A Case Study Of Bilingual Teaching In Elementary Schools

Bilingual Education refers to "the use of a second or foreign language in schools for the teaching of content subject". To meet the need for bilingual personnel after the country's entry to the World Trade Organization, bilingual(Chinese-English) teaching has gained its popularity in more and more schools across China. As a new avenue to improve foreign language teaching and learning, bilingual teaching has also caused arguments among educators and the public.Should schools in China adopt bilingual teaching? How will bilingual schooling effect the development of our children? Should bilingual teaching become an effective way to achieve foreign language proficiency and to implement quality-oriented education? What suitable models should we choose to conduct bilingual schooling in a Chinese context? The present study examines these questions by exploring the case of a primary school in Qingdao, which has carried on bilingual teaching experiment for 8 years.The study goes deep into the school's bilingual teaching process and outcomes through documents analysis, interviews with the headmaster and teachers, classroom observation and questionaires with the students and their parents. The conclusion of the study is as follows:· Bilingual teaching can provide the students with a holistic space of foreign language learning and practice, which enables the high quality and efficiency of foreign language acquisition.· Bilingual teaching is a useful way of curriculum integration. Appropriate approaches of bilingual teaching can help improve the students' academic and all-round development.· Systematic bilingual curriculum (including subject curriculum, activity curriculum and hidden curriculum) and task-based study approach are necessary in bilingual schooling.· Bilingual teaching can change the traditional way of classroom teaching and improve the teacher's professional development.· The current bilingual teaching in schools are only at a starting stage, which is a preparation stage to real bilingual schooling. The development of bilingual curriculum system, training of bilingual teachers and bilingual teaching assessment are crucial to ensure the success of bilingual schooling.The case study is expected to provide a practical evidence and a successful example for the implementation of bilingual teaching in schools of China. Hopefully it can also provide a practical basis for the curriculum administrators when making policy decision.