LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 11 : 2 February 2011
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.

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The Relationship between Gaining Mastery on 'Content' (School Subject Matters) and 'Linguistic Competence Level in Second Language'
through Immersion Program

Shaban Barimani, Ph. D. Candidate
Islamic Azad University, Sari Branch


Abstract

One of the main concerns for the immersion students' parents has always been about their children's lag in academic courses and the school subjects. They thought their children would lag behind in matters such as math in comparison to the non-immersion students.

In this study it was attempted to find the proportionate relationship between the level of linguistic competence in second language and mastery on content (subject matters) among the Indian students. Two homogeneous groups of students from two immersion schools from Mysore, Karnataka participated in the study. They were given two different tests on proficiency and content. The obtained data were analyzed through Pearson product moment correlation by SPSS version 17 with alpha 0.05. The result (Sig. = .000) statistically confirmed that the relationship is quite significant.

Keywords: Immersion program, content, linguistic, competence

Introduction

One of the recent innovative approaches and a very interesting innovation in second language education is 'immersion program', a specific type of integrated language teaching with the instruction of the regular school curriculum. In fact, in this method the school subject matters or contents are taught through the medium of a second language. In their early childhood education, the students are provided with an opportunity to learn the elementary academic subjects along with developing competence in a second language. In immersion schools, the students experience a cooperative learning where they can acquire a second language while they master the school subject matters or contents. In this method the target language is not the subject of instruction but a vehicle for acquiring knowledge from different subject areas, content instruction, as well as the object of instruction. Language is not taught in isolation, it is integrated with teaching content-subject matters.

Statement of the Problem

Naturally at the initial stages and at the beginning of immersion program implementation, the learners may have problems in comprehending the target language as the medium of instruction. However, this problem has emerged as one of the main concerns for the immersion students' parents. They think that their children may lag behind in the academic subjects in comparison to the non immersion students. Of course, such a concern is not that irrelevant since the studies done by researchers such as Holobow et al (1987), Swain & Lapkin (1991), and Jon Reyhner (1992) justify the presence of such concerns. They tried to determine the rate of the students' achievement of the contents and subject matters taught through the medium of the target language.


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Call for Papers for a Language in India www.languageinindia.com Special Volume on
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| Call for Papers for a Special Volume on Indian Writing in English - Analysis of Select Novels of 2009-2010 | Hoping Against Hope: A Discourse on Perumal Murugan's Koolla Madari (Seasons of the Palm) | Ghanaian English: Spelling Pronunciation in Focus | The Relationship between Gaining Mastery on 'Content' (School Subject Matters) and 'Linguistic Competence Level in Second Language' through Immersion Program | Reader-centric and Text-centric Approaches to Novel - A Study of Intertextuality in Salman Rushdie's The Enchantress of Florence | Which One Speaks Better? The Field-Dependent or the Field-Independent? On the Effects of Field-Dependent/Field-Independent Cognitive Styles and Gender on Iranian EFL Learners' Speaking Performance | A Critical Look into Basic Assumptions of Teaching English as an International Language (EIL) | Digital Storytelling - A Case Study on the Teaching of Speaking to Indonesian EFL Students | The Reasons behind Writing Problems for Jordanian Secondary Students 2010-2011 | A Multidimensional Approach to Cross-Cultural Communication | A Study to Identify Problems Faced by the Heads of Secondary Schools in Kohat in North-Western Frontier Province, Pakistan | Go Beyond Education to Professionalism - Transition from Campus to Corporate | Impact of Students' Attitudes on their Achievement in English - A Study in the Yemeni Context - A Master's Degree Dissertation in TESL | Natural and Supernatural Elements in Arun Joshi's The City and the River | Pedagogical Values Obtained from a Language Class in an EFL Context - A Case Study from Indonesia | A New Tone in ELT - Positive Uses of Translation in Remedial Teaching and Learning | Training Dilemma: Analysis of Positive/Negative Feedback from the Workplace Setting in Pakistan | Learning Styles and Teaching Strategies: Creating a Balance | A Study on Evaluating the Discourse Skills of Engineering Students in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India | Syntax and Semantics Interface of Verbs | History Revisited in Oral History by Nadine Gordimer | Provision for Linguistic Diversity and Linguistic Minorities in India - A Masters Dissertation in Applied Linguistics and ELT | A Speech Act Analysis of Jane Eyre | Matriarchal and Mythical Healing in Gloria Naylor's Mama Day | Impact of Project Based Method on Performance of Students | Computer: A Device for Learning English Language - A Summary of Advantages and Disadvantages | Mobile Phone Culture and its Psychological Impacts on Students' Learning at the University Level | Review of English and Soft Skills by S. P. Dhanavel (Orient BlackSwan, Hyderabad, 2010) | A PRINT VERSION OF ALL THE PAPERS OF FEBRUARY, 2011 ISSUE IN BOOK FORMAT. This document is better viewed if you open it online and then save it in your computer. After saving it in your computer, you can easily read all the pages from the saved document. | HOME PAGE | CONTACT EDITOR languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com


Shaban Barimani, M.A., Ph.D. Candidate in EFL
Department of English and Literature
Islamic Azad University
Sari Branch
Iran
sh_barimani45@yahoo.com

 
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