Undergraduate Research Topic

tefl2006

Hi guys,
Next year I will be doing my fyp (final year project) and need to have the title submitted soon.
I want to do something related to education and gaeilge as I am hoping to become an Irish teacher after my degree. Any help/advice with picking a topic would be greatly appreciated as I am finding it difficult to narrow it down. Thanks!

clartharlear

If you're finding it difficult to narrow down, looking for more suggestions is the worst thing you could do!

Why don't you post some of the ideas you're interested in, and then perhaps getting people's opinions on them could help you decide?

tefl2006

Okay , I am interested in the way Irish is taught in secondary schools and the different methods used. I am hoping to base my research on this.

tefl2006

I am on placement teaching in a school for a year and want to use this year to do some work for next year to reduce workload. Im hoping to do something about the amount of Irish spoken to students during class or the different methods teachers use to teach the language and which methods give the best results

vamos!

It would really interesting to see how much Irish is spoken in the classroom and it's pros and cons. Not sure how you could measure it though, without grilling the Irish teachers in your TP school and potentially annoying them. Bear in mind that students are ultra critical when filling out surveys (We surveyed students on our subjects last year and the critical and disgruntled ones didn't hold back!).

Could you do something on bridging the gap from primary to secondary Irish? Or maybe from Junior to Senior level and you could being in the oral aspect here? Or how the new sraith pictiur (sp? not an Irish teacher!) are working to improve oral competency?

clartharlear

"The Classroom" isn't a single geographical point with a common culture. You'd have to do case study, I'd say, with a very obliging and trusting teacher. Including student voice is quite the done thing these days in terms of democratic education too.
Possibly something on teacher talk time versus student talk time in the target language? Maybe in comparison to your telf experience, depending on how deep that was.

tefl2006

okay guys, thanks for the help