when asking or answering questions or participating in a class discussion.
On the other hand, one lecturer had observed a small group of Welsh-medium
students beginning a class presentation in Welsh, before switching to English
after a while because only the lecturer could understand them.
Two lecturers explained that English was prioritized during class discus-
sions. Two others spoke of the effect of language choices by participants in
class discussions on the language balance of the lectures. Four of their col-
leagues referred to the ratio of Welsh-medium to English-medium students
as an influencing factor in terms of language balance. One lecturer summa-
rized these issues during an interview on 9 December 2008:
‘Mae’n dibynnu wrth gwrs ar niferoedd y Cymry Cymraeg a’r Saeson
sydd yn y grwˆ p a pa mor llafar ydy’r ddau gyfrwng o fewn y cyfnodau
trafod.’
[It depends of course on the number of Welsh and English students in
the group and how vocal the two groups are during discussion periods.]During observation in three lectures, it was noted that the language of
the session switched to English when the students were contributing to a
discussion involving the whole class. In these cases, the English-medium stu-
dents were the main participants in the discussion. It is also possible that the
Welsh language could predominate during student participation. One exam-
ple of this was observed, in a situation in which the non-Welsh speakers were
in the minority and one particularly confident Welsh-medium student was
keen to participate in the discussion. During interview, a lecturer described
a similar group he had previously taught, in which the Welsh-medium stu-
dents outnumbered their English-medium peers. He explained that some
individuals among the Welsh-medium students refused to speak English and
this naturally had an effect on the language balance of the sessions. In con-
trast, he had taught another group in which the Welsh-medium students
were willing to use both languages during bilingual lectures.
The lecturer may attempt to ensure language balance by questioning
specific students, but the success of this strategy depends to a certain extent
on the willingness of the students to contribute. Sometimes, a Welsh-
medium student will choose to contribute to the class discussion in English,
even after the lecturer has explained that the students are welcome to speak
Welsh. This was observed in five lectures.
In the questionnaire distributed between 2008 and 2009, the students
were asked about their feelings when speaking Welsh and English during
bilingual sessions. Their answers suggest that the majority of bilingual stu-
dents are happy to speak both languages. In 2008, 84% of the Welsh-medium
students on the BA (QTS) course agreed with the following statement: ‘I’m
happy speaking Welsh in front of a bilingual group’. In 2009, 73% of the
Bilingualism in Higher Education 187