Two lecturers also mentioned these advantages and others spoke of the
opportunity for Welsh-medium students to practice their English and
increase their confidence in the language. In addition, the bilingual setting
was considered helpful to the Welsh speakers who had studied A-levels
through the medium of English. One lecturer added that the demands of
bilingual lectures had caused him to vary his teaching methods, and that this
in itself was beneficial.
However, three of the lecturers had observed impatience or disrespect on
the part of non-Welsh-speaking students towards Welsh speakers during the
lectures. One lecturer noted that he was aware that students from both lan-
guage groups stopped concentrating when he switched from one language to
the other. Another lecturer felt uncomfortable presenting in Welsh and wor-
ried that the non-Welsh speakers might feel that they achieved less in the
bilingual lectures. This lecturer believed that he himself achieved less when
presenting bilingually. Two lecturers noted that it was difficult to discuss
some subjects in depth in bilingual sessions, without increasing the teaching
time. Consequently, one lecturer occasionally holds English-medium sessions
and asks the Welsh-medium students to present in English, actions which
cause him concern. He feels that it is impossible to improve the language
skills of the Welsh-medium students in bilingual sessions, in contrast with
monolingual lectures. He is also unhappy that preparing for a bilingual ses-
sion takes twice as long as preparing for a monolingual lecture.
The main advantages of the bilingual lectures, noted by students in every
cohort in their response to the questionnaire distributed in 2007, were as
follows:
- the opportunity to get to know other students from different language
cohorts (Welsh-medium students: 16%; English-medium students: 27%) - sharing ideas and experiences (Welsh-medium students: 9%; English-
medium students: 8%).
The chief advantages for the Welsh-medium students were:- learning bilingual terminology (34%)
- developing Welsh and English language skills (26%)
- learning about concepts in two languages, and therefore having two
opportunities to understand (25%) - preparing for future teaching experiences in bilingual schools (13%).
The main advantages identified by the English-medium students were:- developing Welsh language skills (42%)
- developing bilingual skills (6%)
- developing awareness of the bilingual setting itself (3%).
Bilingualism in Higher Education 191