Describes immersion program in foreign languages at Boston College which allows students to select a standard curriculum from courses in many departments but to have curriculum taught in a foreign language. Provides brief description of program and its history, explains how it works, and gives assessment of the past year and a prediction about the…

Presents an evaluation of the partial French immersion program offered in the English schools of the Ottawa Roman Catholic Separate School Board from grades one to four. Variables under study include pupil skills in English and French, teacher ratings of classroom behavior, and parental views. (Author/MES)

Examined beliefs and perceptions of practicing professionals and those in leadership positions regarding developing and maintaining dual immersion programs to produce long-lasting language policy reform, language transformation, and a restructured school culture. Based on combined findings of the surveys and interviews, the factors that are most…

Hypothesized that orientations toward language learning (L2) as well as social support would influence students willingness to communicate (WTC) in a second language. Grade 9 L2 students of French immersion participated in the study. Results showed endorsement of all five orientations (travel, job related, friendship with Francophones, personal…

Reviews literature from 1968-86 on enrichment strategies for gifted children in the primary grades. A variety of questions concerning primary school gifted children in French immersion classes are discussed and implications for teachers are summarized. (35 references) (Author/MSE)

Drawing on recent research in first language study and curriculum development, a framework is presented for considering the significance of print in providing informal contact with the target second language. A theoretical rationale for exploring culture and language within a whole-language, literature-based context is provided. (25 references)…

Lack of knowledge of learning psychology is the underlying reason for failure in second language learning. The highest cognitive step is not given the required attention. The unanswered question is whether an institutional setting allows for this, or whether an immersion program should be a mandatory complement to any program. (MSE)

Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Public Schools' two new coeducational African-American immersion schools are not segregationist. Key programmatic changes are based on an African social education concept and include staffing based on teaching experience (not race or gender), teacher class assignments lasting two or more years, teacher home visits, staff…

Examines the German version of an experiment to enhance the learning of a foreign language; specifically, the strategy requires not using any English at all in the classroom, but to use the target language in all matters concerning every lesson. (GLR)

Analyzes the nature of the oral language interactions of French immersion students involved in a group drama about the early settlers. Finds that four language functions (informative, directive, expressive, and imaginative) were characteristic of children's interactions during group drama. Finds relationships between type of session and the…

About 360 students in 5 schools write, read, or speak only the Hawaiian language while they are at school. English is not introduced into the curriculum until the fifth grade. Although the four-year program has its critics, by most accounts it has been successful. (MLF)

A California teacher in a successful Structured English Program criticizes Keith Baker's November 1998 article's inaccuracies. Baker fails to recognize that gains of immersion and early-exit students in David Ramirez's study are not sustained over time. Also, he erroneously compares study results of defined and ill-defined programs. (MLH)

Describes a newly implemented dual language immersion program that exists and operates in Phoenix, Arizona. Examines the practices of dual language teachers at an elementary school and reviews the challenges teachers in six classrooms met. (SLD)

Discusses a research project that aims to study the grammatical development of two groups of language immersion students, one that is participating in an Internet project involving collaboration with learners in France and Canada, and another that is exposed to the teaching of grammar that has been integrated with content area studies. (Author/VWL)

Dual-language education, or dual immersion, is an educational model that is used in public school districts in the United States to provide education to English-speaking and non-English-speaking children with the goal of having each group of students learn a second language. Over the past 30 years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number…