Immersion Education

1. By: Joseph Peters Jae Youn Son Immersion Education

2. Definition of Immersion Education Fred Genesee of McGill University, one of the world's leading authorities on immersion education provides the following definition of immersion:"Generally speaking, at least 50 percent of instruction during a given academic year must be provided through the second language for the program to be regarded as immersion."   (Genesee 1987) 

3. Immersion Discussion Questions -  How did you best learn your L2? -  When is the best time to learn  a language?  (age) -  What experiences do you have with speaking another language?    -  Should teachers be bilingual? -  How should teachers address social culture issues in L2?

4. Primary Issues in Immersion -  Student drop out -  Dual fluency impediment - Appropriate Environment  - Pressure of Learning - Leveling-off     (Cummins, 1998)

5. Basis of Immersion  Learning L2 is the same as L1: (a) By being exposed to authentic input in the second language (b) By needing to use the second language for real, communicative purposes     (Snow, 1987) 

6. Research in Immersion • Discussed the issue of total instructional time in French and its impact on immersion graduates' proficiency in French • Compared the French proficiency of immersion students in different programs  (Early Immersion, Middle Immersion, Late Immersion)  Result: EI students outperformed students from MI and LI         programs on selected measures of listening and speaking Conclusion: the results do give strong support to providing increased instructional time in French in whichever program one wishes to implement. (Turnball et al., 1998)

7. Immersion Program Theories From Early Immersion Programs in Canada, w/ French Promote that- Note* research provides no conclusive evidence   -   Students can gain fluency and literacy in L2, French -  No apparent cost to their L1 academic skills, English - Can catch up within a year in most aspects of  standardized test performance within 1 yr, English - Receptive skills are better developed than expressive skills * particular to French and English, correlations in system  - Gap evident in grammatical aspects of L2, writing                     (Bialystok et al., 2005) (Swain, 1975)(Cummins, 1998)

8.  Programming  Theory Basis " Achieving proficiency in a foreign language ordinarily requires four to six years of study and should, therefore, be started in the elementary grades"                              (Washington: GPO, 1983) Critical-Age hypothesis- the ability to learn a native tongue that extends to late childhood and possibly until puberty         ( Grimshaw et al., 1998 ) - Early immersion: kindergarten or  grade 1 -  Middle immersion: grades 4 or 5 -  Late immersion: grade 7 <                                                                                  (Cummins, 1998)

9. Research on Immersion Input Content (1) Adults proceed through early stages of syntactic and morphological development faster than children (where time and exposure are held constant). (2) Older children acquire faster than younger children (again, in early stages of morphological and syntactic development where time and exposure are held constant). (3) Acquirers who begin natural exposure to second languages during childhood generally achieve higher second language proficiency than those beginning as adults                                          (Krashen et al. 1979)

10. Immersion Research -  "an early start leads to success but only provided that it is associated with enough significant exposure"   - Role of input is important, regardless of age                                                                                  (Munoz,2008)

11. Core Features of Immersion Programs 1.  L2 is a medium of instruction2. Immersion curriculum parallels the local L1                 curriculum3. Overt support exists for the L14. The program aims for additive bilingualism5. Exposure to the L2 is largely confined to the                    classroom6. Students enter with similar  levels of L2 proficiency7.  Teachers are bilingual8. Classroom culture is that of the local L1 community                                                   (Johnson and Swain, 1997)

12. History of Immersion - Model evolved in France in 1965, for French - From parental dissatisfaction with current practices - Desire for authentic real life use of L2 - From the 1960's, programs spread across the US and the world                                                                                            (Snow, 1987)

13. Examples of Immersion Canada and French  (Genesee)   Where immersion started and developed for communicative use. USA and Spanish (Snow) Seven year Spanish elementary program that examined the relationships  between assessment and language use.   Results indicated that there was some language loss in skills as age increased Yujin Gakuen: first Japanese immersion school in Oregon, U.S.             Kindergarten: 80 % Japanese and 20% in English Grades 1 -5 : 50 % Japanese and 50 % English (half day each) Native or near-native speakers of Japanese licensed in elementary or secondary education                  (Kanagy, 2001)

