Books and Articles about Early Language and Immersion Education

Books and Reports

China Learning Iniatives' monthly newsletter Chinese Language Matters

Asia Society. (2005). Expanding Chinese Language Capacity in the United States: What would it take to have 5% of high school students learning Chinese by 2015? V. Stewart and S. C. Wang. Meeting Report, April 12, 2005. New York: Asia Society.

Asia Society. (2006). An Introductory Guide: Creating a Chinese Language Program in Your School. New York: Asia Society.

Asia Society. (2012). Chinese language learning in the early grades: A handbook of resources and best practices for Mandarin immersion. New York: Author. [a must-read for all educators involved in Chinese language education]

Asia Society & China Institute. (2009). New York Task Force Report on Chinese Language and Culture Initiatives. Developing Global Competence for a Changing World: Learning Chinese in New York Schools. New York.

Asia Society & the College Board. (2008). Chinese in 2008: An Expanding Field.

Collier, V.P., & Thomas, W.P. (2014). Creating dual language schools for a transformed world: Administrators speak. Albuquerque, NM: Dual Language Education of New Mexico – Fuente Press. [describes planning for and implementing dual language programs from the perspective of administrators]

Curtain, H., & Dahlberg, C. A. (2015). Languages and learners: Making the match: World language instruction in K-8 classrooms and beyond (5th edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. [an extremely accessible and helpful book for all language educators, particularly those working with young children]

Dai, J. E. (2016). Innovative pedagogy and ecological perspectives. Taipei: Sharing Publisher. [infuses Eastern philosophy and Western theories and emphasizes pedagogy as a way of knowing and doing]

Fortune, T. W. (2011). Struggling learners and the language immersion classroom. In D. J. Tedick, D. Christian, & T. W. Fortune (Eds.), Immersion education: Practices, policies, possibilities. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters. [gives guidance for working with students who find language learning a challenge]

Fortune, T. W. (2012). What the research says about immersion. In Asia Society (Ed.), Chinese language learning in the early grades: A handbook of resources and best practices for Mandarin immersion (pp. 9-13). New York: Author. [an easily accessible and comprehensive review of the research on immersion education]

Howard, E. R., Sugarman, J., Christian, D., Lindholm-Leary, K. J., & Rogers, D. (2007). Guiding principles for dual language education (2nd edition). Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics. [outlines critical features of strong programs, with explanations and an evaluation rubric]

Ingold, C. W., & Wang, S. C. (2010). The teachers we need: Transforming world language education in the United States. College Park, MD: National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland. [draws on the expertise of educators across the country to outline how to build a strong language system by developing a strong pool of teachers]

Mansilla, V. B., & Jackson, A. (2011). Educating for global competence: Preparing our youth to engage the world. Washington, DC: Asia Society and Council of Chief State School Officers. [describes the need for language proficiency in global competence and ways that programs can promote language proficiency of students]

Peyton, J. K., Carreira, M., Wang, S. C., Wiley, T. (2008). Heritage language education in the United States: A need to reconceptualize and restructure. In K. A. King, N. Schilling-Estes, L. Fogle, J. J. Lou, & B. Soukup (Eds.), Sustaining linguistic diversity: Endangered and minority languages and language varieties (pp. 173-186). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

Sousa, D. A., & Tomlinson, C.A. (2011). Differentiation and the brain: How neuroscience supports the learner-friendly classroom. Bloomington, CT: Solution Tree. [examines the basic principles of differentiation in light of current research; includes reproducible pages]

Tedick, D. J., Christian, D., & Fortune, T. W. (Eds.) (2011). Immersion education: Practices, policies, and possibilities. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.  [includes an evaluation of a Mandarin immersion program by Katherine Lindholm-Leary]

Thomas, W.P., & Collier, V.P. (2012). Dual language education for a transformed world. Albuquerque, NM: Dual Language Education of New Mexico – Fuente Press. [includes discussion of students in special education, students in poverty, and dual language speakers]

Tomlinson, C.A., & McTighe, J. (2006). Integrating differentiated instruction + understanding by design: Connecting content and kids. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. [examines differentiated instruction vis-a-vis all stakeholders, offers a rationale for combining it with Understanding by Design, and considers parameters necessary for successful implementation—assessment, grading, evidence of successful learning, and other elements of curriculum and instruction]

Wang, S. C. (2007). Building societal capital: Chinese in the United States. In J. Lo Bianco (Ed.). Special issue of Language Policy, The Emergency of Chinese, 6(1), 27-52.

Wang, S. C. (2008). The Ecology of the Chinese language in the United States. In Hornberger, N. H. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of language and education (2nd ed.) (169-181). Germany: Springer.

Wang, S. C. (2009). Preparing and supporting teachers of less commonly taught languages. The Modern Language Journal, 93(2), 282-287.

Journal Articles

Christian, D. (2011). Immersion education in the United States: Expansion and extension. In Canadian Issues-Thèmes Canadiens (Special issue on Wallace Lambert: The quiet evolution of language and cultural relations), pp. 35-38. [an informative history of the development of immersion education in the United States and its extension into new areas, including indigenous language immersion and two-way immersion]

Journal of Immersion and Content-based Language Education. S. Bjorkland & D. Tedick (Editors). John Benjamins. [publishes research on language immersion and other types of content-based language education programs and seeks to focus on factors that build excellent programs] 

Rhodes, N. (2014). Elementary school foreign language teaching: Lessons learned over three decades (1980-2010). Foreign Language Annals, 47 (1), 115-133. [describes lessons that 10 expert language educators have learned during their time developing and implementing language programs]

Silva, D. (2013). Mandarin/English two-way immersion program: Language proficiency and academic achievement. Foreign Language Annals, 46(4), 661-679. [outlines research conducted on a Chinese dual language immersion program]

Other Resources

Fasciano, H. (2013). The North Carolina dual language story: Ongoing research findings. Presentation at CELIN Advisory Committee Meeting, Asia Society, New York City, January, 2013. Slides [describes outcomes of dual language programs in one state]

Video: Learning Chinese in American Schools: In this 4-minute video, educators and policy makers describe the importance of Chinese language learning for global engagement.

Instructional Videos for Chinese Language Teachers: TEQ Series: Part of Asia Society's professional development series for educators, these instructional videos for Chinese language teachers aim to share best practices in the filed of Chinese language teaching.