Teacher training programmes have often ignored the new multilingual paradigm and, consequently, educators may hold some misconceptions about how additional languages are learnt and should be taught in multilingual contexts. A number of recent studies have investigated language teachers' beliefs regarding multilingual education [Arocena-Egaña, E.,…

This article probes the extent to which postsecondary Spanish learners can substantively increase their knowledge of Spanish over a two-week period within a context of language and content instruction for four hours per day. The article considers the relationship of an immersion experience to upper-level literature and culture classes. Insights…

This paper investigates the differences in academic achievement trajectories from elementary through middle school among English Learner students in four different instructional programs: English Immersion, Transitional Bilingual, Developmental Bilingual, and Dual Immersion programs. Comparing students with the same parental preferences but who…

Recent years have brought increasing attention to studies of language acquisition in a country where the language is spoken, as opposed to formal language study in classrooms. Research on language learners in immersion contexts is important, as the question of whether study abroad is valuable is still somewhat controversial among researchers…

The Atse Kituwah Academy (New Kituwah Academy) houses the new Cherokee immersion school in Cherokee, North Carolina. Cherokee is located on the Qualla Boundary in the mountains of the western part of the state, the contemporary homeland of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). In 2005, a comprehensive study of the health of the Cherokee…

The purpose of the investigation was to examine the developmental trajectories of bilingual preschoolers' comprehension of Spanish and English and to determine whether a lengthy summer vacation impacted children's development during the preschool years. Participants included 83 bilingual children who were followed over a 2-year period during which…

The aim of the study was to investigate how successfully pupils had learned content in content and language integrated learning (CLIL) and to assess pupils' affective learning factors, such as motivation and self-esteem, in CLIL. Learning was presented in terms of achievement level, which was described as the relationship between measured levels…

A long-time detractor of immersion education has been the concern that a substantial proportion of teaching in and about a language other than English might potentially lead to irreparable damage to immersion students' development in English and, hence, their ability to function in an English-dominant society. The assessment in this article,…

Variables affecting the effectiveness of immersion language programs are evaluated, including sociolinguistic context, attitudes, the structure of immersion grammars, and the learning processes of the children. (MSE)

The Carpinteria Preschool Spanish Immersion Project was developed to bring Spanish speaking children to a level in school readiness skills that matched English dominant children upon entrance to kindergarten. A description of the program and its effectiveness is offered. (DF)

Examines essential components of quality two-way bilingual immersion programs. Discusses language acquisition research underlying context-embedded content-area instruction in a second language; research on the benefits of bilingualism in terms of academic, cognitive, and metalinguistic development; and the link between bilingualism and positive…

Reviews educational research on bilingual education and describes biases present in recent evaluations of bilingual programs. Contrary to assumptions about bilingual programs, recent findings suggest that native-language programs may be very effective. They support a strong foundation in the native language and set the basis for subsequent…

The fourth phase of a longitudinal study focusing on the cognitive and language development of children in a primary-grade Spanish immersion program (SIP) is reported. Subjects were the remaining 13 members of an SIP cohort beginning in 1987, 15 members of a standard program comparison classroom, 18 members of another class in the 1987 SIP cohort,…

Evaluation of a half-day French immersion kindergarten program assessed the English and French language development of participating students and found that pupils who spent half their academic time in foreign language classrooms progressed just as well in English as did matching controls who spent all day in English language classrooms.…

A response to the de Kanter/Baker draft report, "The Effectiveness of Bilingual Education: A Review of the Literature," the monograph argues that: the report contains many misinterpretations of theoretical work in psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, and educational research and of the empirical evidence on the efficacy of second language…