This paper summarises the key issues and challenges that have emerged from a recent major report by the authors on Maori-medium education in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The discussion is situated within a wider international analysis of bilingual/immersion programmes, including heritage language programmes for indigenous peoples. Key issues explored…

To address the challenges associated with a deficit-oriented teacher socialization into the workplace, process writing can be used to facilitate a well-monitored process of ongoing scrutiny and analysis of prospective teachers' evolving conceptualizations. The expectation is that process writing thus delineated facilitates prospective teachers'…

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of a two-way immersion elementary school program on academic achievement at the end of the elementary school and the end of the first year of junior high school. Longitudinal high stakes test data in reading, writing, and mathematics were collected on native English speakers and native Spanish…

Fostering preservice teachers' multicultural development is critically germane to teacher education programs. Preparing preservice teachers to teach in urban areas means preparing them to teach a culturally and economically diverse population of students. In this article, the authors feature the Urban Semester Program, a pre-student teaching urban…

Cherokee Nation, along with 257 grantees, representing more than 500 Indian Tribes, Alaskan Native Villages, and Native Hawaiian Organizations, receives federal block grant funds to improve child care for Indian children. This article discusses child care, service, relationship between programs, initiative, implementation, cooperation, and setting…

The issue of whether to separate English language development (ELD) into a separate instructional block or whether to integrate it with reading/language arts instruction is an unanswered question with theoretical and practical implications. We addressed this question by observing instruction across the year in 85 kindergarten classrooms that…

Although drama has been used successfully in English as a second language and has been shown to have positive effects on achievement and on self-confidence and motivation in various studies, it has received little attention in French immersion context where subjects are taught in French, the second language of students. The objective of this study…

The purpose of this manual, which accompanies a video program, is to provide general background information for foreign language teachers who are, or soon will be, teaching in total, partial, or two-way immersion classrooms. Part of a series of video programs, this manual highlights techniques, strategies, and special considerations that immersion…

This bibliography lists publications concerned with bilingual education and immersion programs and how they are used in and outside of Canada. In the beginning, an overview is provided of publications from related disciplines that have brought crucial recognition to the fields of bilingual and immersion education. These include: second and foreign…

Immersion is defined as a method of foreign language instruction in which the regular school curriculum is taught through the medium of the language. The foreign language is the vehicle for content instruction; it is not the subject of instruction. Different questions pertaining to the following subjects are answered: (1) long-range goals of a…

Research indicates immersion learners tend to process the second language predominantly for meaning, rather than both meaning and form. Immersion learners appear to be fluent in the second language, but closer scrutiny reveals serious gaps in grammatical accuracy. A study investigated the effect of focus-on-form instruction on the acquisition of…

The question of what influences the acquisition of literacy skills in a second language is addressed. A selected review of the literature shows that prior literacy in the native language greatly increases the ability of elementary school aged children to become literate in a second language. The implications for limited English proficient (LEP)…

The study summarized (in both English and French) in this report, is an evaluation of the listening comprehension and speech skills of ninth grade students in Manitoba's (Canada) French immersion programs. It is intended for parents and teachers in Manitoba involved in the French immersion program. The report consists of an overview of the study,…

The study summarized (in both English and French) in this report, is an evaluation of the listening comprehension and speech skills of sixth grade students in Manitoba's (Canada) French immersion programs. It is intended for parents and teachers in the province involved in the French immersion program. The report consists of an overview of the…

The administration of French immersion program in an elementary school in Alberta, Canada, by anglophone principal with little or no knowledge of French is examined in this study. Interviews with eight anglophone elementary school principals found that a lack of knowledge of French was not perceived as a barrier to effective implementation of…