Language Planning, Education, and Linguistic Identity in the Republic of Ireland

This paper explores Irish-Gaelic language policy in educational domains in the Republic of Ireland and how educational policy connects to the greater language revitalization movement of the Irish language. The history of language policy since Ireland's independence in 1922 is presented for context, along with statistics and background information about the status of the Irish language in the country overall and in Gaeltacht communities. Then, the paper explores the three main educational contexts in which Irish is learned: English medium education, Irish medium education, and Gaeltacht schools. Potential solutions are then put forth to address some of the challenges students face in learning Irish, such as CLIL and the explicit-inductive approach. Gaeltacht-specific solutions are also explored, mainly intergenerational transmission. Language Planning models such as Joshua Fishman's GIDS model as well as more community-driven approaches are also explained in the interest of understanding current policy needs.