Abstract:

The Irish language, one of the six Celtic languages, while spoken on a daily basis by a small minority of Irish people is designated the First National Language by the Irish constitution, creating a requirement for all legislation and official documentation to be written in that language. This has resulted in a demand for professionals with a high degree of proficiency in the higher registers of the language, particularly amongst the legal profession.

The ability to nest relative clauses within other clauses is generally recognised as one of the key performance indicators of the most advanced use of language. Indeed, the correct use of the direct and indirect relative particles is one of the most challenging features of Irish, necessitating a deep and integrated understanding of a wide range of complex concepts.

Pause Procedure is the use of short quizzes in online video presentations, enabling students to assess the depth of their own understanding of key, threshold concepts: the lack of which will hinder their advancement at the generic level.

This paper describes how I have scaffolded the student learning of direct and indirect relative clauses in a second year module of the BCL Law and Irish Language degree in University College Cork (UCC) utilising a strategic combination of online video and self-correcting exercises within a flipped classroom environment. Having already created an online micro-course on the Relative Clause, consisting of a series of micro-lectures which are delivered via the institution's VLE, and scaffolded by online formative assessments which students must complete successfully in order to advance through the material, I have then exploited a recently developed facility to incorporate inline quizzes into video aimed at pausing students and encouraging them to reflect critically on the learning material at critical points in their learning experience.

In addition to a detailed background and overview of my development and use of this particular methodology, and an outline of critical literature which informs and underpins my work, I will present the findings of my research into student learning using both quantitative and qualitative evidence.

Keywords:

Syntax, pause-procedure, flipped-classroom, online, minority-languages.