‘I have no Welsh at all, so I get completely confused and sometimes I have
to try and work out if the lecturers are actually talking English or Welsh.’Although allowed to contribute to the class discussion in Welsh, seven of
the Welsh-medium students felt that they should speak English so that
everyone could understand. However, four of the students did not feel con-
fident when speaking English. As one of them, a BA (QTS) first-year student,
noted in an interview on 5 March 2008:
‘Dw i ddim yn hyderus i siarad Saesneg! Dw i’n meddwl yn Gymraeg,
chi’n gweld, wedyn dw i’n ffeindio fo’n anodd i feddwl am y gair yn
Saesneg.’
[I’m not confident speaking in English! I think in Welsh, you see, so
I find it difficult to think of the word in English.]In the experience of two English-medium students, group work could be
difficult with students who were not confident when speaking English.
Attitudes of lecturers and students towards the bilingual provision
Two of the lecturers were positive in their attitude towards the bilingual
lectures. One even referred to them, in an interview on 6 March 2008, as ‘the
way forward’ and emphasized the lecturer’s responsibility to control lan-
guage balance in the sessions. Another lecturer, interviewed on 28 November
2007, said that he was ‘pleasantly surprised’ after receiving positive feedback
at the end of the first year of bilingual provision on the BA (QTS) course. He
noted that it is essential for the lecturer to understand the class and to respect
the Welsh speakers and the non-Welsh speakers in order to teach them
successfully.
However, three of the lecturers were dissatisfied with the bilingual provi-
sion, and another three were in favour of separate Welsh-medium and
English-medium sessions. This would ensure that the Welsh-medium stu-
dents had an opportunity to speak Welsh throughout the session and would
also enable the lecturer to focus on teaching through the medium of one
language. Two lecturers were concerned that the Welsh-medium students
were being denied an equal opportunity in the bilingual lectures. As one
explained in an interview on 7 November 2008:
‘Dw i ddim yn gwybod os mae Cymry Cymraeg mewn sesiwn dwyieith-
og yn cael yr un chwarae teg. Efallai bod eisiau sicrhau bod y Cymry yn
cael rhai sesiynau ar eu pen eu hunain, a bod nhw’n defnyddio’u Cymraeg
trwy’r amser.’
[I don’t know if Welsh speakers in a bilingual session get the same fair
play. Perhaps we should ensure that the Welsh students have some ses-
sions on their own, and that they use their Welsh all the time.]Bilingualism in Higher Education 193