Abstract:

Immersion education is classified as a form of additive bilingual education which provides subject-matter instruction through the medium of a second language for extended period of time (Tedick & Lyster, 2020). Despite the myriad of celebrated benefits associated with immersion education, extensive research cautions, however, that the ability to intertwine form-orientated and meaning-orientated pedagogy resides at the core of effective implementation (Baker & Wright 2021; Ó Ceallaigh et al. 2019). Notwithstanding the literature, the application of such an integrated approach remains a recurring and significant hurdle for educators (Cammarata & Ó Ceallaigh 2018, 2020; Lyster 2018; Ó Duibhir, 2018; Tedick & Lyster 2020). Form-focused instruction (FFI) is often proposed as a potential remedy of such a challenge and is often regarded as an effective approach to embed both content and language instruction. FFI is typically described as a pedagogical approach that supports immersion students to notice linguistic forms that they might otherwise ignore and identify how their deviant utterances differ from the linguistic norms of the language. The role of FFI in immersion education appears integral as much literature considers the ability to integrate FFI and content-based instruction an essential component of immersion teacher knowledge (Cammarata & Ó Ceallaigh 2018, 2020; Ó Duibhir, 2018), which thus, bears significant implications for immersion teacher professional development across the continuum of teacher education. Informed by a pragmatic stance, the aims of this ongoing research project are to firstly identify this ideal knowledge base, i.e. distinctive professional competences that are considered essential for FFI in immersion, and secondly to outline critical characteristics of professional development experiences which, from an immersion teacher perspective, positively impact knowledge growth. Utilising an online questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and classroom observations, data were collected from practising teachers in the Republic of Ireland. This paper will report on the initial phase of this study, i.e. questionnaire-generated data (n= 110). Firstly, the paper will provide an in-depth examination of the pertinent literature on the demands of FFI on teacher knowledge in immersion and synthesise findings in an attempt to ascertain what is known from extant studies. Following on from this, the study will be outlined, considering data collection and analysis. Then, quantitative findings from an extensive online questionnaire, distributed nationally, will be presented. The knowledge demands related to the integration and enactment of FFI in disciplinary pedagogy will be identified from an immersion teacher-informed perspective and critical characteristics of professional development experiences which, from an immersion teacher-perspective, positively impact FFI knowledge growth will be discussed. Findings underscore the pressing need for personalised professional development focused on the refinement of immersion-specific pedagogical approaches and the enhancement of teachers' linguistic skills. In conclusion, critical implications for teacher education, curricular design, pedagogy and policy will be highlighted and upcoming stages of the research project will be considered.

Keywords:

Immersion education, professional development, form-focused instruction, language awareness, pedagogical integration.