medium students could feel under pressure to
speak English when they would prefer not to and English-medium students
could be placed in a situation where they do not understand discussions in
Welsh between other students. During observation in three lectures, stu-
dents were heard speaking Welsh to each other while working with English-
medium students. It is therefore possible for students to use their preferred
language even in small groups that contain non-bilinguals.
In their interviews, the students expressed a variety of opinions regard-
ing how best to group them. Some enjoyed working in separate language
groups, especially the Welsh-medium cohort, of whom seventeen approved
of this strategy compared with five of the English-medium students. On the
other hand, five of the Welsh-medium students and ten of their English-
medium peers enjoyed interaction between different language cohorts.
Twenty students on various courses said that they felt that there was a divi-
sion between the two language groups, and four mentioned that there were
not enough opportunities to interact. Two students noted that combining
language groups could lead to successful collaboration when the non-Welsh
speakers respected those who wished to speak Welsh, and the Welsh speak-
ers made an effort to include the others.
Students’ language choices and the lecturers’ response
During interviews, two of the lecturers explained that they made sure at
the start of the course that the students knew that they were welcome to
participate in the sessions in their preferred language. One of the lecturers
encouraged the Welsh-medium students to speak to him in Welsh. Three of
the lecturers said that the Welsh-medium students spoke mainly in Welsh
186 Part 4: Bilingual Education