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bilingualism by offering both Chinese (Shelly’s L1 in this study) and English (her L2 in this study). The school also embraces both Western and Asian educational styles to prepare students for pursuing college education overseas. The courses offered include English, Chinese, Science, Math, Social Studies, Fine Arts, Health and PE, and elective courses. About ninety percent of the above mentioned courses are taught in English, except for the Chinese courses that take up 10 % of the whole curriculum. In addition to the environment characterized by English as a medium of instruction, the school is different from public schools in many other ways.
According to the introduction of K school from the official website, the school puts more emphasis on cultivating students’ multiple talents (e.g., daily life skills, physical fitness, artistic conception, and so on). Students are required to participate in a variety of events such as hiking, concerts, and so on. K school also allows their students to have more time to engage in exploratory activities, such as a one-week field trip to Shei-Pa Natioanl Park in Taiwan, which are relatively uncommon in the test-oriented public education system. Students are also expected to develop
academic competence, creativity, critical thinking, and interpersonal skills.
3.3. The Participant
This section provides background information about the selected participant, Shelly, a grade 8 student in an international school of K school at the time of data
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collection. Shelly receives all her education from K school since kindergarten. That is, she had attended K school’s kindergarten, elementary school, and secondary school. However, after she completed grade 7, she transferred to its international school, which offers immersion education. It is worth noting that Shelly’s parents had a discussion about the transfer when Shelly completed education in elementary school and when she was about to become a seventh grader. Concerning Shelly’s development of L1 literacy, the parents finally decided to have Shelly go to the secondary school first and then attend the international school at grade eight. As a result, Shelly enters the program a year later than most of the immersion students.
Before attending the immersion program, what Shelly learned in K school about Chinese, Science, Math, Social Studies, and Art are similar to that learned by public school students. What makes Shelly different from most of public school students is that she receives English instruction as a subject from both native English speakers and Taiwanese teachers from K school, and the content of English classes is more advanced in terms of difficulty level.
Shelly comes from a well-educated family. Her parents have overseas degrees, and they both work for K school as managers in different programs. Being brought up in a family like this, Shelly is always a high achiever in class and is aware of her future career and educational goals. Although the teachers often pay compliment to her overall academic performances, Shelly is not that confident. Shelly’s mother
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expects her to achieve more. Under the influence of Shelly’s mother, who expects her daughter to take the same path as she did, Shelly is consciously aware of her educational goals. She will pursuit higher education overseas, and she plans to engage in childhood education as a career. Thus, Shelly follows her parents’
suggestions and entered the immersion program. Although Shelly was going to enter an English learning environment, she was free of anxiety before the new semester begins. Considering the possible language proficiency gap and the new immersing context featuring L2-medium instruction, the researcher is interested in how Shelly is going to make sense of the classes and tackle challenging tasks and difficulties.
Note that, Shelly’s homeroom teacher, at the same time, the Chinese teacher, was also invited to participate in this study to triangulate Shelly’s data.
3.4. Method
In order to reveal how the learner, Shelly, experiences late immersion education before and during the first semester, multiple data sets were collected and a
qualitative case study approach was adopted. This study draws on three kinds of instruments: weekly diaries, interviews, and informal interviews/conversations.
Given the double role, that is serving both as a private tutor and an observer, the researcher plays; research notes taken from informal interviews with Shelly were also utilized as research data.
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3.4.1. Diary
The participant of the study, Shelly, was asked to keep a weekly diary about her learning events at the first semester in the immersion program. According to Bailey and Ochsner (1983), diary, as a valid research tool, functions to report the diarist’s own perceptions of second language learning experiences including affective factors, language learning strategies, and challenges. The purpose of a diary is to document the first person account of learning experiences (Bailey, 1990), which reveals the facet of experiences that may be unavailable for external observers. Thus, diary is regarded as the major instrument for this study, manifesting the learner’s
experiences, interpretation of learning events.
