Languages, cultural capital and school choice: distinction and second-language immersion programmes

2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 373-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Smala ◽  
Jesus Bergas Paz ◽  
Bob Lingard
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Language Immersion

Keeping Up with the (Zh)oneses: Language Immersion and School Choice

2021 ◽  
pp. 001312452110273
Author(s):  
Edward Watson
Keyword(s):  
School Choice ◽  
Dual Language ◽  
Language Immersion ◽  
Racial Groups ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Dual Language Immersion ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Immersion Programs ◽  
White Parents

Dual language immersion programs are growing in popularity across America. This article examines the explanations middle-class parents of various racial/ethnic backgrounds give for enrolling their children in Mandarin Immersion Programs. The author addresses the following questions: Why do American parents enroll their children in Mandarin Immersion Programs? How do parents from different racial groups frame the benefits of immersion? The analysis relies on a mixed-method approach using survey data ( N = 500) to highlight motivations of parents without an ethnic background related to the language, supplemented with 15 semi-structured interviews with Black and White parents of children enrolled in schools with Mandarin Immersion Programs. The study finds that parents frame the benefits of an educational investment differently by race. White parents take a pragmatic stance of greater future returns while Black parents hope immersion will help construct a stronger self-identity. These findings show the influence a burgeoning global society has on parental educational choices.

scholarly journals ENGLISH LANGUAGE IMMERSION BERBASIS KEARIFAN LOKAL BAGI SISWA SEKOLAH DASAR

Sarwahita ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (02) ◽  
pp. 140-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusup Supriyono ◽  
Nita Sari Narulita Dewi
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
English Language ◽  
Portfolio Assessment ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Language Immersion ◽  
School Level ◽  
Cultural Learning ◽  
Young Learners

ABSTRACT: Early English mastery for children is very urgent considering Indonesia has an important position in the world's interests, both economically, socially, culturally and politically. Therefore, the global communication capability is one of the national agenda which is affixed to the national curriculum which must be studied from elementary level to university. Local Language Wisdom Immersion approach based on Local Wisdom comes as an effort to face the challenge. The targets of this program are young learners, ranging in age from 10-12 years old, who sit at the elementary school level. Learners learn English using a mix of local and international content, enabling cross-cultural learning, and learning patterns using second language acquisition. Furthermore, the portfolio assessment is used for assessment, including test, questionnaire, observation, and documents. The advantages of English language immersion based on local wisdom, ie learners in addition to mastering basic English, they are also prepared psychologically, socially and culturally. Their future hopes will be the future of national communications capabilities of global communications capabilities.   ABSTRAK: Penguasan bahasa Inggris sejak dini menjadi sangat urgen mengingat Indonesia memiliki posisi penting dalam pencaturan kepentingan dunia, baik secara ekonomi, social, budaya maupun politik. Oleh karena itu, kemampuan komunikasi global menjadi salah satu agenda nasional yang dibubuhkan menjadi kurikulum nasional yang harus dipelajari mulai tingkat dasar sampai perguruan tinggi. Pendekatan English Language Immersion berbasis Kearifan lokal hadir sebagai upaya menghadapi tantang tersebut. Sasaran program ini adalah pebelajar muda (English young learners), dengan rentang usia 10-12 tahun, yang duduk ditingkat sekolah dasar. Peserta didik belajar bahasa Inggris dengan menggunakan perpaduan konten lokal dan internasional, sehingga memungkinkan akan adanya belajar lintas budaya, dan pola-pola belajar menggunakan teori pemerolehan bahasa kedua (Second language acquisition). Selanjutnya portfolio assessment digunakan untuk melihat kemampuan, kinerja dan prestasi yang terukur dengan menggunakan alat assessmen, diantaranya test, kuesioner, observasi, dan dokumen. Kelebihan dari English language immersion berbasis kearifan lokal, yaitu peserta didik disamping dapat menguasai bahasa Inggris dasar, mereka juga dipersiapkan secara psikologis, sosial dan budaya. Harapan kedepan mereka akan menjadi duta bangsa di masa depan yang akan menyampaikan pesan kepada dunia bahwa bangsa Indonsia adalah bangsa yang besar yang memiki keunggulan-keunggulan lokal yang dapat dinilai secara ekonomi maupun politik yang patut dibanggakan ditingkat dunia melalui kemampuan komunikasi global yang mereka kuasai.

