Investigating primary English immersion teachers in China: background, instructional contexts, professional development, and perceptions

Abstract

Despite the fast growth of English immersion in China, only limited research has been conducted regarding immersion teachers' educational background, instructional contexts, professional development, and their perceptions about English immersion. This study explored the above key issues from three primary immersion schools. Results indicated that the majority of immersion teachers in the study were women under the age of 30 with five or fewer years of teaching experience, and were typically teaching 50 students in each class with an average of 5.8 hours per week. Less than half of the participants had Bachelor's degrees and above. The teachers reported using communicative, interactive, and learner-centred approaches in their teaching, but they generally lacked opportunities to engage in authentic two-way interaction for professional development. In-service and ongoing program development was perceived as a critical area of study if China's immersion programs were to improve. Educational background and teacher characteristics together predicted 31.4% of teachers' professional development. The study provided valuable implications for English immersion education in China.

Keywords:

• English immersion
• primary immersion teachers
• professional development
• teacher education

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the grant support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and express sincere thanks to Professor Haiyan Qiang, South China Normal University, and her team for their support with the data collection.

Notes

1.‘Second language immersion and students’ academic success' is a project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. This study involves multi-phased data collection including data on English language proficiency (L2), academic achievement in Chinese (L1) and mathematics, cognitive reading measures as well as classroom observation data from three schools in China. This study surveyed all the primary immersion teachers who were teaching in the three schools.