A study of the writing processes of ten fifth-grade French immersion students examined 22 features of their writing in both English and French. Differences across languages occurred in eight features, and students displayed a wide range of writing process behaviors in both languages. (Author/MSE)

Examines two types of Canadian bilingual education programs in order to identify the strengths of French immersion that would be applicable to Indian and Metis native language programs. Compares staffing problems, student characteristics, curriculum, and linguistic and cultural goals. (SV)

Describes the use of illuminative techniques in the formative evaluation of a sheltered immersion project in Geneva, Switzerland. Interviews and questionnaires with students and teachers were used in subsequent teacher workshops. This process resulted in positive feedback from the principal and the teachers involved in this project. (Contains six…

Describes an English immersion "Bridge Program" for Hong Kong children that aims to provide a bridge between primary schooling in Chinese and secondary schooling in English. Also discussed are the role of communicative language teaching in content subject teaching, theoretical assumptions of Canadian immersion programs and the Bridge…

Examined the ability of Grade 8 intermediate and advanced learners of French to collaboratively complete a text reconstruction task, focusing on the students' discussion of the form of the message they were constructing. Results indicated that students gained awareness of gaps in their existing knowledge and links between the form, function, and…

Based on a literacy interdependence theory, uses findings from the Ramirez et al. study on programs for Spanish-speaking, limited-English-proficient students to refute theories opposing bilingual education. Expresses concern that all three program types in the Ramirez study reflect transmission models of pedagogy in which students have little…

Reviews the reported findings and implications of the Ramirez et al. study. Examines the validity of the operational definitions of the program types and the degree of implementation of the models. Discusses the seven major findings of the study, and some possibly misleading conclusions. (KS)

This case study examined the effects of a Maori language and culture immersion preschool program on a preschooler's English and Maori language usage at home. School and home observations revealed the importance of the child's role in acquiring bilingual expertise, the presence of complementary activities at home, and shared cultural commitments.…

Results of the Modern Language Association's 1987-89 survey of characteristics of college and university curricula are presented. Survey questions dealt with characteristics of introductory language courses, the availability and range of immersion experiences, and the types of courses offered. (four references) (VWL)

Focuses on African-American students' math and reading achievement in a Spanish-English two-way immersion program, from grade 1 to grade 4. Shows African-American students perform significantly lower than do majority White students on achievement tests at all grades. There is no significant difference between the two ethnic groups in Spanish…

Describes a teacher research project, designed to motivate 8th-grade Spanish students, that involved creating a unit based on a Zapotec story. Only Spanish was spoken in the classroom. The researcher investigated students' reactions to having Spanish-only lessons focusing on the story. Interviews indicated that students found the class more…

A participatory research project examined the transformative process that a first-grade two-way Spanish immersion classroom underwent to build a community of learners. Drawing on a critical pedagogy framework, the teacher provided daily opportunities to engage young students in dialogue to develop their voices and created a literacy-rich…

Finds that the reading performance of English-as-a-second-language students and English language learners immersed in regular education classes in a large urban school district was far below grade-level performance, across all categories of measurement; but that the performance of English language learners who had successfully exited from…

Focuses on research addressing how to integrate content and language teaching, with specific reference to studies conducted in French immersion classrooms. Findings indicate that teachers should structure activities to incorporate a focus on form into content teaching through teacher-led instruction and collaborative tasks with peers. (21…

Discusses why, where, and when two-way immersion programs were created; how they are being implemented (student population, program features, teachers, and instructional features); and what effects they are having, noting some of the issues that are emerging as this model gains popularity (e.g., minority languages other than Spanish, preserving…