1. Immersion Programs in China: A Case Study
Tao Xiong
Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
Anwei Feng
University of Nottingham, Ningbo

2. Contents Background Research context Research questions
Literature review
Data and method
Findings
Discussion
Conclusion

3. 1. Background Internationalization of education
Springing up of bilingual and immersion education programs
understood and implemented quite differently across contexts

4. 2. Research context
three-year ( ) Sino-Canadian cooperation program at junior secondary level in a public foreign language school in Shenzhen (many in Guangdong)
two international classes
7 hours by Canadian teacher ,2 hrs by Chinese teacher
content subjects taught by local teachers
Canadian teachers encouraged to integrate information and art into teaching
student exchange and teacher PD programs

5. 3. Research questions
Can it be adequately explained by current models such as the core features suggested by Swain and Johnson (1997)?
What are the characteristics of the current program?
How effective is the program?

6. 4. Literature review Bilingual education (BE)
BE is “a simple label for a complex phenomenon” (Cazden & Snow, 1990)
organized and planned use of two or more languages as mediums of instruction (Cummins, 2009)
additive BE and subtractive BE (Lambert, 1974)

7. 4. Literature review Immersion education
a form of BE where an additional language is used as the medium of instruction for achieving additive bilingualism
started in St Lambert, Montreal, in 1965 where some English speaking parents send their children to a kindergarten in order for the kids to become competent in French and English without loss of academic and linguistic achievement.
cross-cultural understanding, economic and employment advantage.

8. 4. Literature review
core features of immersion (Swain & Johnson, 1997) :
The L2 is a medium of instruction
the immersion curriculum parallels the local L1 curriculum
overt support exists for the L1
the program aims for additive bilingualism
exposure to the L2 is largely confined to the classroom
students enter with similar (and limited) levels of L2 proficiency
the teachers are bilingual
the classroom culture is that of the local L1 community

9. 5. Data and method data method
qualitative: field notes, class observations, interviews, portfolios, documents, etc.
quantitative: final examination scores (put into SPSS 20 for an independent sample T-test)
method
combined analysis of qualitative and quantitative data

10. 6. Findings Feature 1: The L2 is a medium of instruction.
This feature is present to some extent. In this program, students undergo immersion in their English classrooms for nine hours per week. In addition, they have the opportunities to full immersion in English when they are going on the study-abroad trips.

11. Feature 2: The immersion curriculum parallels the local L1 curriculum.
This feature is not present. In the current case, the immersion courses are limited to the English language course, which forms part of the local curriculum rather than parallel the local curriculum.

12. Feature 3: Overt support exists for the L1.
This feature is present. The L1, which is Chinese, has a primacy in the curriculum and remains the medium of instruction for the content subjects such as math.

13. Feature 4: The program aims for additive bilingualism.
This feature is present. In the current program, the L1 has a dominant status in the curriculum and the partial immersion in the L2 is an added cultural capital.

14. Feature 5: Exposure to the L2 is largely confined to the classroom.
This feature is present. The students in this program have limited access to the L2 outside the classroom. Although the school has made attempts to create a bilingual environment across the campus, it still can be observed that the students communicate with each other in Chinese overwhelmingly.

15. Feature 6: Students enter with similar (and limited) levels of L2 proficiency.
This feature is present. The students are selected on a random basis from the same level, which means they have an average, similar and limited command of L2 proficiency when they enter the program.

16. Feature 7: The teachers are bilingual.
This feature is present to some extent. In the current program, the Canadian teachers teach in collaboration with the local teachers who are bilingual.

17. Feature 8: The classroom culture is that of the local L1 community.
This feature is present. The students in the current program all speak Chinese as their L1, and the classroom culture naturally reflects that of the local L1 community.

18. In summary, the program exhibits five features (3, 4, 5, 6, 8), partly exhibit two features (1, 7), and does not reflect one feature (2)

19. 7. Discussion test scores
statistics show that the immersion classes out-performed their counterparts in English, Chinese and math at the end of the three years of the program.
"interdependence hypothesis" (Cummins, 2009)
being bilingual makes it possible to transfer concepts, literacy skills, and learning strategies from one language to another.

20. local curriculum with content-based instruction
the curriculum is local but the Canadian teachers are encouaged to introduce contents and topics of information science, physical education (PE) and art in language courses

21. task-based language teaching
Building on the idea that meaningful language use with a communicative purpose is conducive to language acquisition

22. value and moral education
monthly themes for value education such as respect, social responsibility, courage, citizenship and cherish of life
compared with the regular classes, international classes are more lively and motivated in learning and have more confidence

23. teacher development
regular professional development workshops jointly participated by both the Canadian teachers and Chinese teachers.
a reciprocal process in which Chinese teachers are introduced to new teaching ideas and philosophies, and the Canadian teachers have a better understanding of the Chinese learning and teaching culture

24. school leadership
Compromise between the principal’s vision and contextual constraints
“kindle the fire”
expectations from stakeholders
average quality of student intake
fiscal support
resistance to change

25. 8. Conclusion
this is a case about how a public school implements immersion
generally effective and successful
students’all-around development

26. exhibits most of the core features of immersion and some emerging features
highlights the importance of recontextualizing immersion education with greater sensitivity to local characteristics.

27. Notwithstanding the initial success, something still needs to be done to better integrate language teaching and subject contents, and how to popularize the model

28. future study can be extended to more similar programs and schools
figure out how to maximize the effectiveness of this localized model of immersion education
theorize this locally emerging model

29. Thank you!
questions and comments are welcome