From September 2013 to January 2014, the researcher collected approximately twenty diary entries. Concerning the amount of the participant’s homework from the school, the researcher only asked the participant to recall her experiences on
weekend for diary writing. With the weekly introspection and retrospection, the richness of data is increased. Also, regular collection of Shelly’s diaries
documenting her feeling, perspectives, and belief in the immersion environment is utilized for the researcher to examine, categorize, and analyze significant events, and thus illustrate her learning experiences in depth.
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3.4.2. Interview
Semi-structured interviews were conducted three times during the first semester, and interview protocols were designed in advance. Due to the fact that Shelly is a teenager whose attention span is more limited than adults, each interview lasted for 30-60 minutes. Since the participant shares the same native language, Chinese, with the researcher, Shelly was allowed to use either Chinese or English to express herself. In addition to the language, the fact that the researcher has been a private tutor for Shelly for the previous two years helps to develop rapport.
The first interview was held in August, 2013. It is before Shelly enters the program with the aim to understand her previous English learning experiences, her motivation to transfer from the regular secondary school to the immersion program at grade seven, her preparation before the program starts, and her future educational goals.
The second and the third interviews were conducted during the first semester.
The primary goal of these interviews are to discuss the learning experiences in the immersion program and explore the issues of language and academic development based on the events or situations documented in Shelly’s diary. Also, the information collected from the first interview act as a base for comparison of the second
interview data and diary.
In order to triangulate Shelly’s statements, a semi-structured, two-hour
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interview with Shelly’s home teacher was also held in the end of Shelly’s first semester in the immersion program in K school.
3.4.3. Informal Interview/Conversation
The researcher, who at the same time, the private tutor for Shelly, visited her twice a week during school days at the time of data collection to assist Shelly to complete her homework. The dual roles of the researcher and the tutor allowed the researcher to participate in Shelly’s homework completing process, during which the researcher had the chance to initiate conversations with her and double check on the appropriateness of the researcher’s interpretation of the written diary without delay.
In the mean time, given that the duty of the tutor is to assist Shelly to
complete her school work, the researcher/ private tutor also had the opportunities to observe Shelly’s language performance, academic behavior, and her feelings during tutoring hours when she managed to complete homework. Research notes were taken during the torturing hours twice a week for the first semester, in which casual conversations with Shelly were documented. These data were included with the aim of triangulating the primary data.
Besides, the researcher often initiated casual conversations with Shelly by asking questions, probing for more detailed and descriptive answers. Finally, the researcher regards her one-on-one instruction to and company with Shelly every
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week as valuable opportunities to confirm the messages conveyed through the weekly diaries. A lot of conversations between the researcher and Shelly during tutoring hours were documented in the form of research notes to reinforce the richness of information.
3.5. Procedures
Data for the present research project were collected through three sources, diaries, interviews, and informal interviews from August, 2013 to January, 2014.
The following explication reveals the details of data collection (see table 1). First, the first interview was conducted before the beginning of the new semester in the immersion program. Then, Shelly was given diary forms with clear instruction (Nunan and Bailey, 2009), guiding her to record learning events, such as challenges and a sense of fulfillment every week within the first semester. According to the schedule announced on the official website of K school, the semester started from late August, 2013 to mid-January, 2014, allowing the researcher to collect
approximately 20 diary entries. Since the researcher, also the private tutor, had the access to reach the participant every week, informal interviews were conducted in the form of casual conversations when the researcher found the diary data needed more details or clarification. After the collection of primary data, the second and the third interviews were conducted right after the end of the semester for the researcher
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to have an in-depth understanding of Shelly’s learning experiences of the first semester. Interview questions were designed based on diary information. Lastly, an interview with Shelly’s homeroom teacher, Mr. Chen, was conducted after Shelly’s final exam.
