Bilingual literacy in and for working lives on the land: case studies of young Welsh speakers in North Wales

Abstract

This article is based on ethnographic research on literacy carried out with young bilinguals, aged 16–19, in North Wales from 2005 to 2007. Here, we present case studies of five young people who were enrolled in a bilingual vocational course in agriculture in a local college and who were planning to make a living for themselves on the land and to create a workplace for themselves where Welsh could be used. All five of these young people were working in land-based industries, on a part-time basis, as they pursued their studies at college. The main focus of this part of our investigation was on the ways in which literacy, in Welsh and in English, mediated the work they did on the land. This work included running their own businesses on the family farm or smallholding, collaborating with older members of the household (parents or grandparents) in handling the farm paperwork and the digitised record keeping, and searching the Web for funding opportunities to initiate agri-environmental schemes or land improvement projects. In analysing the ethnographic and textual data from this part of the project, we show how the young people's language choices and literacy practices were shaped by the nature of the land-based enterprises they were involved in. Some were reading and writing predominantly in Welsh for local clients, some were engaged in bilingual literacy practices, and others made predominant use of English. We also show how the local literacy practices of these young people and their families were bound up with global changes in agriculture, with changes in the everyday work routines of farmers, and with changes in the literacy practices and uses of texts in contemporary workplaces.