CEOL AGUS TEANGA: EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IRISH LANGUAGE MUSIC AND IRISH LANGUAGE LEARNING

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between music, language, and cultural knowledge management, through the lens of Knowledge Management. I interviewed both students and educators on-site at St. Mary’s University Halifax, Nova Scotia, using a combined Grounded Theory and Phenomenological approach. I tracked the themes that emerged regarding the participants’ experiences with music as a tool for learning and teaching, focusing on their experiences with Irish language songs in the classroom and in their personal learning, teaching, and Personal Knowledge Management experiences. Overall, the emergent themes support a correlation between the use of music in the language learning process and a learner’s ability to recall and utilize elements of vocabulary and grammatical structures and pronunciation and listening skills. Moreover, participants also recalled that music became a part of the emotional context for the learning experience, and created a sense of community among the listeners, both of which helped form a sense of ownership over their learning process.