Cover not available
Article published In:
Language Immersion Education: A research agenda for 2015 and beyond
Edited by Diane J. Tedick and Siv Björklund
[Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education 2:2] 2014
► pp. 288–302

One-way immersion in Europe

Historic, current, and future perspectives on program implementation and student population

| University of Vaasa

One-way immersion programs were originally designed to provide monolingual majority language speakers a good mastery of a second, foreign, heritage, or indigenous language. This article provides a brief overview of the design of one-way-immersion programs as part of bilingual education in Europe by presenting some of the immersion programs from the following contexts: Basque country, Catalonia, Finland, Ireland and Wales. The implementation of these programs in different European contexts is analysed by looking at different functions of the programs and demographic characteristics in their student populations. The article concludes with a discussion on perspectives about and challenges for one-way immersion programs in the future.

Keywords: one-way immersion, Basque immersion, Swedish immersion, Catalan immersion, immersion in Europe, immersion program models, Irish immersion, Welsh immersion
Published online: 12 September 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jicb.2.2.09nis
References
Arenas i Sampera, J
(1994) The Catalan immersion programme: Assessment and recent results. In C. Laurén (Ed.), Evaluating European immersion programs. From Catalonia to Finland (pp. 13–26). Vaasa: University of Vaasa.Google Scholar
Arnau, J., & Vila, F.X
(2013) Language-in-education policies in the Catalan language area. In J. Arnau (Ed.), Reviving Catalan at school. Challenges and instructional approaches (pp. 1–28). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Artigal, J.M
(1991) The Catalan immersion programme: A European point of view. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex.Google Scholar
Artigal, J.M., Anglada, F., Aragonés, N., Flamerich, M.D., Ral, M., Ruiz, M., Ventura, M., & Voltas, M
(1984) Com fer descobrir una nova llengua. Proposta per a introduir el catalá a parvulari [How to discover a new language. Proposal to introduce Catalan in preschool]. Barcelona: Eumo Editorial.Google Scholar
Basque Government. (
2013) V Encuesta Sociolingüística 2011 [V Sociolinguistic Survey 2011]. Basque Government: Vitoria-Gasteiz. Retrieved from [URL]Google Scholar
Bel, A
(1994) Evaluating immersion programmes: The Catalan case. In C. Laurén (Ed.), Evaluating European immersion programs. From Catalonia to Finland (pp. 27–46). Vaasa: University of Vaasa.Google Scholar
Bergroth, M
(2006) Immersion students in the matriculation examination. Three years after immersion. In S. Björklund, K. Mård–Miettinen, M. Bergström, & M. Södergård (Eds.), Exploring dual-focussed education. Integrating language and content for individual and societal needs (pp. 123–134). Vaasa: University of Vaasa.Google Scholar
Björklund, S
(2005) Toward trilingual education in Vaasa/Vasa, Finland. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 1711, 23–40. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Björklund, S., & Mård–Miettinen, K
(2011) Integration of multiple languages in immersion: Swedish immersion in Finland. In D.J. Tedick, D. Christian, & T. Williams Fortune (Eds.), Immersion education: Practices, policies, possibilities (pp. 13–35). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Björklund, S., Mård–Miettinen, K., & Mäenpää, T
(2012) Functional multilingual competence. Exploring the pedagogical potential within immersion. In M. Bendtsen, M. Björklund, L. Forsman, & K. Sjöholm (Eds.), Global trends meet local needs (pp. 203–217). Åbo: Åbo Akademi University.Google Scholar
Björklund, S., Mård–Miettinen, K., & Savijärvi, M
(2014) Swedish immersion in the early years in Finland. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 17(2), 197–214. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brown, K
(2012) The State, official–language education and minorities: Estonian-language instruction for Estonia’s Russian–speakers and the Võro. In Z. Bekerman & T. Geisen (Eds.), International handbook of migration, minorities and education. Understanding cultural and social differences in processes of learning (pp. 195–212). Dordrecht: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cenoz, J
(2009) Towards multilingual education. Basque education research from an international perspective. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
(2011) Third language learning and trilingual education in the Basque Country. In I. Bangma, C. van der Meer, & A. Riemersma (Eds.), Trilingual primary education in Europe. Some developments with regard to the provisions of trilingual primary education in minority language communities of the European Union (pp. 32–45). Leeuwarden: Fryske Akademy.Google Scholar
Cenoz, J., & Etxaque, X
(2013) From bilingualism to multilingualism: Basque, Spanish and English in higher education. In C. Abello–Contesse, P. Chandler, M. López–Jiménez, & R. Chacón–Beltrán (Eds.), Bilingual and multilingual education in the 21st century. Building on experience (pp. 85–106). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cenoz, J., Genesee, F., & Gorter, D
(2014) Critical analysis of CLIL: Taking stock and looking forward. Applied Linguistics,35(3), 243–262. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Central Statistics Office. (
2012) This is Ireland: Highlights from census 2011 part 1. Dublin: Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Dalton-Puffer, C., Llinares, A., Lorenzo, F., & Nikula, T
(2014) “You can stand under my umbrella”: Immersion, CLIL and bilingual education. Applied Linguistics, 35(2), 213–218. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
