La politica del multilinguismo e l'apprendimento della lingua

Abstract

- This paper focuses on a number of developments in macro-level language policies, outlines the background to the new status of the Irish language in the European Union and attempts to examine a proposal designed to improve the teaching of Irish in particular and language learning in general. At the moment the teaching of Irish is undergoing a serious crisis. While almost all primary school children in Ireland are able to speak English and Irish, in English-based schools the majority of students make no progress in Irish. To facilitate learning a second language a proposal is made for a preparatory approach involving the teaching of Esperanto in primary and middle school in Ireland in particular and Europe in general.