Sixth International Conference on Immersion and Dual Language Education: Connecting Research and Practice Across Contexts

Paper/Best Practice Session (1 hour)

Mandarin Chinese

Two-Way Bilingual Immersion

Elementary (K-5)

This session will provide findings from two studies: (1) a cross-sectional study of a K-5 Mandarin/English two-way program that assessed students’ dual language proficiency and content knowledge across the curriculum, and (2) a comparison of the Mandarin performance of immersion program elementary students and those enrolled in a high school world language program. 

This presentation includes the results of two studies of Mandarin two-way programs students. The first study provides the findings from a cross-sectional study of a K-5 Mandarin/English two-way program that assessed students’ dual language proficiency (English and Mandarin and subject matter knowledge in Mathematics and Science. The researchers followed students’ progress from kindergarten through fifth grade and analyzed assessment data on English and Mandarin proficiency levels of both the heritage and non-heritage language students enrolled in the program. The study also compared student performance on standardized tests in English language Arts/Reading, Mathematics and Science with students enrolled in the same school, but not in the two-way immersion program. 

The second study, which will be emphasized on this presentation, compared the Mandarin performance of the students of the same Mandarin two-way program in the first study with that of high school world language program students in the same school district.  A comparison of Mandarin proficiency was made between the 4^th and 5^th graders and Level 4 and Level 5 (AP Chinese) high school students who took the STAMP assessment at the end of the school year. Results indicate that immersion students slightly outperformed the comparison high school group in reading, but lagged slightly behind in writing and speaking skills, for which assessment tasks required higher levels of cognitive awareness. Findings also show that, while only a few non-heritage speakers in the high school world language program continued to level 5 (AP), most non-heritage speakers remained in the immersion program for the full duration and performed as well, or nearly as well, as the heritage speakers when exiting the program. Further studies on this topic are needed, but the findings provide a strong rationale for the role of Mandarin immersion programs in supporting students to develop high levels of proficiency in Mandarin.