Journal article
Academic achievement and language proficiency in early total Mandarin immersion education
Journal of immersion and content-based language education, v 4(2), pp 168-197
01 Jan 2016
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Two types of Mandarin immersion programs for elementary age children are growing in popularity: the early total (90/10) program model and the partial (50/50) model; however, little empirical data exists on student learning in either program type. This paper reports on a multi-year research study of K-5 students who participated in the early total Mandarin immersion program. Findings show achievement in English reading and math that is commensurate with, and at times better than grade-level non-immersion peers' achievement in the same school, district, and state. There was also evidence of a "math advantage" for the Mandarin immersion learner group both in Grades 3 and 5. Beyond academics, the majority of Grade 5 students demonstrated proficiency in Mandarin at Intermediate levels with listening and speaking skills outpacing character writing and reading. This finding suggests a need to further explore character literacy development to better understand best practice for English-proficient children in the U.S.
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Details
- Title
- Academic achievement and language proficiency in early total Mandarin immersion education
- Creators
- Tara W. Fortune - University of Minnesota SystemWei Song - University of Minnesota
- Publication Details
- Journal of immersion and content-based language education, v 4(2), pp 168-197
- Publisher
- John Benjamins Publishing
- Number of pages
- 30
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- A.J. Drexel Autism Institute
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000387127300003
- Other Identifier
- 991022123361704721
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- Linguistics