To date, little attention has been paid to the impact of immersion programs on learning interests in a second language (L2). The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of two types of Hakka-Chinese bilingual programs (immersion vs. non-immersion) on L2 learning interests. Four kindergarten teachers (two in each program)…

Chinese immersion programs have been increasingly popular in US schools. However, we have insufficient data on young English-speaking children's acquisition of Chinese as a second language in these programs, and specifically on social contextual variables systematically promoting or hindering Chinese language use. Taking a variationist…

In October 2023, a new deaf student, "Zuri," showed up in my second grade classroom. This often happens. Parents move into and out of the district for work, and it is common to get a new student in the middle of the year without warning. Zuri's eyes were wide when she came into the classroom, and she looked scared. Who were all these…

The amount of language input bilingual children receive influences their language acquisition. This three-year quasi-longitudinal study determined the extent home language input influences measures of expressive and receptive English vocabulary among Spanish-English school-age bilingual children. The study also determined whether a relationship…

This action research explores how teachers and students at a private elementary school in Gyeonggi Province perceive the effectiveness of the English-only TEE policy and proposes a revised model tailored to the school's diverse needs. A total of 250 students and 6 teachers participated in the study, with data collected through surveys, interviews,…

Numerous complexities undergird how parents support the bilingual development of their young learners, especially in a predominantly monolingual-centric society. In this article, we highlight belief practices which informed parents' decision-making processes in supporting their children, who were enrolled in a diverse dual language immersion…

Dual language immersion (DLI) programs have emerged in the U.S. as effective ways to bring together language minority and language majority speakers in school settings with the goal of bilingualism and bi-literacy for all. However, the proliferation of these programs has raised concerns regarding issues of inequity and dissimilar power dynamics in…

Measures of 31 Latinx students' attitudes in a Grade 5 Spanish dual language bilingual education (DLBE) program were compared with those of the same students four years prior. Twenty-one mainstream English students comprised a comparison group for the same time period. Some statistically significant changes occurred for students in DLBE related to…

Language aware schools need to be supported by language aware teacher education. In this study we analysed teacher socialisation among class teachers in Swedish immersion in Finland by qualitative content analysis of immersion teacher group discussions. We found that immersion teacher socialisation occurred mainly after entering the profession, as…

This qualitative study examines strategies used by children in a kindergarten dual language immersion (DLI) class, when enacting and negotiating intersecting social constructions such as ethnicity, social class, and bilingualism. Drawing on data collected during the 2017-2018 academic year, this paper uses an intersectional lens to describe the…

On day one the author sets up the expectation that her kindergarten Spanish language immersion classroom will be a 100% target language environment. To accomplish this, the author implements several structures, routines, and expectations to maintain the immersion environment. Getting to know the students, modeling appropriate behavior, promoting…

Motivation to learn languages strongly correlates with language achievement, and the school context has a great influence on the motivation of young learners (YLs). A key rationale for the implementation of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) programs, therefore, was pupil motivation. Very few studies have measured motivation in this…

Countries are seeing a rise in the number of families and schoolchildren who do not speak English as a first language. This study focuses on how two White monolingual English-speaking elementary teachers positioned language as it related to their Spanish-speaking students within a graduate teacher education program in the United States. Our work…

This study examined teachers' adherence to the language of instruction in dual language education (DLE) programs among teachers in 19 kindergarten through 3rd grade Spanish-English two-way DLE immersion classrooms (n = 5, 90/10 model; n = 14, 50/50 model). Teachers were observed toward the beginning and end of the school year to determine…

Many educators in immersion contexts support a policy of strict separation of languages in the classroom as the ideal model for second language acquisition and are reluctant to make connections between the dominant language, the target language and pupils' home languages. This can result in missed opportunities for drawing on pupils' entire…