Darlith Flynyddol 2016: Y Gymraeg, y Wenhwyseg ac Addysg yn y De-ddwyrain

This paper reports a study investigating the acquisition of frequently used Welsh vocabulary by beginner learners of Welsh. Twenty-three participants were tasked to learn 300 content words over 50 days (10 minutes per day) using flashcards. Information was provided about techniques to support learning, such as the keyword method and paying attention to parts of words. Immediate and delayed post-learning tests revealed substantial differences in the ‘learnability’ and retention of target words. An end-of-study questionnaire elicited detailed information about participants’ learning experience, and found that more successful learners used highly systematic approaches to word selection and revision, and used the keyword technique. A resulting list of words ranked by learnability, and comments on learning techniques from high-scoring participants, are informing revisions of learning materials.  Authors: Tess Fitzpatrick, Steve Morris

The decline in relation to mental health issues among children and young people in Wales (School Health Research Network [SHRN] 2023) and recent curriculum reform (Welsh Government [WG] 2022) has led to the introduction of statutory guidance to promote a whole-school approach in supporting positive emotional and mental well-being among all stakeholders within the school community (WG 2021). The ‘Framework on embedding a whole-school approach to emotional and mental well-being’ (the Framework) (WG 2021) focuses on embedding the three core values of ‘belonging’, ‘efficacy’, and ‘voice’ across all aspects of school provision to create a positive social and emotional community. This integrative review explores literature that focuses on whole-school approaches to emotional and mental well-being and identifies some key facilitators and barriers in its successful implementation. Findings suggest that many schools are still not fully engaging with the Framework (WG 2021), particularly regarding the whole-school approach, and this paper concludes with some recommendations regarding the way forward. Authors: Nanna Ryder, Charlotte Greenway, Siobhan Eleri

This article surveys the considerations regarding sleep in Welsh literature by analysing the popular poems of Vicar Rhys Prichard (1579–1644). Religious and cultural considerations regarding sleep, as found in the Vicar’s poems, are analysed. The main characteristics of the Vicar’s sleep poems are identified, and we gain an insight into how some people slept, or how the Vicar believed or wished them to sleep. As a result, the article shows the importance of sleep during the period and that people took it seriously. In doing so, it is emphasized that it should be remembered that real people, of flesh and blood, are studied, and although they only exist in texts from our point of view, they should be treated as human beings that, in the context of this article, slept. Author: Dewi Alter

The recent online public discussion about Welsh Patagonia has been characterized by a tendency to condemn the settlers from Wales on moral grounds. This article takes on this debate, weighing up how, and to what extent, it is possible for us to place Y Wladfa and its people on the scales of morality. It gives detailed attention to the writing of Geraldine Lublin and Lucy Taylor on the history, as examples of reflective, multi-layered analysis that succeeds in conveying the complexity and difficulties of the situation. Having offered this outline, Iris Marion Young’s ethical framework is applied to the history, in order to highlight key ethical considerations, following Catherine Lu’s application of the same ‘social connection’ model to Japanese colonial history. Some initial conclusions are offered about what is revealed.  Author: Huw L. Williams