Oideachas trí mheán an Bhéarla

Is é is brí le coincheap an Oideachais trí mheán an Bhéarla ná an Béarla, seachas aon teanga eile, a bheith in úsáid mar theanga theagaisc sna scoileanna. I dtíortha ina labhraítear an Béarla mar theanga phobail, m.sh. sa Ríocht Aontaithe, i Stáit Aontaithe Mheiriceá, in Éirinn, san Astráil agus sa Nua-Shéalainn, tá an chuid is mó de na scoileanna agus de na hollscoileanna ag obair trí mheán an Bhéarla, ach i dtíortha eile, baintear úsáid as an mBéarla freisin, go háirithe in oideachas an tríú leibhéal, siocair is go bhfuil meas na teanga domhanda air.

Cúlra stairiúil 

Tá an Béarla seanbhunaithe mar theanga theagaisc scoile i stair na hÉireann agus na Breataine Móire, agus baint ag ról an Bhéarla sna scoileanna leis an dóigh ar leathnaigh an teanga sin amach óna bhólaí dúchais i Sasana agus in oirthuaisceart na hAlban go dtí na ceantair ina raibh teangacha Ceilteacha a labhairt. Cuid den fhorbairt chéanna ab ea iad galldú na gcríoch eile den Impireacht agus cur chun cinn na scolaíochta tré mheán an Bhéarla.

In Éirinn, scríobh Edmund Spenser sa bhliain 1596, gur chóir "oideachas gramadaí agus eolaíochta a bhronnadh ar mhuintir na hÉireann trí mheán an Bhéarla, nó is é draíocht an oideachais go bhfuil sé in ann dúchas an duine is déine agus is fiaine a bhogadh is a mhaolú"(" the Irish ... be educated in English, in grammar and in science ... for learning hath that wonderful power of itself that it can soften and temper the most stern and savage nature. ")

Sna meánaoiseanna, agus i dtús na nua-aoise, d'fhéach lucht rialtais Ríocht na hAlban leis an mBéarla a chur in áit na Gáidhlig trí reachtanna ar leith a achtú agus faoi na scoileanna paróiste. Na haicmí uaisle ba thúisce a bhí le galldú, agus na haicmí ísle le teacht sna sálaí acu. Rith Parlaimint na hAlban ar a laghad deich n-acht oideachais idir na blianta 1494 agus 1698 leis an gcuspóir seo a bhaint amach.

Sa bhliain 1609, fuadaíodh naonúr taoiseach Gaelach ar tugadh orthu Reachtanna Í a shíniú agus a fhormhuiniú. Bhí an Rialtas i nDún Éideann ag iarraidh taoisigh agus institiúidí na Gaeltachta i nGarbhchríocha na hAlban a thabhairt chun galldachais mar chuid de na hiarrachtaí a chumhacht a fhairsingiú go dtí na críocha sin. 

Theastaigh ó na hEaglaisí Protastúnacha "an Soiscéal a scaipeadh i measc na ndaoine brúidiúla barbartha neamhshibhialta seo", ("planting of the gospell among these rude, barbarous, and uncivill people"), na filí (na baird, mar a thugtar orthu i nGaeilge na hAlban) a eisreachtú agus a chinntiú go gcuirfeadh uaisle na nGarbhchríoch a gclann ag foghlaim léinn i scoileanna na Galltachta, ionas go mbeidís in ann, sa deireadh thiar, "Béarla a labhairt, a léamh, agus a scríobh", ("speik, reid, and wryte Inglische").
 
Sa bhliain 1616, lean an Rí Séamus VI ar aghaidh ar an mbóthar seo le hAcht eile chun scoileanna Gallda a bhunú i ngach paróiste fud fad na nGarbhcríoch. Is é an cuspóir a bhí leis na scoileanna seo, de réir an Achta, ná "sibhialtacht, cráifeacht, eolas agus léann a mhúineadh is a theagasc don aos óg, an Béarla a chraobhscaoileadh ar fud na tíre mar theanga labhartha na cosmhuintire, agus an Ghaeilge, atá ar ceann de na cúiseanna is mó le buanú na barbarthachta agus na neamhshibhialtachta i measc mhuintir na nOileán agus na nGarbhchríoch, a chur ar ceal is a bhaint de bhéal na ndaoine" ("the youth be exercised and trayned up in civilitie, godlines, knawledge, and learning, that the vulgar Inglische toung be universallie plantit, and the Irische language, whilk is one of the chief and principall causes of the continewance of barbaritie and incivilitie amongis the inhabitantis of the Ilis and Heylandis, may be abolisheit and removeit...")

