Article In:
Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education: Online-First Articles

An immersion teachers’ perspective on grammar instruction in language immersion in Finland

ORCID logo | University of Helsinki, Finland
 | University of Turku, Finland
 | Åbo Akademi University, Finland
Previous studies have shown that grammar is a central source of difficulty for immersion students and that their teachers often lack knowledge of how to integrate linguistic aims with content teaching. This descriptive, enquiry-based study reports on Finnish immersion teachers’ (n = 54) perspectives on grammar instruction in language immersion in Finland — a theme under-researched in Finland thus far. Our online questionnaire consists of 18 questions comprising three sections: the informants’ professional background, their views on the role of grammar in immersion and their views on correcting grammatical inaccuracies. We analyse our data using quantitative and statistical methods (Pearson’s χ² as a statistical test). Our findings show that most of our informants are experienced immersion teachers teaching languages to 13–15-year-old immersion students. They do not prioritise grammatical accuracy when planning their instruction, although they consider it an important aspect of second language proficiency. They also discuss grammatical accuracy to a greater extent with their students than with their colleagues and are more tolerant of inaccuracies in spoken output. Implications are discussed regarding the necessity of improving grammar instruction in immersion and immersion students’ grammatical accuracy.
Keywords: Immersion teacher beliefs, L2 grammar instruction, form-focused instruction, inquiry-based study
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Second language development and teaching in language immersion in Finland and other contexts
  • 3.Second language proficiency and teaching in language immersion and SLA
    • 3.1SLA and form-focused instruction in immersion
    • 3.2Language teachers’ cognition and grammar teaching
  • 4.Data, method and research questions
  • 5.Analysis
    • 5.1Professional background information
    • 5.2The role of accuracy in immersion
    • 5.3Correcting students’ productive skills
  • 6.Discussion and conclusion
  • Note
  • Author queries
  • References
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