Modeled after the pioneering French immersion programs developed in Canada in the 1960s, foreign language immersion programs in the United States are designed to enrich the education of native-English-speaking students by teaching them all of their academic subjects in a second language. The goal is for students to become proficient in the second…

Interest in and support for language study has been strengthened in the United States in recent years by the growing recognition that proficiency in more than one language benefits both individual learners and society. For the individual language learner, research has found a positive link between second language proficiency and cognitive and…

Approximately 83,000 students are taking Chinese language instruction in 634 Chinese heritage community language schools in the United States. These schools date to 1848 and serve immigrant groups wishing to preserve their heritage and promote children's ethnic identity. Both for-profit and non-profit Chinese language schools exist, the former…