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UCSD, Education studies department Summer 2014

EDS 206, Summer 2014
Are students able to retain their second
language at the end of each grade level?
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Introduction
Why is bilingual education so
important? Are there any benefits to
even knowing more than one language?
Presently, being bilingual is becoming
more popular as certain jobs require
people to speak more than one
language. Because of this, the
popularity of bilingual education in
elementary schools has been increasing
(Maxwell, 2012). More bilingual
programs and immersion schools are
opening up and are in constant lookout
for teachers who are bilingual. Other
studies show how learning a second
language in school does not impair
academic achievement but in some
cases actually helps students grow both
academically and socially (Cobb et al.,
2006; Lopez, 2012; Quintanar-
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Sarellana, 2004). Furthermore, having
a second language also allows for more
opportunities for one to express
themselves. In the classroom, both the
primary and secondary language can be
used as academic resources to enhance
student learning in the classroom.
There are many benefits associated with
bilingualism and bilingual education. If
something can help to positively impact
the education of students then why not
use it?
Existing Research
Is it difficult for students to learn a
second language while learning other
content areas at the same time?
Research has shown that age effects
second language acquisition (Snow &
Hoefnagel-Hohle, 1978). Further
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studies show that the younger a person
is the easier it would be for them to
learn a second language (Flege et
al.,1999 ;Hakuta et al, 2003 ;Johnson
& Newport, 1989). The earlier one
begins to learn a language the higher
the chance for them to acquire it.
Present research supports the idea of
bilingual programs in Elementary
schools. Since students will be exposed
to a second language at a younger age,
Figure 1. Interview with Mandarin kindergarten teacher
Students mainly focus on oral language proficiency and vocabulary building.
They also focus on hi-frequency words that appear in Mandarin. Students also get
exposed to character writing for the first time. Translation of a particular
Mandarin character is never provided in English. Students learn the content
matter and Mandarin simultaneously.
Mandarin Immersion
Program
An inquiry brief for
immersion programs.
Stephen Ledesma University of California San Diego

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UCSD, Education studies department summer 2014
Figure 2. Interview with second grade
Mandarin teacher
Students are introduced to multiple
meanings words that are more difficult for
students to understand during the
beginning of the school year. They also
start to use context clues to figure out
unknown Mandarin characters. Because of
the 50/50 model, English is utilized in the
Mandarin classroom to scaffold second
language acquisition.
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Method
An original study was conducted in an
elementary school with an immersion
program in San Diego in order to
assess the retention of the Mandarin
language of the students. The primary
mode of data collection for the
purposes of the study was conducting
interviews. Four interviews were
given to educators at the school site. A
self-created survey was orally
administered to four Mandarin
teachers- kindergarten, second, third,
and fourth grade (see Appendix A).
The teachers mainly answered the
questions on the survey as well as
described their own unique classroom
experiences about teaching Mandarin.
The results of the survey were used to
learn more about the kind of
immersion program the school had,
determine overall language
achievement in terms of retention of
the students, and recommendations
for improving their program.
Findings
Kindergarten (0-60 characters)
By the end of the school year, students
should have learned 60 Mandarin
characters. Instruction is primarily in
Mandarin (90%) while English is used
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for scaffolding purposes. In the involved
case study, students in Kindergarten
primarily focused on character
recognition and vocabulary building.
Speech in Mandarin is often times
prompted. However, with modeling,
students are able to follow oral directions
in Mandarin. Most students are able to
reach the target of 60 characters by the
end of the school year.
Second Grade (200-250 characters)
In second grade, students are expected to
have learned 250 characters by the end of
the school year. The class spends 50% of
the day receiving instruction in English
while the other half is in Mandarin.
Students rotate classrooms and teachers
when they switch languages for
instruction. A variety of scaffolds are
used, such as audio and visuals, to help
students comprehend Mandarin.
Furthermore, students are learning more
multiple meanings words compared to
previous grade levels, which are more
difficult for students to understand as
expressed by the second grade teacher.
Students also combine Mandarin and
English at times when they speak in the
classroom; however, most of them are
able to speak in Mandarin for most of the
class time. Out of 51 students about 30
are able to retain their Mandarin or fall
between 200-250 characters. As
explained by the second grade teacher,
Case study
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it is easier for them to acquire and learn it.
Hakuta, Bialystok and Wiley (2003) showed
how second language acquisition is effected
by age and level of education in their study
done with 2.3 million immigrants with
Spanish or Chinese language backgrounds
who were administered a survey asking
about language proficiency. Their
particular study portrayed a linear graph.
The younger the person immigrated and
the more school they had the more
proficient they were in their second
language. Based off of prior research, the
earlier and longer students are exposed to a
second language the easier it is to learn and
the more proficient they will become in
their second language.

