WHAT FUTURE FOR THE WELSH
LANGUAGE IN WALES
01.07.15
Dr Sioned Pearce
Content
1. Background
2. Methodology
3. Results
4. Findings
Welsh language policy
• Legislation
• Acts of Union 1535-1542
• Welsh Courts Act 1942
• Welsh may be used in court proceedings
• Welsh Language Act 1967
• Welsh may be used in court proceedings and other official, public
business
• Welsh Language Act 1993
• Welsh is an official language in regard to the public sector
• Welsh Language Board (Now Welsh Language Commissioner)
• The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011
• Confirmed the official status of the Welsh language in Wales and
created a new legislative framework for the Welsh language
• National Assembly for Wales Official Languages Act 2012
• Provides for two official languages for the National Assembly
Welsh Language Use
• Geography:
• 2011 Census
• 19% (n=562,000) are ‘able to speak Welsh’ compared with 20.8% (n=582,400) in
2001;
• Caernarfon has the highest percentage of Welsh speakers (85.6%) compared
with Nash in Newport with the lowest percentage (4.0%) in 2011
• Both these communities have seen a drop in percentage of those able to speak
Welsh, 0.5% and 4.0% respectively.
• Media
• Establishment of S4C, BBC Radio Cymru and the Welsh Books Council.
• Education
• William Williams, Brad y Llyfrau Gleision and the 1870 Education Act (England)
• Welsh-medium Education
• Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889 (Sir Hugh Owen)
• O.M. Edwards (Chief Inspector of schools for Wales 1907)
• 1960s-1990s, rising interest in Welsh Medium Education
A living language: a language for living
Since its establishment the Welsh Government has
fostered day to day use of the Welsh language through a
number of schemes to promote bilingual education, set out
in the strategy a living language: a language for living.
Aims of the strategy:
• Focus on the role of the media;
• Welsh language use as a ‘choice’;
• Bringing the language into contemporary interfaces.
Background: Welsh language ability
Age
5-15
16-19
20-44
45-64
65-74
75+
2001 (% able to speak Welsh)
2011 (% able to speak Welsh)
40.8
27.6
15.5
15.6
18.1
21.1
40.3
27.0
15.6
13.3
15.0
17.5
Source: https://statswales.wales.gov.uk/Catalogue/Welsh-Language/WelshSpeakers-by-LA-BroaderAge-2001And2011Census
accessed 20.04.15
Methods
• Research Aims
• Explore pupils’ self-reporting of fluency
• Explore pupils’ attitudes to Welsh language
• Sample
• 849 Secondary school pupils
•
•
•
•
412 (48.5%) Year 8 (ages 12-13)
437 (51.5%) Year 10 (ages 14-15)
49.5% Male, 50.5% female
88.6% White, 11.4% non-White
• Data Collection
• Web browser based, self-completion surveys delivered to pupils on tablet computers
• Initial Questions
• How important is it for you to learn Welsh?
• How important is it for you to speak Welsh?
• How important is it for Welsh to remain a living language?
• Further Questions
• How much do you like Welsh as a subject?
• How often do you speak Welsh at school, home, etc.
• How often do you visit Welsh websites, watch TV in Welsh, listen to Welsh radio
• How likely is it you will speak Welsh as an adult?
Results: Fluency
Fluency in Welsh (n=849)
100.0%
75.0%
50.0%
38.0%
25.0%
24.0%
27.7%
10.3%
0.0%
Fluent
Can speak a lot, but not fluent
Can speak a few words and
phrases
Year 8 & 10 pupils
I cannot speak Welsh
Fluency by Gender (n=818)
100%
35.4%
75%
57.4%
50.8%
Female
50%
Male
64.6%
25%
42.6%
49.2%
0%
Fluent (197)
Not-fluent (539)
No ability (82)
Fluency by Year in School (n=818)
100%
75%
56.3%
48.6%
62.2%
Year 10
50%
Year 8
25%
43.7%
51.4%
37.6%
0%
Fluent (197)
Not-fluent (539)
No ability (82)
Results: Attitudes
How much do you like Welsh as a subject? (n=835)
100.0%
75.0%
50.0%
39.5%
32.5%
28.0%
25.0%
0.0%
A lot
A bit
Not at all
How important is it for you to learn Welsh? (n= 843)
100.0%
75.0%
50.0%
30.7%
33.8%
27.9%
25.0%
7.6%
0.0%
Very important
Important
Not very important
Not at all important
How important is it for Welsh to remain a living language?
