Bibliographies on Language Immersion Education

Majority language - The language spoken by the majority of people in a given regional or national context, for example, English in the U.S., Spanish in Spain, Japanese in Japan, etc.
Minority language - A language other than the one spoken by the majority of people in a given regional or national context, for example, Spanish in the U.S., Basque in Spain, English in Japan, etc.

Selected One-Way Language Immersion Bibliography

This bibliography focuses on immersion programs that target majority language learners, or in some cases, bilingual children who begin the program with proficiency in the majority language of the country.  The majority language is a home language.  All of the learners are moving together in one direction to add proficiency in a minority language on the road to becoming bilingual and biliterate.

Two-way Bilingual Immersion

This bibliography is specific to immersion programs that integrate minority language speakers with majority language speakers. Children in these programs come from two different home language backgrounds.  In this program children are moving in opposite directions: minority language children will add proficiency in the majority language while majority language children will add a minority language. Both groups of children are on the road to becoming bilingual and biliterate. 

See also the Two-Way Immersion Bibliography sponsored by the Center for Applied Linguistics which focuses on research literature on two-way immersion and is listed by subject.

Indigenous Immersion

This bibliography is dedicated to immersion programs that are designed for Native Peoples.  Most of the learners come to school proficient in the majority language and speak the majority language at home.  They are adding proficiency in the indigenous language and culture. However, a growing number of children entering these programs arrive proficient in the indigenous language, the language of their home.  There are both one-way and two-way indigenous immersion models.  As other immersion programs, all learners are on the road to becoming bilingual and biliterate.

Struggling Learners & Language Immersion Education

This bibliography was developed over a number of years to support this project’s focus on immersion learners who struggle with language, literacy and learning. It includes literature from three educational contexts that involve language and literacy development in a second, foreign, indigenous or heritage language: traditional foreign language, English as a Second Language, and dual language/immersion settings. It is also the reference bibliography for the handbook entitled Struggling Learners & Language Immersion Education (Fortune with Menke, 2010).