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UCSD, Education studies department Summer 2014
Figure 3. Interview with third grade
Mandarin teacher
Students are becoming more independent in
terms of their Mandarin. They are able to
follow directions only written in Mandarin if
it is in characters that the class has learned.
At this point, students comprehension of
spoken Mandarin is higher than what they
are able to produce. Students are starting to
practice reading books that are solely in
Mandarin or have little English translation.
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21 students know less than 200
characters and have trouble retaining
the language.
Third Grade (300-350 characters)
The third grade class also practices a
50/50 model in which students
receive instruction in Mandarin half
of the time and the other half in
English. Students switch teachers as
they switch languages for
instruction. Similar to second grade,
students in third grade also have two
teachers (one who teachers in
English while the other Mandarin)
and two separate classrooms. By the
end of third grade, students would
have learned 350 characters total. At
this time, the teacher has explained
how a majority of students are able
to read books in Mandarin according
to their Mandarin reading level.
Given scaffolds and references,
students are also able to write a
paragraph or essay using only
Chinese characters (Figure 3). From
the interview with the third grade
Mandarin teacher, the overall oral
comprehension of students is high.
The teacher has stated that about
70% of the class knows between
300-350 characters. The remaining
30% know below 300 characters.
Some have only retained 70
characters by the end of third grade.
Fourth Grade(400-450 characters)
The fourth grade class at the site in
which the study was conducted has
27 students. They are also the first
immersion class since the program
started at the school. Students are
expected to have learned 450
Mandarin characters by the end of
the school year. As with second and
third grade, students also spend half
of the time receiving instruction in
English while the
other half is in
Mandarin. However,
students do not
switch teachers when
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they switch languages for
instruction. The class remains in the
same classroom for the entire school
day. The fourth grade teacher
explained how every student is able
to comprehend Mandarin when
spoken in the classroom, using
gestures to help boost
comprehension when needed. The
teacher further indicated how
students still require some help
when writing a paragraph or essay in
Mandarin. Though the students
reading and writing abilities in
Mandarin have greatly improved
since Kindergarten, the interviewed
teacher expressed how the main
focus for the class was to help
develop the students speech as well
as motivation to speak. In order to
do this technology is utilized more,
such as the use of voice recordings,
to help aid in developing the
students oral skills in Mandarin. The
teacher has indicated that the class is
very high and that most of them have
retained the 400-450 characters goal
for the fourth grade.
Overall Findings
In the school in which the study was
conducted, students primarily focus
on the basics of the Mandarin
language from kindergarten to part
of second grade. Then students
transition to using Mandarin to
master content areas. The required
amount of characters students need
to learn increases by 50 every grade
level. Though every student is given
the same target amount of characters
to master, retention is affected by a
variety of factors that contributes to
the wide range of language
achievement in students.
With every grade level there was
always a mixture of performances.
Students that were between the
target (# of characters beginning- #
of characters end) were considered
to have retained a significant amount
of Mandarin characters. While those
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who showed to know lower than the range
were considered to be struggling Mandarin
learners who have trouble retaining the
language.
Scaffolds such as using visuals, technology,
gestures, modeling, etc. were crucial for
teachers to utilize in order for their students to
learn and retain Mandarin. Based off of the
interviews from the teachers, students
comprehension of the language seemed to have
excelled their production of the language. The
listening skills of students were better than their
oral and written production of Mandarin in all
grade levels. Using this knowledge, language
educators and schools with an immersion
program can help to bolster the effectiveness of
their language curriculum.