14. Prominent Researchers   -Fred Genesee, of McGill University     * Coins the term in 1960s     * Founder of Immersion -  Marguerite Ann Snow, California State University   * Developed immersion pedagogy in America • -  Jim Cummins, University of Ontario              * Provided research on the effectiveness of Immersion

15. Conferences The Association of College and Research Libraries a professional association of academic librarians  to serve the information needs of the higher education community and to improve learning, teaching, and research.   http://www.acrl.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/index.cfm

16. Organizations -  Center for Applied Linguistics      The Center for Applied Linguistics is dedicated to providing a          comprehensive range of research-based information, tools, and resources related to language and culture.http://www.cal.org/index.html - CREDE      Education Alliance at Brown University provides an education tools that are composed of three segments that address program design and planning, classroom instruction, and parental involvement, respectively.            http://crede.berkeley.edu/ - Katoh Gakuen: Immersion Program Innovators in methods in immersion A dual language program that combines the requirements of the Japanese curriculum and the International Diploma Programs. http://www.bi-lingual.com

17. Associations Purposes are expansion, promotion, and improvement of the teaching of languages, literatures, and cultures, by activities such as publication National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition  U.S. Department of Education's Resource Centers, whose role is to improve the nation's capacity to teach and learn foreign languages effectively

18.  TESOL Quarterly Publications Professional expertise in English language teaching and learning for speakers of other languages worldwide The Modern  Language Journal Dedicated to promoting scholarly exchange among teachers and researchers of all modern foreign languages and English as a second language

19. Future of Immersion Facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=44931513106#!/group.php?gid=44931513106&v=wall

20. References                             <APA style> Cummins, J. (1998). Immersion Education for the Millennium: What we Have Learned from Thirty Years of Research on Second Language Immersion. In Childs, M., Bostwick, R. M. (eds.), Learning Through Two Languages: Research and Practice. Numazu, Japan: Katoh Gakuen. http://carla.acad.umn.edu/cobaltt/modules/strategies/immersion2000.pdf Ellen Bialystok, Gigi Luk, and Ernest Kwan. (2005). Bilingualism, Biliteracy, and Learning to Read: Interactions Among Languages and Writing Systems.  SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF READING, 9(1), 43–61. Genesee, F. (1987). Learning Through Two Languages. (First ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: Newbury House Publishers. (Harper & Row). Grimshaw et al. (1998). First-language acquisition in adolescence: evidence for a critical period for verbal language development. Brain and Language, 63, 237-255. Johnson, R. K.& Swain, M. (1997). Immersion education: International perspectives.Cambridge, UK: Cambridge university Press. Kanagy, R. (2001). Hai, Genki Desu: Doing fine in a Japanese immersion classroom. In D. Christian & F. Genesee (Eds.), Bilingual education (pp. 139-150). Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages Krashen, S., M. Long, and R. Scarcella. 1979. ‘Age, rate, and eventual attainment in second language acquisition,’ TESOL Quarterly 13/4: 573–82. Lapkin (ed), French second language education in Canada: Empirical studies (pp. 31-55). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.National Commission on Excellence in Education, A Nation at Risk: The Imperative or Educational Reform (Washington: GPO, 1983)  

21. References Cont. Munoz, C. 2008. 'Symmetries and Asymmetries of Age Effects in Naturalistic and Instructed L2 Learning'. Applied Linguistics, 29/4:pp. 578–596. Snow et al. (1986).  Patterns of Second Language Retention of Graduates of a Spanish Immersion Program. Applied Linguistics, 9.2, Pp182-197. Snow, M. A. (1987). Immersion teacher handbook. Los Angeles: Center for Language Education and Research. Swain, M. (1975). Writing skills of grade three French immersion pupils. Working Papers on Bilingualism, 7, 1-38.  Turnbull, M., Lapkin, S., Hart, D., & Swain, M. (1998). Time on task and immersion graduates’ French proficiency. In S. Lapkin(ed.), French second language education in Canada: Empirical studies (pp. 31-55). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.