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One of the main priorities for the revitalization of the Welsh language is to increase the number of families currently transmitting the language to their children. In order to address this issue, the Welsh Language Board won funding from the National Assembly for Wales to establish a three-year project (2001/02–2003/04) to encourage parents to transmit the Welsh language to their children.
A team from the University of Reading led by Professor Viv Edwards was contracted to evaluate the impact, efficiency and effectiveness of the Twf project against its three strategic aims. A judgment sample of the main stakeholders in the project – managers, the Twf project officers, parents, health workers and other partners – took part in in-depth interviews. Interview data were supplemented by observation and analysis of Twf publicity materials.
Twf has been extremely successful in achieving the first of its strategic aims: bringing bilingualism into the mainstream work of midwives and health visitors. By winning the support of directors of midwifery and health visiting services in the project areas, it has been possible to gain access to, and develop good working relationships with, large numbers of health professionals. Measures are now in place to ensure that midwives discuss language choice with women during pregnancy and for health visitors to continue the discussion after birth. The project is also working with Health Professions Wales and the Welsh colleges to ensure that information on bilingualism becomes an integral part of the training of health visitors and midwives.
Twf has shown considerable imagination and resourcefulness in achieving its second strategic aim: raising awareness amongst parents, prospective parents and the public at large of the advantages of bilingualism. In shifting the focus from mixed language families to all families, the project has made a virtue of necessity. Very large numbers of people have been exposed to information on the benefits of bilingualism through discussions with midwives and health visitors, presentations to antenatal classes and parent groups, a Twf presence at national and local events, and Twf marketing materials. Project officers are also working effectively to provide opportunities for parents to gain confidence in using the language and to promote Welsh language provision for young children and parents through Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin, Mentrau Iaith and Welsh for Adults. It is not feasible to measure directly the extent to which the project is achieving the third of the strategic aims: changing the language patterns of the target group, namely mixed language families, in order to increase the number of children speaking Welsh in the home. A wide range of factors influence decisions about language choice and it is impossible to isolate the influence of Twf. There is, however, no shortage of anecdotal evidence that Twf is making a valuable contribution not only to this aim, but also to the broader aim of helping all families to make an informed choice, irrespective of language background.
Twf has grown rapidly in a short period of time and has been extremely successful in transforming the abstract concept of family bilingualism into a concrete message with which the target audience can identify. Fieldworkers are well placed to be able to identify and respond to needs as they arise. There is, however, a danger that they may be tempted to do too much, too soon, diluting the impact of their efforts in the process. The role of the Welsh Language Board in managing the project provides a useful counterbalance to this temptation. The national and international importance of Twf should not be underestimated. While various language minority communities are addressing language transmission in the family in a piecemeal way, the Twf project represents the first serious attempt to tackle this issue on a strategic level. It will be important for the Welsh Language Board to disseminate the experience of this highly innovative project to speakers of other lesser-used languages.
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