SaySomethingin in Welsh Schools

We have been hugely encouraged by last year’s comprehensive process evaluation of the SaySomethingin (SSi) Welsh language intervention pilot in Cardiff and Caerphilly schools.

The research was carried out by Peter Russell, a Cardiff University MSc student, and was totally independent of SSi.

The main take out was that as little as 5 minutes a week with SSi leads to greatly improved understanding for spoken Welsh, (where considerably more time spent on other approaches is not moving the needle at all). 

Other highlights include:

• Use of SSi has a small but statistically significant positive impact on results for continuum content
• In observation and anecdotally, levels of teacher engagement drive improved student results (which in this research is not the case for other approaches)
• The data suggests SSi learners may show strong rates of retention, as compared to significant language attrition for other approaches
• Students in interviews speak very positively about microlessons (the 5 minute burst with SSi)
• The reverse bell curve of results with SSi suggests that disengaged students become more disengaged over time (ie, there is a polarising effect)
• Teachers say some of the successful/engaged students with SSi are not students usually recognised as being academically strong (one of the most important points of the study)

Please visit https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/174145/ to see the full report for yourself and do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or comments.