Immersion in a language of power: A case study of the English immersion pedagogy of an elementary school in China

This interpretive case study examines the English language development of English immersion students in a public Chinese elementary school, and compares the practice and results of immersion in the school to that typically found in North American research, paying special attention to culture-based pedagogy modifications. The limited research on English immersion in the Chinese context, together with its apparent success there, provided the impetus for the study.; The quantitative portion of this case study focuses specifically on the oral proficiency of grade 5 students as measured by the Student Oral Proficiency Assessment (SOPA) (Thompson, Boyson, & Rhodes, 2001). When the SOPA scores of 30 language immersion students were compared with those of 30 peers who had more typical, language-focused instruction, immersion student scores were significantly higher in all areas (oral fluency, vocabulary, grammar, listening comprehension). When the scores of the same immersion students were compared to those of age peers learning Spanish in North America, they were significantly higher than those of students taking single daily classes, while they were almost identical to those of students in a two-way immersion program.; The qualitative portion of the study explores the language pedagogy of the elementary teachers through interviews, surveys, and classroom observations. The Immersion Teaching Strategies Observation Checklist (Fortune, et al., 2000) and the Communicative Orientation to Language Teaching Observation Scheme (Allen, et al., 1990) were both used. The results were then compiled into 41 principles in action of immersion pedagogy. These principles were compared to those of research-based immersion pedagogy and found to be parallel in many regards. Chinese culture plays a significant role, sometimes enhancing the pedagogy, and sometimes hampering its effectiveness. Most remarkably, the classroom teachers appear to have chosen a collective approach (different from North America) and a low teacher-student power distance (different from China) (Hofstede, 1986), creating a unique classroom culture.; This study highlights the need for additional research in China to develop a more culturally complete model of language immersion, and for continued strengthening of current teacher training mechanisms. It also recommends ways for national policy to strongly support English language development in China.