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Language immersion is an approach to foreign language
instruction in which the usual curricular activities are conducted in a
foreign language. This means that the new language is the medium of
instruction as well as the object of instruction. Immersion students acquire
the necessary language skills to understand and communicate about the subject
matter set out in the school's program of instruction. They follow the same
curricula, and in some instances, use the same materials (translated into the
target language) as those used in the non-immersion schools of their
district.
"Immersion" has been a convenient term used freely by schools and
the media for an increasingly popular form of foreign language education.
Unfortunately, in most cases, the term is misused. For many, the term
"immersion" seems to imply any class that is taught through the
medium of a second language. However, simply teaching a content class (e.g.
Math, Music, Science, etc.) in a foreign language is not immersion. The most
commonly used definition of immersion comes from Fred Genesee of McGill
University, one of the world's leading authorities on immersion education. On
page one of his seminal book "Learning Through Two Languages: Studies in
Immersion and Bilingual Education" (1987, Newbury House) he 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. Programs in which one subject and language arts are
taught through the second language are generally identified as enriched
second language programs." (p.1)
Immersion represents the most intensive form of content-based foreign
language instruction (Snow, 1986). In an immersion program, English is not
the subject of instruction, rather it is the medium through which a majority
of the school's academic content is taught. Typically, in most immersion
programs this includes math, science, social studies and other subject areas.
For an in-depth review of the research on immersion education in North
America see Lambert & Tucker (1972); Swain and Lapkin (1982); Genesee
(1983, 1987, 1995); de Courcy (1993), and Baker (1996). For an overview of
research on immersion in other international contexts see Artigal (1993);
Artigal & Lauren (1992); Berthold (1992); Baker (1996); Johnson &
Swain (1997).
In our program at Katoh Gakuen, 50-80% of the students' classes are conducted
in English from kindergarten through high school. Our program is a
"partial" immersion program. (Total immersion would mean 100% of
the students' instructional day in the first three or four years would be in
the foreign language.) Many programs that claim to be immersion would be more
accurately referred to as either: "content-enriched foreign language
classes" or "language-enriched content classes" or simply the
more generic "content-based foreign language class" if they do not
reach this 50% threshold.
Bilinguals Outnumber Monolinguals
International surveys indicate that there are many more bilingual or
multilingual individuals in the world than there are monolingual. In
addition, there are many more children throughout the world who are educated
through a second or foreign language, at least for some portion of their
formal education, than there are children educated exclusively through the
first language. In many parts of the world, bilingualism or multilingualism
constitute the normal everyday experience (see, e.g., Dutcher, 1994; World
Bank, 1995). The results from published, longitudinal, and critical research
undertaken in varied settings throughout the world indicate clearly that the
development of multiple language proficiency is possible, and indeed that it
is viewed as desirable by educators, policy makers, and parents in many
countries (Tucker, 1999).
Why is immersion an effective second language model?
A great deal of research has centered on foreign language acquisition in
various school settings. Over the past thirty years, due in large part to the
success of immersion programs, there has been a shift away from teaching
language in isolation and toward integrating language and content. This shift
is based on four principles:
- Language is acquired most
effectively when it is learned in a meaningful social context. For young
learners, the school curriculum provides a natural basis for foreign
language learning, offering them the opportunity to communicate about
what they know and what they want to know, as well as about their
feelings and attitudes.
- Important and interesting
content provides a motivating context for learning the communicative
functions of the new language. Young children are not interested in
learning language that serves no meaningful function.
- First language acquisition,
cognition and social awareness go hand in hand in young children. By
integrating language and content, foreign language learning, too,
becomes an integral part of a child's social and cognitive development.
- Formal and functional characteristics
of language change from one context to another. An integrated language
and content model in an elementary school setting provides a wide
variety of contexts in which to use the foreign language.
What are the Goals of an Immersion Program?
Most language immersion schools have four immersion-related goals:
- to achieve competency in the
foreign language (listening, speaking, reading, writing)
- to acquire the same L1
language arts skills as students in regular schools
- to master content area skills
& concepts
- to gain a greater
understanding and appreciation of other cultures
What are Some of the Key Features of an Immersion Program?
- The program parallels the
curriculum of the local curriculum. At Katoh Gakuen, this means that we
follow the same curriculum in math, science, social studies, PE, etc,
with the same outcome expectations of the students in the regular
"non-immersion" program.
- Material taught in the
immersion language is never re-taught in the students' first language.
Japanese teachers do review vocabulary and help prepare students for the
unit and end of the year tests that are given in Japanese. However,
Japanese teachers do not to re-teach or cover the same material as the
immersion teacher. If the same material is re-taught to students in
Japanese, students quickly learn that if they wait, they will get
instruction in Japanese and will choose to "tune out" the
English portion of the instruction. Just as in regular classrooms,
students don't always master a skill or concept the first time so it is
not uncommon to re-teach the material (in English) for slower students.
- The school culture mirrors
that of the local community. Katoh Gakuen is not an international school
nor do we impose Western values or expectations on the students or parents.
Foreign teachers must adjust themselves to this "new culture."
What are the Documented Effects of Immersion Education?
A growing body of research on immersion education has shown that immersion
students consistently meet or exceed academic expectations in the following
areas:
- Foreign language skills:
Immersion students by far outperform students in traditional foreign
language classes. Although students usually do not become
"native-like" in the foreign language, they do become
functionally proficient in the immersion language and are able to
communicate according to their age and grade level.
