Abstract:

Language immersion education is a form of additive bilingual education that provides subject-matter schooling in a second, foreign, heritage, or Indigenous language for extended periods of time with intentional development of language, literacy, and academic skills in at least two languages (including the societal majority language) (Lyster, 2007). The crux of effective immersion teaching is content and language integration, yet teaching with a dual focus on content and language is challenging for myriad reasons (Cammarata & Tedick, 2012; Lyster, 2011). Scholars agree that immersion teaching is distinct from either traditional language teaching or content teaching and that it requires a specific pedagogical skill set and knowledge base (e.g., Cammarata & Tedick, 2012; Lyster, 2007; Ó Ceallaigh & Ní Shéaghdha, 2017; Tedick & Lyster, 2014). The knowledge and pedagogies needed for immersion classrooms are unique and complex. Although there is a growing body of research on immersion pedagogy, there is a dearth of research on professional development (PD) experiences that positively impact immersion teacher practices. Research on secondary immersion teachers’ PD experiences are even less scant.

Qualitative in nature, this study seeks to understand and observe how secondary immersion teachers live through, experience and perceive professional development aimed at improving their craft. This presentation reports on the experiences of nine Irish-medium secondary immersion teachers as they engaged in the instructional integration of language and content during a two year-long PD programme. The study focuses on teachers’ learning and experiences as they worked to conceptualize language and content integration and to plan and implement instructional sequences. Data were collected from an extensive online questionnaire, individual interviews, reflections, lesson plans, online discussion fora, and focus groups. Findings suggest that teachers constructed new professional identities as immersion teachers as they engaged in the PD programme. Three stages of development were revealed – teacher as subject specialist, teacher as learner, teacher as leader. ‘Community of practice’ (CoP) played a vital role in facilitating new professional identities and illuminates in multiple ways the exclusive and complex process of becoming a secondary immersion teacher. This research illustrates the discursive and evolving practices that shape what secondary immersion teachers think, know and do as they move toward that critical balance of language and content integration in instruction. The presentation will conclude with a discussion on implications for designing meaningful and effective immersion PD experiences.

Keywords:

Immersion, professional development, professional identity, community of practice.