Introduction to Scots language debates

2. Input

Activity 1

Is Scots a language?

You might have come across this question before, and also a wide range of views on Scots in your professional context and personal life. Possibly, not all views held by the people you spoke to were in favour of recognising Scots, some might even have confused Scottish Gaelic with Scots or considered Scots a dialect of English.

In this activity you will engage with a presentation by OU PhD student Linda Bruce, who is undertaking the first ever study of adult learners of Scots, so-called new speakers of Scots. In her presentation she explores what makes a language a language in its own right, what factors influence the public recognition of languages and what linguists think about Scots as a language in its own right.

1. To start with, watch and listen to Linda sharing some her the findings from her PhD study in this PowerPoint presentation "Whit we hink we ken aboot Scots".  

Please note, 

•  Linda has added notes in her presentation to make it more accessible for you.
•  to listen to her voice, please click on the audio speaker icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the slides . 
•  If you click on the icon on the presentation start page, it will play automatically all the way through.
•  Linda has included samples from interviews with study participants on slides 21 and 22. To listen to them, please stop the main presentation, again clicking on the speaker icon; then click on the smaller speaker icon  on the same slide (you will see two).

2. While listening to Linda, think about aspects from the presentation that: 

• are new to you,
• you find interesting,
• you find confusing,
• you might want to use in your classroom teaching.

We will discuss this presentation and the question of Scots as a language in its own right at the Unit 1 tutorial in week 3 of the course. You might also want to post any comments or questions on the presentation in the Course Forum. Please keep all posts relating to this in one forum strand to make using the forum as manageable as possible. Simply start a new discussion strand yourself or respond to an existing post in the forum.

3. You can now take some notes in your Learning log. The learning log is a useful tool in this course where you can keep a record of your learning, keep a note of things you want to ‘take away’ from or want to revisit in the course. Only you and your tutor have access to your learning log. Your tutor will not comment or mark anything in your learning log, but you can invite your tutor to comment, if you so wish.

Activity 2

First of all, think about your own Scots language skills, your own experiences and attitudes, as well as the educational benefits of Scots in schools you would like to explore in more detail.

Answer the following questions.

1. Can you

2. If you speak Scots, where do you use it?

• at home with family/ when socialising with friends
  
• when out and about, shopping, in a restaurant, on public transport etc.
  
• at work
  
• or elsewhere.
  

2. There are often issues around using and/or teaching Scots in education  settings. Can you list some examples from your own experience either as a teacher or as a pupil?

3. As discussed above, Scots now has support at policy level from government and councils. The use of Scots is becoming more and more encouraged. Can you list some of the positive examples you have seen or experienced of Scots in education?

You may want to keep a record of your notes by pasting them into a Word document or in your Learning log for future reference. Please remember using the Learning log is optional, and just one way we suggest you can keep track and a record of your learning on this course. The Learning log is for your personal use, other students cannot see your entries. But, if you wish to do so, you can invite your tutor to have a look at specific posts in there for comment.

Activity 3

Depending on your familiarity with use of Scots language in Scotland today, you may wish to read and engage with the materials and activities in our public-facing course on Scots language and culture on this platform.

You may be familiar with this course already, but we would encourage you to study at least a selection of activities from one of the units we propose in each of our CPD course units.

For this unit, we suggest you engage with either Unit 1, Scots today, or Unit 3, Scots in Education, of the Open University’s Scots language and culture course. When engaging, please select aspects of these units that are of most interest to you. And feel free to incorporate materials from these units in your own teaching.

Undertake as many activities in the unit of your choice as you want and take notes on the aspects that are relevant to the key learning points listed for this Unit.

You may want to keep a record of your notes by pasting them into a Word document or in your Learning log for future reference. Please remember using the Learning log is optional, and just one way we suggest you can keep track and a record of your learning on this course. The Learning log is for your personal use, other students cannot see your entries. But, if you wish to do so, you can invite your tutor to have a look at specific posts in there for comment.

Activity 4

Now you will familiarise yourself with the Scots language policy from 2015, specifically, with the role of education in realising the aims of this policy. For this purpose, read CfE Briefing 17 - Curriculum for Excellence: Scots Language (education.gov.scot) , which explores the aims and purposes of including Scots language in the Curriculum for Excellence.

Take a note, for example in your Learning log, of at least three key aspects you are taking away from reading the briefing document, which you think are particularly useful for your own work context.