Is é an chuma atá ar an scéal, mar sin, go raibh polasaí toilteanach ag lucht rialtais Shasana agus na hAlban na mionlaigh Cheilteacha a chomhshamhlú don aonchultúr Briotanach, polasaí ar féidir impiriúlachas cultúrtha a thabhairt air inniu, ó bhí sé ceaptha sainghnéithe cultúrtha na mionlach sin, an teanga dhúchais ach go háirithe, a bhaint díobh scun scan. Lean tionchar buan an diansmachta seo ar lucht labhartha na Gaeilge agus na Breatnaise araon i bhfad, fiú nuair a bhí malairt tuiscint tagtha ag na haicmí cultúrtha ar na cúrsaí seo, agus polasaithe ní ba chaoinfhulangaí á bplé.

Táthar ag déanamh gurbh í sprioc dheiridh na bpolasaithe comhshamhlaíocha ná comhaontas náisiúnta a chothú taobh istigh den Stát Bhriotanach, agus an réamhbhreithiúnas ag an lucht rialtais nach bhféadfaí an aidhm sin a bhaint amach gan aon teanga oifigiúil amháin a chur in áit na dteangacha réigiúnda go léir.

Na heachtraí a spreag Ceannairc an Leabhair Urnaí sa bhliain 1549, tugann siad léargas dúinn ar chur chuige an chomhshamhlúcháin chultúrtha seo. Go nuige sin, b'í an Laidin teanga na hEaglaise agus na liotúirge, ach ansin, chinn na húdaráis ar "Leabhar na hUrnaí Coitinne" a chur i gcló i mBéarla amháin. B'é an míniú oifigiúil é go rabhthas ag iarraidh bac a chur le tionchar na hEaglaise Caitlicí tríd an Laidin a chaitheamh i dtraipisí, ach b'é an clár oibre folaithe é go raibh an Béarla le dul ina háit fiú mar theanga eaglasta acu siúd nach raibh á labhairt ó dhúchas. Mar sin, is féidir an tátal a bhaint as an scéal go raibh an chomhairle seo dírithe ar na teangacha Ceilteacha a choinneáil faoi chois agus an Béarla a fhairsingiú mar theanga eaglasta agus, ina dhiaidh sin, mar ghnáthurlabhra phobail.
 
San am sin, bhí formhór mór mhuintir Chorn na Breataine ag labhairt Coirnis ó dhúchas i gcónaí, agus cuid mhór acu siúd dall ar an mBéarla go hiomlán. Mar sin, chuaigh siad chun ceannairce ar an mBéarla, agus iad ag lua ina gcuid éileamh ná "go ndiúltaimid amach is amach don Bhéarla nua seo, ós fir ó Chorn na Breataine sinn, agus daoine inár measc nach dtugann Béarla ar bith" ("and we the cornyshe men whereof certen of vs vnderstande no Englysh) vtterly refuse thys new English").

Dr. Robert Phillipson defines English linguistic imperialism as "the dominance asserted and maintained by the establishment and continuous reconstitution of structural and cultural inequalities between English and other languages".
Solathraíonn teoiric Phillipson dúinn critíc chumhachtach ar forleathnú fairsingíocha stairiúil an Bhéarla mar theanga idirnaisiúnta, agus conas a mbíonn sé in ann a cheannas reatha a cothabháil, ach go háirithe i dtíortha iarchoilíneacha msh. An India, an Phacastáin, Uganda, An tSiombáib srl. ach freisin a ráta méadaithe i gcomhthéacsanna nuachoilíneacha, mar shampla san Eoraip Mhór-roinneach.

