The New Bilingual Teacher Institute follow-up survey during March 2014 allowed new bilingual teachers in Austin Independent School District to reflect on how well their August 2013 training prepared them and its usefulness, professional development, and support and resources received in their first year of teaching.

This paper discusses how teachers in a bilingual education programme see their pedagogies and interactions influencing student connection to the languages of the bilingual programme. The teacher perception of the classroom is explored because the classroom is one of the principal settings in which the students negotiate their bilingual identities.…

This article examines how teacher's perceptions of students classified as English learners (ELs) can impact the reclassification of these students as long-term English Language Learners (LTEL). Understanding teachers' perceptions will empower them to understand the needs of students struggling with English proficiency and how their perceptions…

Two-way immersion (TWI) programs in the US are not reaching their minority language learning potential. While English home language (EHL) students develop functional proficiency, their minority language (e.g., Spanish) remains grammatically inaccurate. Spanish home language (SHL) students may also develop non-native-like aspects. Scholars suggest…

This phenomenological study (Creswell, 2003, 2007; van Manen, 1997) explores student and teacher perceptions of first language use in French immersion mathematics classrooms at a large, urban high school in Canada. During individual interviews, participants discussed their perceptions and experiences of French immersion mathematics, language use,…

Experiential learning theory places experience at the center of learning. Kolb's four-stage cycle of experiential learning suggests that effective learners must engage fully in each stage of the cycle--feeling, reflection, thinking, and action. This research assesses the alignment of Kolb's experiential learning cycle with the week-long Summer…

Elementary Spanish language immersion programs have become more popular in the educational field in the United States to support the academic achievement of minority students. The final goal of immersion programs is to develop proficiency in the home language and dominant language, identified as first language (L1) and second language (L2), to…

The overseas immersion environment has long been considered a superior context for language learning, supposedly providing unlimited exposure to target language (TL) input and countless opportunities for authentic interaction with expert users. This article focuses on immersion programmes (IPs) for in-service language teachers--a relatively…

This article presents findings from an exploratory research project entitled "Gaelscoileanna and Multicultural classrooms: the potential for transfer to enhance L2 learning experiences". The project focussed on two language immersion contexts in Ireland which, despite obvious differences, share a range of significant commonalities. One…

In 2007, Arizona voters passed House Bill (HB) 2064, a law that fundamentally restructured the Structured English Immersion (SEI) program, putting into place a 4-hour English language development (ELD) block for educating English language learners (ELLs). Under this new language policy, ELL students are segregated from their English-speaking peers…

This comparative case study (based on observational, interview, and picture-sort data) examines how teachers and students talk about cultural, linguistic, racial, and socioeconomic difference in two elementary Spanish-English two-way immersion programs. In addition, I analyze how those discourses are associated with both contextual conditions and…

Narrative inquiry is a method by which "silenced voices" may be heard. In this study, eight Native Hawaiian teachers share their experiences of the Hawaiian Language Immersion Program (HLIP), or Papahana Kaiapuni, within the Hawai'i public school system. The teachers describe change over time in HLIP with a focus on technology and…

This is a story about some Native Hawaiian people written by Native Hawaiian people of the Papahana Kaiapuni, or the Hawaiian Language Immersion Program (HLIP) of the Hawai`i public schools. Together they "talk story" and become the voice for the HLIP by painting a picture of their past, present, and future experiences with technology.…

This qualitative study examined dual immersion teachers' identities as they engaged in policy implementation within their school, collaborating in professional learning communities (PLC) with one-way immersion teachers. Data derived from participant observation, interviews, and interpersonal process recall were analyzed through a theoretical lens…

Sharing the findings from two qualitative case studies, analyzed together, this article examines various ways educators, both elementary teachers and teacher educators, exercise agency in their interpretation and implementation of Arizona's model of Structured English Immersion (SEI), a 4-hour English Language Development (ELD) block, which…