Reflecting on the English Immersion in the Mainland of China论文

Abstract. Launched in the late 1990s in Xi’an， the first and the most influential English immersion programs CCUEI were carried out in some big cities in the mainland of China. Fifteen years of implementation witnessed the success as well as the challenges， which need reflect and draw the implications for pedagogy and teacher education.
　　Key words： English immersion； CCUEI； activity
　　

1.Introduction

　　The first and the most influential English immersion started in Xi’an in the late 1990s， was CCEI （the China-Canada Collaborative English Immersion Program）， which was later joined by researchers from the US and renamed CCUEI （the China-Canada-United States Collaborative English Immersion Program） since 2002
　　（Qiang， 2000； Qiang & Zhao， 2000）. This signed as an innovation of English teaching and learning in the mainland of China. The goal of CCUEI was to enhance the student English proficiency through the content-based learning and to better the students’ understanding of cultures， while at the same time developing the student L1 （Qiang， 2000； Qiang & Zhao， 2000）. The English immersion programs seemed to be succesul （Fang， Wang， & Siegel， 2001； Pei， 1998； Qiang， 2000； Qiang & Zhao， 2001b； Zhang & Pei， 2005； Zhao & Qiang， 2002）， which developed to some big cities of the mainland such as Beijing， Shanghai， Wuhan， Guangzhou and Shenzhen （Liang， 2004； Qiang， 2000； Zhang & Yan， 2007； Zhao， Li， & Gao， 2006）. Fifteen years of implementation witnessed the success as well as the challenges， and implication could be drawn for pedagogy and English teaching and learning in the mainland of China through the reflections.
　　2.The development of the CCUEI programs
　　Since the launch of CCUEI in 1997 in Xi’an， researchers carried out a great many studies on it （Fang et al.， 2001；Liang， 2004， 2011； Pei， 1998； Qiang， 2000； Qiang & Zhao， 2001b； X. Z. Zhang & Pei， 2005； L. Zhao & Qiang， 2002）. Reports concerning positive findings included students’ mastery of language usage and language use， the curriculum， the pedagogy.
　　Zhang and Yan （2007） reported students word-reading， vocabulary and phonetic awareness through their comparative study in a kindergarten in Beijing where three groups of children experimented over international phonetic reading， whole-word reading and natural letter-word reading and the results showed that the immersion children’s early word-reading ability was the best among these three groups. Qiang and Zhao （2000） found the fast development of students’ vocabulary and better comprehension of English stories. Chi and Zhao’s （2004） research showed the immersion students’ better phonetic awareness and a good mastery of vocabulary. English immersion students showed their good listening and speaking development in Chi and Zhao’s study （2004）， which showed the immersion student ooth communication with English native teachers. Zhao and the others （ Zhao， Zhang， Li， & Gao， 2007） conducted an experiment in Shanghai and found the immersion students’ greater quantity and better quality in answering the questions independently through English. English immersion experiments in kindergartens in Xi’an showed that children tried to use English to communicate spontaneously （Zhao， 2004）. Liang’s （2004） research on English immersion in Wuhan found that immersion children were more active， attentive and interested. Knell， Qiang and others （2007） found in their research in Xi’an that students were better developed in word identification， phonological awareness， vocabulary， letter naming and oral proficiency. In addition， researchers gained positive results in curriculum design and teaching strategies in the CCUEI（Di，2001 ； Fu，2007； Gao，2004；Li，2003；Pei， 2007.