Baineann critic Phillipson tátal go príomha as 'teoiric impiriúlachais' Johan Galtung, 'teoiric shóisialta' Antonio Gramsci agus go mór mór as a choincheap faoi svae nó mórcheannas cultúrtha.

Tugtar an téarma 'Macaulay's Children' (Tag:Thomas Babington Macaulay) nuair a déantar tagairt do dhaoine rugadh san Ind, de bhunadh na hIndia a nglacann chuchu féin cultúr agus nósanna an Iarthar mar luach cineáil saoil. Is gnách a mbíonn an téarma in úsáid mar mhasla, agus an comhshonrú nó an fhochiall leis ná go bhfuil an duine éadairiseach nó ina sheoinín.

D'eascair an téarma as alt a scríobh Thomas Babington Macaulay in 1835, 'Miontuairisc ar Oideachas na hIndia' nó 'Minute on Indian Education'( Féach: 'Naisc Inmheanacha', atá thíos luaite).
Seo sliocht as;
It is impossible for us, with our limited means, to attempt to educate the body of the people. We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from the Western nomenclature, and to render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the population.

Bhunaigh Rialtas na Breatiane an 'National Education System'(sic) in Éirinn sa bhliain 1831, faoi stiúir an Phríomh Rúnaí E.G Stanley.
Tógadh, le cuidiú na gCoimisinéirí Um Oideachais Náisiúnta agus na niontaobhaithe logánta, 2,500 bunscoileanna náisiúnta i gCúige Uladh sa tréimhse 1832-1870, built with the aid of the Commissioners of National Education and local trustees.

Deir an tOllamh S. Ó Buachalla;

"During the first four decades of their existence, there is no mention of the Irish language in the programme of regulations of the Commissioners of National Education; furthermore no provision whatsoever was made in 1831 when the original scheme was drawn up for education of those children who spoke Irish only. According to the official opinion of later Commissioners, expressed in a formal reply to the Chief Secretary in 1884, " the anxiety of the promoters of the National Scheme was to encourage the cultivation of the English language..."

D'fhoilsigh an t-oide, agus tírghráthóir Pádraig Anraí Mac Piarais, sraith leachtanna ar thionchar agus chúlra an chórais oideachais in Éirinn, ach go háirithe oideachas trí mheán an Bhéarla.

Tháinig alt leis amach san Irish Review i mí Feabhra 1913,dar teidil The Murder Machine.

Seo a leanas sliocht as phaimphléid an Phiarsaigh;

And English education in Ireland has seemed: to some like the bed of Procustes, the bed on which all men that passed that way must lie, be it never so big for them, be it never so small for them: the traveller for whom it was too large had his limbs stretched until he filled it; the traveller for whom it was too small had his limbs chopped off until he fitted into it---comfortably. It was a grim jest to play upon travellers. The English have done it to Irish children not by way of jest, but with a purpose. Our English-Irish systems took, and take, absolutely no cognisance of the differences between individuals, of the differences between localities, of the: differences between urban and rural communities, of the differences springing from a different ancestry, Gaelic or Anglo-Saxon.