Table 1. Data Collecting Procedures
Time Activity Focus
August, 2013 The first interview Previous English learning background, and motivation to immersion program August, 2013-
January, 2014
Diaries and
Informal interviews
Learning experiences in immersion program
January, 2014 The Second and the third interviews
In-depth discussion of learning experiences in immersion program January, 2014 The interview with
Shelly’s homeroom teacher
To triangulate the data obtained from Shelly
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3.6. Data Analysis
The researcher conducted an inductive approach to examine, categorize, and interpret the data that consists of diary, interviews, and research notes collected from September 2013 to January 2014 in the form of written mode. Among all the data, the primary data, diaries written by Shelly, underwent initial selection and analysis through the researcher’s reconstruction of meaning. It was a process that involved the analysis of the content, context, and form of the diary entries (Pavlenko, 2007).
The first step was to examine the content of diary data. What was said and what was not said were taken into consideration. During the analyzing process, the researcher attended to the factors lying behind Shelly’s learning events. Next, the researcher selected and categorized the data and then identified learning events that showed significance to Shelly. After that, the researcher analyzed the secondary data, which contained informal interviews with Shelly, research notes, and the triangulating interview with her homeroom teacher to validate the initial analysis concluded from diary. At this stage, the analysis served as a base for the design of follow-up
interview questions. After the completion of the second interview and the third interview, the recordings were transcribed verbatim. These data were examined, categorized, and interpreted again. Themes related to Shelly’s learning experiences occur, demonstrating the results of this study.
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Chapter Four RESULTS 4.0. Introduction
Shelly, as a new grade eight student in the international school, took fifteen courses in total in the first semester; yet, the hours of each course in a semester and the teacher’s nationality vary. Among the fifteen courses, six of them account for 75% of the entire subject allocation for one semester. There are three language courses (namely, Chinese, English Literature, and Language Art) and three academic courses (namely, Math, Science, and Social Studies). Throughout the semester, each of the courses is offered on a five-hour-per-week basis. Such courses as English Literature, Language Art, Science, and Social Studies are instructed in English by native speakers of English while the rest of them are lectured in English by non-native speakers of English, mostly Taiwanese. Because Shelly spends most of her time engaging in the six courses, and she repetitively addresses the learning experiences in these courses, the finding of this study will place most emphasis on them.
As stated in the research questions, the aim of the research is to explore Shelly’s learning experiences in an immersion environment of the first semester.
Through the process of data analysis, the researcher discovers that how Shelly finds
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her niche in the new academic environment is closely resembled to the process of acculturation－experiencing euphoria due to the new surrounding, facing and taking challenges, and finally accepting or rejecting the new way of learning. (Note that, the researcher does not mention the fourth stage－full recovery for Shelly’s adjusting experiences, for it might be an ongoing process and there is no obvious evidence reporting Shelly’s full acceptance to the new environment in the first semester.) Therefore, to best capture Shelly’s adjustment to the environment, the layout of research findings will be presented in the chronological order.
In order to offer a comprehensive presentation of Shelly’s learning experiences, the researcher utilizes the transcription of the interviews, translated diary entries (which is originally written in Chinese with a slight degree of code mixing in English), and notes taken by the researchers during informal interviews to present Shelly’s learning stories and her feelings to the new surrounding in particular.
Generally, there are two factors making the new environment novel to Shelly. Due to the change of instructional language from L1 to L2, she experiences a high degree of novelty in the three academic courses (namely, Math, Science, and Social Studies).
Also, the textbooks Shelly is studying are designed by a foreign publisher, so the scope and the content differ from those designed by Taiwan’s local publishers. For example, in terms of history, the section of Chinese dynasty only takes up a chapter in World History for Social Studies, the textbook used by international school
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students, while the same section is explained in full details and takes up an entire volume in the history book published by local publishers.
