Chinese immersion programs have been increasingly popular in US schools. However, we have insufficient data on young English-speaking children's acquisition of Chinese as a second language in these programs, and specifically on social contextual variables systematically promoting or hindering Chinese language use. Taking a variationist…

Ka Papahana Kaiapuni, the Hawaiian Language Immersion Program (HLIP), also called Kula Kaiapuni on Maui is unique in that all schools are situated on public school campuses of the Hawai?i Department of Education (HiDOE). Seven schools span the island from the rural town of Hana, through Hamakuapoko, or Upcountry community, and then to Lahaina, the…

Across the United States, Dual Language Immersion (DLI) programs have risen in popularity in recent years with the promise of producing biliterate and bicultural students. Many families of both the dominant and minority culture have gravitated towards these choice programs to enrich the school experience for their children. With the success of DLI…

Dual language immersion (DLI) programs were developed in the U.S. with the expressed goal of supporting intercultural connections, bilingualism, biliteracy, and respect for diversity. However, these programs are still influenced by broader social ideas and power dynamics. From this perspective, this year-long ethnographic case study uses a…

Although there has been much research on second language learning, minimal literature reports how language learners learn multiple foreign languages through immersion. Further, a majority of these previous studies have been conducted using exclusively quantitative methods. In response to these empirical and methodological gaps, the current study…

This article details findings from an exploratory case study that examined the efficacy of a phonological awareness and vocabulary programme with children educated in a bilingual immersion context of English and te reo Maori (Maori language) in Aotearoa New Zealand. The current paper discusses changes in the development of early literacy skills in…

The growth of Utah's dual language immersion (DLI) program has led to situations where student and mentor teachers teach in settings far different from their home countries' schools, while supervisors observe lessons in unfamiliar languages. This study examined critical incidents in a cross-cultural student teaching experience consisting of a…

This critical assessment examines the tension that has recently evolved between translanguaging advocates and advocates of two-way immersion programs. Translanguaging advocates have called for a reframing of language allocation practices and the incorporation of translanguaging pedagogy into these programs. At issue is that two-way immersion…

In the face of colonial efforts to extinguish Indigenous language and culture, Kanien'keha:ka (Mohawk people) have been working to revitalize Kanien'keha (the Mohawk language) since the 1970s. However, Kanien'keha continues to experience greater speaker loss than gain. Through a comprehensive vitality assessment, this dissertation examines the…

As interest in Dual Language Immersion programs continues to grow in North Carolina, the hiring of international teachers has increased tremendously. These international teachers often have not had the experience or training to address the needs of the students they are serving. In addition, pedagogical challenges such as working with diverse…

This dissertation seeks to illuminate additive significance of the entanglements within a Dual Language Immersion Spanish Science classroom where arts-based pedagogies are employed. Using a theoretical framework that combines Jane Bennett's Vibrant Materialism (2010) and notion of Enchantment (2002) and Gloria Anzaldua's concept of Nepantla…

Purpose and Method of Study: The purpose of this study was to review a Cherokee language immersion school's effort to revitalize the Cherokee language and contribute to the knowledge base of native language immersion school leaders regarding the revival of Native American languages. The research design for this study was a qualitative evaluative…

Extensive research has demonstrated the importance of struggling reader identification in monolingual children Compton et al. ("Journal of Educational Psychology," 102, 327-340, 2010). However, very few studies have explored identification of struggling readers in bilinguals. The aim of this study was to investigate (1) the overlap of…

The first goal of this study was to examine how individual differences in initial L2 proficiency help explain L2 grammar development in oral production during short-term immersion abroad. The second goal of the study was methodological, and evaluated challenges that can result from operationalizing learners' initial L2 proficiency as pretest…

In the United States, there is a nationwide shortage of bilingual teachers, but limited research on factors that contribute to their burnout and attrition. This exploratory multiple case study aimed to identify stressors unique to Spanish-English bilingual teachers and how they cope with these stressors. Interviews with two dual language immersion…