A Case Study On A Preschool English Immersion Program

As preschool period is generally viewed as the prime time for children to acquire a second or foreign language, preschool English education has been showing an increasingly strong tendency in China's large cities in the past decade. However, the SLA research in this field is still inadequate. Among the limited literature, the English immersion teaching model jointly initiated by the researchers from Shannxi Normal University and Canadian Britain Columbia University, has shown considerable vitality in the Chinese context. To further explore whether this model is practical and effective in China's preschool education, an empirical study was conducted in a bilingual preschool in Dalian.Through 12 weeks' data collection from observation, recording, interview and questionnaire survey, the researcher investigated the details of the English immersion program carried out in this kindergarten, including its general course design, teaching materials, teaching strategies as well as the children's performance. The results indicates that in this program, (1) thematic curriculum design was a wise choice for integrating English with all aspects of education; (2) the text series English Immersion for Children proved to be an excellent material for use; (3) in addition to an all-round English environment, the most effective immersion teaching strategies included encouraging children's direct perception in English, positive reinforcement of their English response, and weakening their Chinese response; (4) the children showed great interest in English and could develop their bilingual competence through English immersion. Based on these findings, the paper suggests some practical topics for further research and development in improving and spreading preschool English immersion teaching in the Chinese context.