Behaviour Change


Date & Time: 15 December 2014 10.00 a.m. – 1.00 p.m.

Location: Institute International Politics, Aberystwyth University

What can the field of Language Policy and Planning learn from theories and models of Behaviour Change in order to, for example:

  • change pupils’ language use outside the classroom?
  • change the tendency for learners to drop out of Welsh for Adults classes before reaching fluency?
  • change language practices in the workplace?

Over the past decade, Behaviour Change has grown to become a central tenet of public policy in the UK as policymakers have come to realise that changing individual and group behaviour is essential to sucessful policy implementation. There are currently over 60 models of socio-psychological models of behaviour change[1].  But which, if any, of these are useful for influencing people’s use of Welsh? 

Changing Linguistic Behaviour is now one of the priority areas in A living language: a language for living: moving forward, the Welsh Government’s Welsh language policy. There is therefore a need for all those who have a responsibility for promoting the use of Welsh to understand ‘language behaviour’ and methods of ‘behaviour change’ in order to develop interventions that can lead to increasing and extending people’s use of Welsh.

This seminar will be an opportunity to:

  • consider critically the view of ‘behaviour change’ that underpins Moving Forward;
  • learn about experimental and innovative techniques used in the fields of the environment and climate change;
  • appropriating behaviour change models to projects promoting Welsh; and
  • consider in what ways we can draw upon the theoretical and methodological insights of behaviour change to develop a more effective approach to Language Policy and Planning. 

Presentations by:

Transaction (only available in Welsh)