Examining Chinese language teacher education curriculum in Ireland: A comparative analysis

This article presents a comparative curriculum analysis of three master’s programmes in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (TCSOL) based in Ireland (University College Cork and University College Dublin) and China (Shanghai University). Drawing on Richards’s framework for second language teacher education, the study investigates how teacher knowledge is structured across eight domains, including pedagogy, subject knowledge, teaching theory, communication, research, etc. Findings reveal nationally shaped curricular priorities: the Irish programmes emphasise research and practicum components in response to local accreditation and labour market demands, while the Chinese programme integrates a broader distribution of knowledge domains, particularly in cross-cultural communication competence. Despite ambitions for global applicability, the Irish curricula show limited integration of intercultural and context-sensitive components, raising questions about their capacity to prepare teachers for transnational contexts. This study contributes to international debates on curriculum design in language teacher education by foregrounding the influence of institutional and policy frameworks. It also reflects on the value and limitations of applying a content-based analytic model in cross-cultural research. The findings highlight the need for more context-responsive and critically integrated curricula in TCSOL education.