An invited article: Bilingual education of majority-language children: The Immersion experiments in review

1983 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred Genesee
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Language Immersion ◽  
Immersion Program ◽  
Social Settings ◽  
School Programs ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Evaluative Research ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTSecond-language “Immersion” school programs that have been developed in Canada and the United States during the last two decades are described and the results of evaluative research pertaining to them are reviewed. Major Immersion program alternatives (i.e., Early, Delayed, and Late variants) along with their theoretical bases and pedagogical characteristics are described first. Research findings are then discussed with respect to the impact of participation in an Immersion program on the students' native-language development, academic achievement, second-language proficiency, and on their attitudes and second-language use. Also, the suitability of Immersion in different geographical/social settings and for students with distinctive, potentially handicapping characteristics is considered. It is concluded that second-language Immersion programs are feasible and effective forms of education for majority-language children with diverse characteristics.

scholarly journals Brain white matter structure and COMT gene are linked to second-language learning in adults

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (26) ◽  
pp. 7249-7254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping C. Mamiya ◽  
Todd L. Richards ◽  
Bradley P. Coe ◽  
Evan E. Eichler ◽  
Patricia K. Kuhl
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
White Matter ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Fractional Anisotropy ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Language Immersion ◽  
Radial Diffusivity ◽  
Immersion Program ◽  
Brain White Matter ◽  
The Relationship

Adult human brains retain the capacity to undergo tissue reorganization during second-language learning. Brain-imaging studies show a relationship between neuroanatomical properties and learning for adults exposed to a second language. However, the role of genetic factors in this relationship has not been investigated. The goal of the current study was twofold: (i) to characterize the relationship between brain white matter fiber-tract properties and second-language immersion using diffusion tensor imaging, and (ii) to determine whether polymorphisms in the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene affect the relationship. We recruited incoming Chinese students enrolled in the University of Washington and scanned their brains one time. We measured the diffusion properties of the white matter fiber tracts and correlated them with the number of days each student had been in the immersion program at the time of the brain scan. We found that higher numbers of days in the English immersion program correlated with higher fractional anisotropy and lower radial diffusivity in the right superior longitudinal fasciculus. We show that fractional anisotropy declined once the subjects finished the immersion program. The relationship between brain white matter fiber-tract properties and immersion varied in subjects with different COMT genotypes. Subjects with the Methionine (Met)/Valine (Val) and Val/Val genotypes showed higher fractional anisotropy and lower radial diffusivity during immersion, which reversed immediately after immersion ended, whereas those with the Met/Met genotype did not show these relationships. Statistical modeling revealed that subjects’ grades in the language immersion program were best predicted by fractional anisotropy and COMT genotype.

Student outcomes in one-way, two-way, and indigenous language immersion education

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Lindholm-Leary ◽  
Fred Genesee
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Student Outcomes ◽  
Language Immersion ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
Content Areas ◽  
Student Background ◽  
Immersion Education ◽  
Language Immersion Education ◽  
The Relationship

This article examines international research on student outcomes in one-way, two-way, and indigenous language immersion education. We review research on first and second language competence and academic achievement in content areas (e.g., math) among both majority and minority language students. We also discuss the relationship between bilingualism and student outcomes and whether more exposure to the first or second language is associated with better outcomes. In addition, we highlight student background, methodological, and assessment issues and concerns, and suggest additional avenues of research on student outcomes

Second language immersion impacts native language lexical production and comprehension

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mona Roxana Botezatu ◽  
Judith F. Kroll ◽  
Morgan I. Trachsel ◽  
Taomei Guo
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
Native Language ◽  
English Word ◽  
Language Immersion ◽  
Language Differences ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Semantic Errors ◽  
Cross Language

Abstract We investigated whether the features of the second language (L2) matter when we consider the consequence of short-term L2 immersion on performance in the native language (L1). We compared L1 performance in English-speaking learners of a typologically-dissimilar L2-Chinese immersed in Chinese while living in Beijing, China and learners of a typologically-similar L2 (Spanish or French) exposed to the L2 in a classroom setting only. The groups were matched on cognitive abilities. Each group performed a battery of language tasks in English that assessed the ability to produce and recognize spoken words, as well as to name written words and pseudo-words in the native language. Immersed learners produced fewer words in their native language, made more semantic errors, and benefited more from higher lexical frequency when retrieving L1 words relative to classroom learners. Immersed learners also revealed reduced competition from dense phonological neighborhoods when listening to English words presented in noise, but no difference in English word reading and phonemic decoding performance compared to classroom learners. Results are consistent with the view that L2 immersion reduces access to the native language, but suggest that the consequences of L2 immersion on the L1 may be dependent upon the form of cross-language differences.

Second Language Immersion and the Time Course of Bilingual Inhibitory Processing: Evidence From Word Durations

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melinda Fricke ◽  
Susanne Scharf ◽  
Maria Cruz Martin ◽  
Eleonora Rossi ◽  
Judith Kroll
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Language Immersion
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