An investigation into the feasibility of using Irish poetry as a means of increasing EFL learners' awareness of Irish culture and Irish/English in the Irish EFL classroom.

The aim of this study was to identify the possibilities of using Irish poetry in the Irish EFL class as a means of increasing the awareness of Irish culture and the Irish/ English variety of English, for learners of EFL in Ireland. As well as incorporating the attitudes of both teachers and learners to this idea. The procedure involved in this study was the organisation of focus groups for both teachers and learners, and also the organisation of semi-structured follow up interviews with a member of both focus groups. Four cultural lessons designed by the researcher were also piloted with learners in the research. These lessons gave the researcher first hand experience of some issues that might arise later in the study. The final step was the application of questionnaires to learners and teachers. The majority of the learners had taken part in the cultural lessons. The main findings of the research were a vast number of learners choose to study EFL in Ireland because of Irish culture. The learners also found Irish culture, Irish/English and Irish Literature to have a positive effect on their learning. However while the teachers concluded they would like to incorporate Irish poetry and aspects of Irish culture and Irish/English into their classes they found this difficult to implement due to restrictions from syllabuses and course materials. In conclusion this researcher found that learners were not receiving the type of EFL education they wanted in Ireland due to the fact Irish culture, Irish literature and Irish/ English only appeared sporadically throughout their Irish EFL experiences. The overall majority of learners articulated a desire for more of these elements to be included in the Irish EFL classroom.