Abstract

Immersion education serves as a highly successful pathway to multilingualism. This volume focuses on the evolution of perspectives and practices within language immersion education and showcases an international roster of scholars who offer theoretical perspectives, research reviews and empirical studies on teaching, learning and language development in immersion programs. This collection of studies and discussions represents three branches of immersion education, foreign language (“one-way”), bilingual (“two-way”) and indigenous immersion programs. Each branch has its unique situational dynamics to address, and such dynamics must be carefully considered particularly in the interpretation of research findings. Nevertheless, the volume’s co-editors argue that much can be learned from research and practices carried out in closely related immersion settings that experience similar challenges related to the delicate balance between language and content. This volume presents an opportunity for thoughtful cross-context dialogue and knowledge exchange.

This book is appropriate for a wide array of readers. Several chapters outline the history, core features, terminology, and issues related to the various dual language education models, and these will serve as a good introduction for newcomers to immersion education. However, the book also contains enough new research to interest readers who are already well-versed in the topic. The contributions are likewise relevant to both researchers and practitioners, as their focus ranges from classroom discourse analysis to pedagogical strategies and teaching tips. Moreover, the writing is uniformly clear and accessible. Susan Ballinger, McGill University, The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes,

ms in the one volume, and this book provides just that. The book has also been extremely well edited, and forms a coherent, cross referenced whole, rather than a series of unlinked chapters.

Pathways to Multilingualism invokes powerful images - of diverse language communities with distinct sociolinguistic backgrounds, varied routes that teachers and program models can take, different approaches to research - all with the common goal of expanding understanding of immersion education. Essential reading for all interested in classroom and research-based perspectives on immersion education.

Tara Williams Fortune is an Immersion Teaching Specialist and Coordinator of the Immersion Projects at the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition at the University of Minnesota. She is founding editor of The American Council on Immersion Education (ACIE) Newsletter, a publication written for and by immersion practitioners that is currently in its 14th year of dissemination. Her professional and research interests focus on struggling immersion learners, K-8 oral proficiency development of immersion students, and language and literacy development in early total Chinese immersion programs.

Diane Tedick is Associate Professor of Second Languages and Cultures Education at the University of Minnesota. For over 20 years she has worked in the preparation of preservice teachers and ongoing professional development of inservice teachers representing a variety of language teaching contexts: immersion and bilingual programs, world languages, and ESL. Her professional and research interests focus on the pedagogy required for successful integration of language and content instruction, student oral language proficiency development in immersion programs, and language teacher development.