The findings of this study are categorized into three sections based on a chronological order for that Shelly’s learning experiences feature a beginning stage of excitement, a subsequent stage of a mixture of enjoyment and challenges, and then a stage of conflicts with the teacher. Note that the categorized stages should be viewed as a continuous emotion of Shelly which does not disappear when she moves on to the next stage. In fact, the stages illustrate a distinct state of emotion of Shelly in a certain period of time. In-depth discussion of Shelly’s responses to the
curriculum will be elaborated on in the first section－“I am awesome” and the second one－“Not backing off, I am still awesome”. The first section delineates Shelly’s adjustment to the new environment and important factors influencing her adjustment, her experiences, and her different emotional state. The second one reveals Shelly’s responses to the three academic courses. Factors that have impact on her attitude, either negative or positive, will be covered. And for language courses, it is significant to note the fact that the two English courses are not unfamiliar to Shelly since she has been enrolled in those courses since the start of elementary school. Also, English courses always adopt English as the medium of instruction. Thus, Shelly feels the English courses are not too much different before the transfer. However, the Chinese course is different. Although the Chinese course
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employs the same material, the teaching focus and evaluating method are not the same. Shelly reports her point of views by sharing her expectation of Chinese
learning and expressing her dissatisfaction with the L1 learning. Descriptions related to Shelly’s feelings about her L1 development in the international school will be dealt with in the third section: Unresolved conflicts－Concerns for L1 development.
4.1. The First Stage: “I Am Awesome”
During the first month in the international school, Shelly is full of joy, excitement, and confidence. This honeymoon like stage, according to the diary, is more revealing from the beginning few weeks and fades out a little on particular courses later. Analysis of the data reveals that there are three factors influencing Shelly’s learning experiences. Firstly, she enjoys some of the classes. Secondly, she soon fits in the communities naturally because of her familiarity with the
environment. Thirdly, due to having a high level of English proficiency, she does not struggle too much to position herself in the English-medium-instruction
environment.
4.1.1. Enjoying the New Environment
The learner accepts the new environment before long and seems to respond to it with excitement about the new and interesting classes, such as Social Studies
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and Science. In her second diary entries, she wrote:
Everything in the international school is conducted in English, including Math, Science, and Social Studies. Fortunately, I have studied in the secondary school
for a year, so I am ok with Math. As for Science and Social Studies, the teachers are really interesting. I am attracted to those classes indeed….The teachers in the international school are kind to me, and they are amiable. I’m happy. (The second diary of Shelly, September 6, 2013)
Some of the excitement turns into consistent interests toward the subjects throughout the first semester. For example, Shelly expresses that she has grown fond of the way the science teacher gives lectures. The teacher incorporates fun videos that are related or not related to class materials, such as a cartoon, the Simpson, and hands-on activities and jokes into the class. Further discussion of the learner’s responses to the curriculum will be addressed in the next section.
4.1.2. Fitting in the Community
Secondly, the learner soon finds harmony between her and the people around her and regards herself as a member of the environment, a new academic community to her. She not only holds positive attitude to the teachers but also to her peers in the
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international school. She almost blends in the social groups on the first day by making new friends, knowing what to do and not missing anything in school. Shelly is satisfied with her adjusting ability.
I can blend in with the environment on my first day in the international school, and I do not miss anything. I am proud of myself. It’s also nice to meet good friends on the first day. (The first diary of Shelly, August 6, 2013)
Shelly’s remark presents her enjoyable and exciting experiences in the
international school. The facts that she feels welcomed by the teachers and peers and finds the classes are interesting appear to facilitate her enjoyment in learning. In addition, Shelly’s homeroom teacher, Mr. Chen, even wrote an email to her mother to compliment on how well Shelly adapts to the new environment. In the interview
international school. The facts that she feels welcomed by the teachers and peers and finds the classes are interesting appear to facilitate her enjoyment in learning. In addition, Shelly’s homeroom teacher, Mr. Chen, even wrote an email to her mother to compliment on how well Shelly adapts to the new environment. In the interview