UCSD, Education studies department summer 2014
Recommendations for Educators
At the end of each interview the teachers were asked what they thought
that the program needed in order to be more effective in terms of the
students being able to fall between the target ranges. They were asked
this in confidence and were not limited to give a certain amount of
responses. Below is what they believed would help the Mandarin
immersion program be more effective so that each student can have
equal access to a strong, rigorous curriculum.
For language teachers
A universal, consistent Mandarin curriculum catered for each
grade level that grants equal access to the content for students
o Formal assessments for Mandarin
Professional development to further improve language teachers
More collaboration is needed across the grade level
o Unity among language teachers

For immersion programs in general
Strong support from the principle and administrators for
bilingual education
o A view that both the dominant and second language
are equally important
More leadership to help guide language teachers and give them
support when needed
Different criteria for hiring language teachers versus non-
language teachers
o Need strong, qualified language teachers with high
expectations
References
Figure 4. Interview with fourth grade Mandarin
teacher
Students are able to comprehend spoken Mandarin as
well as read books that are only in the second
language by the end of the school year. Compared to
previous grades, the students are more independent
and are able to accomplish various content area tasks
in Mandarin with little to no assistance from the
teacher. Students also spend time speaking to each
other in Mandarin. The teacher utilizes various
technological resources such as voice recordings and
online dictionaries to help students become more
independents. They also spend time to review
various characters that they have learned in previous
grades.
1
Cobb, B., Vega, D., & Kronauge, C. (2006). Effects of an elementary
dual language immersion school program on junior high achievement.
Middle Grades Research Journal, 1(1), 27-47. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/61928144?accountid=14524
Flege, J. E., Yeni-Komshian, G., & Liu, S. (1999). Age constraints on
second-language acquisition. Journal of Memory and Language,
41(1), 78-104. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/619414254?accountid=14524
Hakuta, K., Bialystok, E., & Wiley, E. (2003). Critical evidence: A test
of the critical-period hypothesis for second-language acquisition.
Psychological Science, 14(1), 31-38.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.01415
Johnson, J. S., & Newport, E. L. (1989). Critical period effects in
second language learning: The influence of maturational state on the
acquisition of english as a second language. Cognitive Psychology,
21(1), 60-99. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/617568672?accountid=14524
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Lpez, M. M. (2012). Children's language ideologies in a first-grade
dual-language class. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 12(2), 176-201.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1468798411417077
Maxwell, L. A. (2012). "Dual" classes see growth in popularity.
Education Week, 31(26), 1. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1037907165?accountid=14524
Quintanar-Sarellana, R. (2004). ?Si se puede! academic excellence
and bilingual competency in a K-8 two-way dual immersion program.
Journal of Latinos and Education, 3(2), 87-102. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/62120589?accountid=14524
Snow, C. E., & Hoefnagel-Hhle, M. (1978). The critical period for
language acquisition: Evidence from second language learning. Child
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Appendix A
Mandarin Proficiency Survey
Directions: Please provide an estimate of the amount of students next to each answer choices using
percentages.
1. The students are able to comprehend what I say in Mandarin (oral teaching, directions,
verbal reminders, etc.) with little assistance.
a. All the time
b. Most of the time
c. Some of the time
d. Not at all

2. The students are able to read what I write when I use Chinese characters.
a. All the time
b. Most of the time
c. Some of the time
d. Not at all

3. The students are able to read and comprehend books that are in Mandarin with little to
no English translation.
a. All the time
b. Most of the time
c. Some of the time
d. Not at all

4. The students are able to speak to me in Mandarin without using English.
a. All the time
b. Most of the time
c. Some of the time
d. Not at all

5. The students are able to write a paragraph or essay using only Chinese characters.
a. All the time
b. Most of the time
c. Some of the time
d. Not at all

6. The students are able to follow directions that are written using only Chinese characters.
a. All the time
b. Most of the time
c. Some of the time
d. Not at all