View Content #24253

By Linda Forrest, CASLS Research Director

What factors promote success for dual language immersion programs and their students at the secondary school level? Unfortunately, few two-way or dual language immersion (DLI) programs exist in U.S. secondary schools, and consequently, few studies have investigated factors leading to student retention and successful outcomes. The majority of research focuses on the comparison of students who have a cultural or heritage connection to the language of study and those that do not. Bearse & De Jong (2008) investigated secondary Spanish-English two-way immersion programs across grades 6-12, finding that the linguistic and cultural capital the program developed differed for Anglo and Latino students, with the former identifying better job opportunities as most important, while Latino students see both better job opportunities and a better connection to family. Additionally, Dworin (2011) interviewed graduates of a Spanish-English K-12 dual language immersion program about the impact of their thirteen years of study, finding that some students utilized Spanish only for specific kinds of communication, while others had linguistic and cultural affinities with native Spanish speakers that were key to their use of Spanish.

A handful of studies have begun to inform our knowledge about student retention and student perception of the relevance of immersion study. For example, researching in a Canadian context, O’Donnell et al. (2008) explored factors contributing to the commitment of Grade 9 and 10 French Immersion students. They found that students perceived French language proficiency as important to their future, but were concerned about more immediate factors, such as timetables and grades. Student commitment to the program varied by the amount of importance they ascribed to the pro and con factors. Similar issues were uncovered by Sykes et al. (2016) in an ethnographic study of the Portland Public School Mandarin DLI program. Interviews with students, parents, teachers, and administrators emphasized that the increased demands on students’ time combined with decreased parental pressure to stay in the program led to declines in student motivation and consequent withdrawal from it. Culligan (2010) reports congruent findings for an optional French immersion mathematics course. These studies echo the findings of Lewis & Shapson (1989) two decades earlier, who found that most immersion students saw the program as leading to better employment, but left due to dissatisfaction with program content or belief that they would obtain better grades in the English program. Makropoulos (2010) found that students’ decisions to remain or leave a program were informed by the everyday realities of their individual situation both inside and outside the classroom.

Most recently, studies of immersion school students beyond the elementary level have shown they are more academically successful than their peers. Steele et al. (2015) found this effect for fifth and eighth grade students in a U.S. program, while Verspoor et al. (2015) found a similar effect for students receiving a bilingual high school education in the Netherlands. Their success was also predicted by their initial language proficiency and motivational factors, indicating a need for continued work in this area to understand the complex picture at the secondary level.

Although research studies are limited, they suggest that secondary students evaluate the immersion program along with all educational options available to them and choose those which align best with their personal interests and goals.

References

Bearse, C., & De Jong, E. (2008). Cultural and Linguistic Investment: Adolescents in a Secondary Two-Way Immersion Program. Equity & Excellence in Education, 41(3), 325-340.

Culligan, K. (2012). Pente or Slope? Using Student Voices to Explore Program Choice and Experiences in Secondary French Immersion Mathematics (Enhanced). Canadian Modern Language Review, 66(Supplement 1), S421-S444.

Dworin, J. (2011). Listening to Graduates of a K-12 Bilingual Program: Language Ideologies and Literacy Practices of Former Bilingual Students. GIST Education and Learning Research Journal, (5), 104-126.

Lewis, C., & Shapson, S. (1989). Secondary French Immersion: A Study of Students Who Leave the Program. Canadian Modern Language Review, 45(3), 539-48.

Makropoulos, J. (2010). Student Engagement in an Ottawa French Immersion High School Program. Canadian Journal of Education, 33(3), 515-540.

Steele, J., Slater, R.,  Zamarro, G., Miller, T., Li, J., Burkhauser, S. & Bacon, M. (2015). Effects of Dual-Language Immersion in Portland Public Schools. http://www.sole-jole.org/16111.pdf.

Sykes, J., Forrest, L., & Carpenter, K. (2016). Building a Successful and Sustainable Language Immersion Program: The Portland, Oregon, Mandarin Dual Language Experience. Eugene, OR: Center for Applied Second Language Studies.

Verspoor, M., De Bot, K., & Xu, X. (2015). The effects of English bilingual education in the Netherlands. Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education, 3(1), 4-27.