Seventh International Conference on Immersion and Dual Language Education

Strand I: Pedagogy & Assessment

Japanese

Elementary (K-5)

In Australia, there has been a recent Government funding incentive for primary schools with bilingual programs to change from the previous criteria of 30:70 in favour of English to 50:50 immersion. I will report on an ongoing ethnographic study of a school that changed to 50:50 after delivering a 30:70 Japanese program for twenty years. In the study’s first year, students’ oral production was found to be an issue. Drawing on classroom observation, interview, and survey data I will relate this finding to characteristics of Japanese language and education. I will also report on the trialling of a formative assessment tool in the study’s second year, designed to improve students’ oral language proficiency. During the trial, data were drawn from classroom observations, teacher interviews, a parent survey, and lesson documentation. Students’ oral production persists as an issue in immersion education, and I will focus on the language of immersion as a significant aspect of this issue.