Scots Language, Creativity and the Expressive Arts
6. Research on teaching Scots
Activity 9
Many claim that artists like Gerda Stevenson are drivers and advocates of the revitalization of the Scots language.
The research publication you are going to engage with in this unit takes a closer look at the views of children of engaging with minority languages. The article is by the sociolinguist James Costa, who has done important work on minority and indigenous languages, also on the Scots language in educational contexts.
Costa’s (2014) article addresses the much-discussed topic of language revitalisation or reclamation, without which, many claim, languages like Scots will not survive. Entitled ‘Must we Save the Language? Children’s Discourse on Language and Community in Provençal and Scottish Language Revitalization Movements’, the article poses three questions:
What do the children have to say about the minority languages they are made to study?
How does this shape their understanding of their human environment?
In what way is the children's understanding relevant to the academic study of language revitalization?
Read the article: Must we Save the Language? Children’s Discourse on Language and Community in Provençal and Scottish Language Revitalization Movements
While reading, take notes to record how Costa answers the three questions he poses at the start of the article.
Now think about and take notes on whether Costa’s findings could have an impact on how you engage in teaching Scots in your own classroom.
Now compare the notes on point 2 in this activity in our model answer with the notes you have made.