Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Scotland’s Gaelic College, and Ulster University have been working together on community-based recording and computer-assisted language learning (CALL) for three years now, starting with the European TOOLS project – which itself grew out of earlier POOLS projects in which Sabhal Mòr Ostaig had already been involved, and out of which Island Voices/Guthan nan Eilean developed. So the recent Irish visit to Benbecula can be seen as part of a wider collaborative venture, in which similarities (and differences) between Irish and Scottish Gaelic are explored, with the aim of developing practical solutions to common problems.
Another side to this work can be seen in the online publication of a joint paper – “CALL Support in Context: Contrasting Approaches in Irish and Scottish Gaelic” – written by Gordon Wells and Caoimhín Ó Dónaill. In the Scottish section the paper draws substantially on community-level work and research that has been conducted in parallel with Island Voices over the past few years. It is available online in the Research/Reports section of this site, or by clicking on this link.
