Innovations in immersion: The Key School two-way model

Abstract

Introduction In the United States, about one tenth of 1% of students attend some form of language immersion program. There are several variants of immersion in practice, including the classic early “total” immersion program model, such as that described by Lambert and Tucker (1972), and “partial” immersion programs. A common partial immersion model is one where instruction is equally divided between English and another language at all grade levels (Genesee, 1987). Another model of language immersion has emerged in some communities. These programs find a valuable resource in the growing numbers of students who speak languages other than English, many of whom are in programs designed to help them learn English. In what have come to be known as “two-way” bilingual, or “bilingual immersion,” programs, the approaches of language immersion (for English speakers) and bilingual education (for speakers of other languages) are combined to work toward bilingual proficiency and academic success for both sets of students. Two-way bilingual programs integrate language-minority and language-majority students and provide instruction in, and through, two languages. As in foreign language immersion, students who speak the society's majority language (English) are immersed in a second language. As in bilingual education, students from a non-English-language background acquire literacy and other academic skills in their native language as they learn English. For a variety of reasons related to the societal roles of English and minority languages, and other social and educational factors, these different approaches are appropriate and effective for the two groups of students (Tucker, 1990).

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