(n= 829)
100.0%
75.0%
50.0%
46.0%
29.0%
25.0%
18.5%
6.6%
0.0%
Very important
Important
Not very important
Not at all important
How important is it for you to speak Welsh? (n= 840)
100.0%
75.0%
50.0%
28.0%
31.5%
32.9%
25.0%
7.6%
0.0%
Very important
Important
Not very important
Not at all important
Attitudes
White
How much do you like Welsh? (A lot)
It is very important to learn Welsh
It is very important to speak Welsh
It is very important Welsh remains a living language
How likely is it you will speak Welsh as an adult? (Definitely)
How much do you like Welsh? (A lot)
It is very important to learn Welsh
It is very important to speak Welsh
It is very important Welsh remains a living language
32.4%
30.1%
48.8%
25.1%
Non-white
17.7%
11.6%
24.2%
7.5%
Male
Female
23.5%
32.4%
26.0%
35.3%
22.5%
33.3%
43.0%
48.0%
Attitudes
How much do you like Welsh? (A lot)
It is very important to learn Welsh
It is very important to speak Welsh
It is very important Welsh remains a living language
How likely is it you will speak Welsh as an adult?
(Definitely)
How much do you like Welsh? (A lot)
It is very important to learn Welsh
It is very important to speak Welsh
It is very important Welsh remains a living language
How likely is it you will speak Welsh as an adult?
(Definitely)
Year 8
Year 10
35.4% 21.1%
33.3% 28.3%
29.9% 26.2%
47.5% 44.5%
22.5%
23.9%
notNo
Fluent Fluent Ability
38.7% 37.6% 23.7%
49.2% 26.2% 23.2%
46.9% 22.9% 22.0%
67.0% 42.1% 32.1%
45.3%
17.5%
13.6%
Follow-up Questions
• Snapshot: Cohort C
• 28.2% strongly agree they are more confident speaking Welsh than
last year (n=468)
• 15% speak Welsh with family on a daily basis (n=366)
• 10.4% speak Welsh with friends on a daily basis (n=366)
• 8.8% read Welsh books or magazines at least once a week
(n=365)
• 16.6% Watch Welsh TV or listen to Welsh radio at least once a
week (n=367)
• 5.2% visit Welsh websites at least once a week (n=366)
Results: how much do you like Welsh as a subject?
• Pupils in bilingual school settings like Welsh more
• Pupils in ‘Y fro Gymraeg’ are more positively oriented to Cymraeg
• Those who felt it was ‘very important’ to learn Welsh were also most likely to
like Welsh ‘a lot’, 59.7% (n=139) compared with 5.5% (n=15) who felt it was
important but did not like it ‘at all’.
• The same finding applies to those who think it is ‘not important at all’ to speak
Welsh. They are more likely to dislike Welsh (14.1%, n=38 who do not like it ‘at
all’ compared with 1.3%, n=3 who like it ‘a lot’).
• Those who like Welsh ‘a lot’ are also more likely to think it important to speak
Welsh (55.2%, n=128 who like Welsh a lot compared with 5.9%, n=16 who do not
like it ‘at all’).
• The same pattern applies to those who like Welsh ‘a lot’ in relation to how
important they feel it is for Welsh to remain a living language (71.5%, n=163 who
like Welsh a lot think it is ‘very important’ for Welsh to remain a living language
compared with 21.6%, n=58 who do not like Welsh at all).
Results: survey language against learn, speak
and sustain
• Despite the majority of those who like Welsh ‘a lot’
strongly supporting learning, speaking and sustaining the
Welsh language:
• Only 21.8% of this group took the survey in Welsh compared with
76.1% who took it in English.
• In addition only 20.5% of those who though it was ‘very important’
to sustain the Welsh language took the survey in Welsh, compared
with 78.2% who took it in English.
• Of those who thought it was ‘important’ to sustain the Welsh
language only 5.7% took the survey in Welsh.
• This raises an interesting contradiction between principles
and practice.
Results: Three Wales model and completion language
• When looking at language of completion against the
Three Wales model, there is a higher percentage of pupils
completing the survey in Welsh within the Welsh speaking
heartlands of North and West Wales.
• 28.6% of those from Y Fro Gymraeg completed the
survey in Welsh compared with 4.1% from Welsh Wales
and only 1.8% from British Wales.
• However, over half of respondents (69.8%) from y Fro
Gymraeg completed the survey in English.
Findings
Cohort C pupils have a more positive attitude towards the Welsh language. However, a pupil’s
attitude to Welsh as a subject is an indicator of how important a pupil feels it is to learn, speak
and sustain the language for both Cohorts.
For all variables, female pupils were more positively oriented to Welsh and using Welsh than
male pupils.
Those living in areas with higher numbers of Welsh speakers are more likely to view Welsh
favourably as a subject and are more likely to support its long term survival (Three Wales
Model).
In both cohorts a higher percentage of pupils feel it is important for the Welsh language to
remain living than feel it is important to learn or speak Welsh. However, those who are
supporters of learning, speaking and sustaining the Welsh language do not necessarily
practice this as low numbers of all groups have completed the survey in Welsh.