‘How much is Irish and how much is PE?’: Successes and challenges of integrating language and content when teaching Physical Education through a minoritylanguage

• Ní Dhiorbháin, Aisling ^[1] ; Murphy, Frances ^[1]
  1. [1] Dublin City University

     Dublin City University

     Irlanda

     
• Localización: Journal of immersion and content-based language education, ISSN 2212-8433, Vol. 14, Nº. 1, 2026, págs. 106-130
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.1075/jicb.23020.nid
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • This paper presents primary teachers’ and university-based teacher educators’ experiences of integrating language and content when teaching physical education (PE) through Irish. Two teacher educators, a language specialist and a content specialist collaborated in professional development (PD) with primary teachers in English-medium ( n = 2) and Irish-medium immersion schools ( n = 2) to teach two units of PE. A design-based research methodology was adopted in two six-week cycles. Qualitative data were collected from: individual interviews and a focus group interview with teachers, teacher educators’ reflective diaries and observation of PE lessons. Successes of the approach were children’s enjoyment and language development supported by the pre-teaching of language. Balancing language and content was found to be challenging for teachers in both linguistic contexts. This study suggests that dual-focused collaborative PD and tailor-made resources are necessary to support generalist teachers in navigating the complexity of integrating language and content in CLIL and immersion contexts.

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