European Union. (
2005) Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. A new framework strategy for multilingualism. Brussels: Commission of the European Communities.Google Scholar
Eurydice. (
2006) Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) at school in Europe. European Commission: Eurydice.Google Scholar
Friesen, J
(2013) French immersion enrolment skyrockets as a new linguistic category emerges. The Globe and Mail, January 28 2013 Retrieved from [URL]Google Scholar
Gaelscoileanna Teo. (
2013) Irish-medium education outside the Gaeltacht 2012-2013. Retrieved from [URL]Google Scholar
Genesee, F
(1987) Learning through two languages: Studies of immersion and bilingual education. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
(1998) A case study of multilingual education in Canada. In J. Cenoz & F. Genesee (Eds.), Beyond bilingualism: Multilingualism and multilingual education (pp. 243–258). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
(2013) Insights into bilingual education from research on immersion programs in Canada. In C. Abello–Contesse, P. Chandler, M. López–Jiménez, & R. Chacón–Beltrán (Eds.), Bilingual and multilingual education in the 21st century. Building on experience (pp. 24–41). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hickey, T., Lewis, G., & Baker, C
(2014) How deep is your immersion? Policy and practice in Welsh-medium preschools with children from different language backgrounds. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 17(2), 215–234. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Huguet, A., Navarro, J.–L., Chireac, S.-M., & Sansó, C
(2013) The acquisition of Catalan by immigrant children. The effect of length of stay and family language. In J. Arnau (Ed.), Reviving Catalan at school: Challenges and instructional approaches (pp. 29–48). Bristol: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Irish State
(2013) Annual statistical report 2012-2013. Department of Education and Skills. Retrieved from [URL]Google Scholar
Laurén, C
(1994) Preface. In C. Laurén (Ed.), Evaluating European immersion programs. From Catalonia to Finland (pp. 3–9). Vaasa: University of Vaasa.Google Scholar
Lasagabaster, D., & Sierra, J.M
(2010) Immersion and CLIL in English: More differences than similarities. ELT Journal, 641, 376–395. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lewis, G
(2006) Welsh-medium primary education: The challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century. In C. Redknap, W.G. Lewis, S.R. Williams, & J. Laugharne (Eds.), Welsh-medium and bilingual education (pp. 21–36). Bangor: University of Wales.Google Scholar
Lewis, G., Jones, B., & Baker. C
(2013) 100 bilingual lessons: Distributing two languages in classrooms. In C. Abello–Contesse, P. Chandler, M. López–Jiménez, & R. Chacón–Beltrán (Eds.), Bilingual and multilingual education in the 21st century: Building on experience (pp. 107–135). Bristol: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mehisto, P., Marsh, D., & Frigols, J
(2008) Uncovering CLIL: Content and language integrated learning in bilingual and multilingual education. Australia: Macmillan Education.Google Scholar
Ó Duibhir, P
(2009) The spoken Irish of sixth-class pupils in Irish immersion schools. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Dublin: University of Dublin, Trinity College.Google Scholar
(2011) ‘I thought that we had good Irish’: Irish immersion students’ insights into their target language use. In D.J. Tedick, D. Christian, & T.W. Fortune (Eds.), Immersion education: Practices, policies, possibilities (pp. 145–165). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Redknap, C
(2006) Welsh–medium and bilingual education and training: Steps towards a holistic strategy. In C. Redknap, W.G. Lewis, S.R. Williams, & J. Laugharne (Eds.), Welsh-medium and bilingual education (pp. 1–20). Bangor: University of Wales.Google Scholar
Swain, M., & Lapkin, S
(2005) The evolving sociopolitical context of immersion education in Canada: Some implications for program development. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 15(2), 169–186. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2013) A Vygotskian sociocultural perspective on immersion education. The L1/L2 debate. Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education, 1(1), 101–129. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thomas, E.M., Apolloni, D., & Lewis, G
(2014) The learner’s voice: Exploring bilingual children’s selective language use and perceptions of minority language competence. Language and Education, 28(4), 340–361. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Welsh Assembly Government. (
2007) Defining schools according to Welsh medium provision. Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills. Retrieved from [URL]Google Scholar
Welsh Government. (
2013) School census results, 2013. Digital Education Resource Archive (DERA). University of London, Institute of Education. Retrieved from [URL]Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 3 other publications

Mård-Miettinen, Karita, Stephanie Arnott & Marie-Josée Vignola
2021. Early Immersion in Minority Language Contexts: Canada and Finland. In Handbook of Early Language Education [Springer International Handbooks of Education, ], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Mård-Miettinen, Karita, Stephanie Arnott & Marie-Josée Vignola
2022. Early Immersion in Minority Language Contexts: Canada and Finland. In Handbook of Early Language Education [Springer International Handbooks of Education, ], ► pp. 347 ff. DOI logo
Pakarinen, Sanna & Siv Björklund
2018. Multiple language signage in linguistic landscapes and students’ language practices: A case study from a language immersion setting. Linguistics and Education 44 ► pp. 4 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.