- First language skills: In the
early years of first language instruction, there may be a lag in first
language reading and writing skills. By the end of elementary school,
however, immersion students do as well or better than students in
"first language-only" classes.
- Content areas: Immersion
students achieve in academic areas as well as students in "first
language-only" programs.
- Cultural sensitivity: Immersion
students are more aware of and show positive attitudes towards other
cultures.
Canada: The Birthplace of Immersion Education
Although bilingual education can be traced back to 3000 BC, the form of
bilingual education called immersion education that we use at Katoh is
generally accepted to have started in Quebec, Canada. In 1965, a group of
English-speaking parents succeeded in initiating an experimental immersion
kindergarten for their students. Their goal was to ensure that their children
achieved a high level of French, as well as English, in Quebec where the
French-speaking majority were asserting their rights and taking more power in
the political and economic fields.
Since then, French immersion has spread across the country and is found in every
province and territory (for example 7% of the total student population in
Ontario is in French immersion). Over 320,000 students in Canada are in some
form of immersion program. French immersion is overwhelmingly a public school
program so that all students have the option of entering early immersion
(starting in kindergarten or grade one), middle immersion (grade 4 or 5) or
late immersion (grade 6 or 7).
Although French immersion is by far the most common form of language
immersion in Canada, other programs which might qualify under the
"immersion" label are offered in Russian, Arabic, Cree, Hebrew,
Mandarin, Mohawk, and German.
The USA and the Rest of the World
According to a 2003 survey by the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL), there
are over 400 schools in 27 states that offer total, partial or two-way
immersion programs in 11 different languages. In addition to the USA,
language immersion (usually based on the Canadian model) has spread to
Australia, South Korea, Finland, Hungary, Hawaii, Spain, South Africa, Hong
Kong and Japan. In Australia, for example, immersion programs are offered in
French, German, Chinese, Indonesian and Japanese.
References & Readings
Artigal, J. M. (1993). Catalan and Basque Immersion Programmes. In H. B.
Beardsmore (ed.), European Models of Bilingual Education. Clevedon:
Multilingual Matters.
Artigal, J. M., & Lauren, C. (1992). Immersion Programmes in Catolonia
and Finland: A comparative analysis of the motives for the establishment.
Rassegna Italiana di Linguistica Applicata. 3.
Baker, C. (1996). Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.
(Second Edition). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Berthold, M. (1992). An Australian Experiment in French Immersion. The
Canadian Modem Language Review, 49 (l).
Bostwick, M. (2001). English Language Immersion in a Japanese School. In D.
Christian & F. Genesee (eds.), Bilingual Education. Alexandra: TESOL.
Bostwick, R. M. (1995). After 30 Years: The Immersion Experiment Arrives in
Japan. The Language Teacher, 19 (5).
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.
de Courcy, M. (1993). Making sense of the Australian French immersion
classroom. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural development, 14, 173-185
Dutcher, N., in collaboration with Tucker, G.R. (1994). The use of first and
second languages in education: A review of educational experience.
Washington, DC: World Bank, East Asia and the Pacific Region, Country
Department III.
Genesee, F. (1987). Learning Through Two Languages. (First ed.). Cambridge,
Mass.: Newbury House Publishers. (Harper & Row).
Genesee, F. (1983). Bilingual Education of Majority-Language Children: The
Immersion Experiments in Review. Applied Psycholinguistics, 4.
Genesee, F. (1995). The Canadian Second Language immersion Program. In 0.
Garcia & C. Baker (eds.), Policy and Practice in Bilingual Education.
Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Genesee, F. (1994). Second Language Immersion Programs. In R. Michael
Bostwick (ed.) Immersion Education International Symposium Report on Second
Language Acquisition Through Content Based Study: An Introduction to
Immersion Education, Numazu, Japan: Katoh Gakuen.
Hakuta, K. (1986). Mirror of language: The debate on bilingualism. New York:
Basic Books.
Johnson, R. K. & Swain, M. (1997). Immersion Education: International
Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lambert, W.E., & G.R. Tucker. (1972) The Bilingual Education of Children:
The St. Lambert Experiment. Rowley. MA: Newbury House.
Mimi Met. (1996) "Teaching Content through a Second Language." in
Educating Second Language Children by Fred Genesee (Ed.). Cambridge
University Press.
Padilla, Fairchild, Valadez (Eds.) (1990). "Combining Language and
Content for Second-Language Students." Christian, Spanos, Crandall,
Simich-Dudgeon, Willetts. In Bilingual Education, Sage Publications.
Snow, M. A. (1986). Innovative Second Language Education: Bilingual Immersion
Programs (Report- Evaluative/Feasibility 142): UCLA. Center for Language
Education and Research.
Merrill Swain. (1996). "Integrating Language and Content in Immersion
Classrooms: Research Perspectives." The Canadian Modern Language Review.
Swain, M. (1996). Discovering successful second language teaching strategies
and practices: From program evaluation to classroom experimentation. Journal
of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 17, 89-104.
Swain, M., & Lapkin, S. (1982). Evaluating Bilingual Education: A
Canadian Case Study. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
World Bank. (1995). Priorities and strategies for education. Washington, DC:
The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
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