Breis léitheoireachta 
 Séamas Ó Buachalla,Educational Policy and the Role of the Irish Language from 1831 to 1981, European Journal of Education, Vol. 19, No. 1, Multicultural Education (1984), pp. 75-92
 Bisong, Joseph (1995 [1994]) Language Choice and cultural Imperialism: a Nigerian Perspective. ELT Journal 49/2 122-132.
 Bobda, Augustin Simo (1997) Sociocultural Constraints in EFL Teaching in Cameroon. In: Pütz, Martin (ed.) The cultural Context in Foreign Language Teaching. Frankfurt a.M.: Lang. 221-240.
 Brutt-Griffler, Janina (2002) World English. Multilingual Matters. ISBN 1-85359-577-2
 Canagarajah, A. Suresh (1999), Resisting Linguistic Imperialism in English Teaching, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-442154-6
 Canagarajah, A. Suresh, Thomas Ricento & Terrence G. Wiley [eds.] (2002) Journal of Language, Identity, and Education. Special issue. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. ISBN 0-8058-9629-5
 Canagarajah, A. Suresh [ed.] (2004) Reclaiming the Local in Language Policy and Practice. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. ISBN 0-8058-4593-3
 Crystal, David  (2003), English as a Global Language, 2nd ed., Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-53032-6
 Davies, Alan (1996) Review Article: ironising the Myth of Linguicism. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. 17/6: 485-596.
 Davies, Alan (1997) Response to a Reply. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 18/3 248.
 Edge, Julian [ed.] (2006) (Re-)Locating TESOL in an Age of Empire. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1-4039-8530-8
 Holborow, Marnie (1999) Politics of English. Sage Publications. ISBN 0-7619-6018-X
 Holborrow, Marnie (1993) Review Article: linguistic Imperialism. ELT Journal 47/4 358-360.
 Holliday, Adrian (2005),  Struggle to Teach English as an International Language , Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-442184-8
 Kontra, Miklos, Robert Phillipson, Tove Skutnabb-Kangas & Tibor Varady [eds.] (1999), Language: A Right and a Resource, Central European University Press. ISBN 963-9116-64-5
 Kramsch, Klaire and Particia Sullivan (1996) Appropriate Pedagogy. ELT Journal 50/3 199-212.
 Malik, S.A. Primary Stage English (1993). Lahore: Tario Brothers.
 Pennycook, Alastair (1995), The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language, Longman. ISBN 0-582-23473-5
 Pennycook, Alastair (1998), English and the Discourses of Colonialism, Routledge. ISBN 0-415-17848-7
 Pennycook, Alastair (2001), Critical Applied Linguistics, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. ISBN 0-8058-3792-2
 Pennycook, Alastair (in press) Global Englishes and Transcultural Flows. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-37497-9
 Phillipson, Robert (1992), Linguistic Imperialism, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-437146-8
 Phillipson, Robert [ed.] (2000), Rights to Language, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. ISBN 0-8058-3835-X
 Phillipson, Robert (2003) English-Only Europe? Routledge. ISBN 0-415-28807-X
 Punjab Text Book Board (1997) My English Book Step IV. Lahore: Metro Printers.
 Rajagopalan, Kanavilli (1999) Of EFL Teachers, Conscience and Cowardice. ELT Journal 53/3 200-206.
 Ramanathan, Vaidehi (2005) The English-Vernacular Divide. Multilingual Matters. ISBN 1-85359-769-4
 Rahman, Tariq (1996) Language and Politics in Pakistan Karachi: Oxford University Press
 Ricento, Thomas [ed.] (2000) Ideology, Politics, and Language Policies. John Benjamins. ISBN 1-55619-670-9
 Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove & Robert Phillipson [eds.]; Mart Rannut (1995), Linguistic Human Rights, Mouton De Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-014878-1
 Sonntag, Selma K. (2003) The Local Politics of Global English. Lexington Books. ISBN 0-7391-0598-1
 Spichtinger, Daniel (2000) The Spread of English and its Appropriation. University of Vienna, Vienna.
 Tsui, Amy B.M. & James W. Tollefson (in press) Language Policy, Culture, and Identity in Asian Contexts. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. ISBN 0-8058-5694-3
 Widdowson, H.G. (1998a) EIL: squaring the Circles. A Reply. World Englishes 17/3 397-401.
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Tagairtí 
 http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/csc/reports/common.htm The Common School

Naisc sheachtracha 
 Pàrlamaid na h-Alba
 The Common School, by Seamus Dunn
 Minute by the Hon'ble T. B. Macaulay, dated the 2nd February 1835.
 European Journal of Education,Vol19,1,1984. 'Education Policy and the Role of the Irish Language from 1831 to 1981.' URL 
 Gaelic in Scotland
 English-medium fine for Ministers’ kids in Karnataka, banned for others
 Empire? What Empire? Imperialism and British national identity c. 1815-1914 by Professor Bernard Porter
 The Murder Machine by P.H.Pearse.
 UNESCO Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in Education
 "Reconsidering cultural imperialism theory" by Livingston A. White, Transnational Broadcasting Studies, Spring/Summer 2001. 
 Academic Web page discussing the idea of cultural imperialism

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