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Article

Chinese Immersion Teachers in the U.S.: Perceptions and Needs in Their Teacher Preparation Programs

by
Mengyao Chen
1,2,*,
Jiahang Li
3 and
Yongling Zhang Gorke
4
1
Educational Leadership and Higher Education Department, St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN 56301, USA
2
College of Education, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
3
Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
4
Office of International Programs, Department of Languages, Cultures and Translation, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Educ. Sci. 2024, 14(8), 878; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14080878
Submission received: 14 July 2024 / Revised: 4 August 2024 / Accepted: 7 August 2024 / Published: 12 August 2024
Versions Notes

Abstract

:
Language immersion has been an emerging educational method for K-12 students to acquire foreign languages. Despite its effectiveness, there are limited teacher education programs designed specifically for language immersion educators. Thus, many language immersion teachers have been applying knowledge learned from general teacher educational programs, which are not designed for language immersion settings, in their daily teaching. Simultaneously, language immersion programs, especially Chinese immersion programs, have identified multiple educational challenges related to curriculum design and content teaching, classroom management, and cross-cultural communications. This study aims to address these challenges from the perceptions of six selected Chinese immersion teachers towards their teacher preparation programs via qualitative in-depth case studies. The participant selection considers various education and teaching backgrounds of Chinese immersion teachers to represent a wide range of perspectives. The results show that the educational philosophy and psychology theories and practices, curriculum and instruction, cross-cultural competence, and practicum in existing preparation programs contribute positively towards immersion teaching in the U.S. However, Chinese immersion teachers demand more social-emotional learning and diversity, equity, and inclusion preparation. Potential solutions to these challenges require synergistic efforts from the current teacher preparation programs, Chinese immersion programs, and policymakers.

1. Introduction

Foreign language immersion programs have emerged since the 1970s [1]. In language immersion programs, teachers use the target language as a medium to teach content knowledge, and students learn the majority of subject matter through their second, foreign, heritage, or indigenous language [2,3]. Since learning Chinese as a foreign language has become a popular choice around the world, Chinese immersion programs provide Chinese language learners another option to acquire this language [4,5,6]. Chinese immersion programs have developed rapidly in the United States (U.S.) in the past 40 years and have grown to 343 programs in September 2021 [7]. Thus, there is an increasing demand for research to ensure the effectiveness of Chinese immersion education in the U.S.
Although there has been a large amount of research focusing on evaluating and enhancing the effectiveness of language immersion education in general [8], those targeting Chinese immersion education have been limited. Previous research related to Chinese immersion education has studied the academic and language achievements of Chinese immersion students [9,10,11,12,13] and curriculum design and development for Chinese immersion programs [14,15,16,17,18]. Staffing and teacher development, being equally if not more critical in Chinese immersion education, is calling for more practical and scholarly attention.
Existing studies show that recruiting qualified teacher candidates has been a significant challenge for Chinese immersion programs, mainly because there are limited teacher preparation programs for immersion teachers [15,19]. As most Chinese immersion teachers are not trained by immersion teacher preparation programs, they face various challenges for Chinese immersion teachers in areas such as curriculum planning and content teaching, classroom management, and cross-cultural communication [14,15,19,20,21,22,23].

2. Literature Review

So far, research into Chinese immersion teachers consists primarily of descriptive studies that engage immersion teachers’ views of their challenges in the process of facilitating immersion students’ achievement of language proficiency, academic performance, and cognitive development. The challenges identified in the previous literature can be summarized by the following aspects.

2.1. Curriculum and Instruction

In general, Chinese immersion teachers encounter challenges in both designing and teaching Chinese language literacy and subject matter curriculum. Immersion teachers are not just language teachers; they also use a target language to teach subject matter content. Thus, immersion teachers serve as both language and content experts and design their content-based lessons to help students achieve second language development progress while learning the academic content [24,25,26]. As the Chinese immersion programs in the U.S. develop their Chinese language and literacy curriculum based on the existing English language and literacy thematic topics, Chinese immersion teachers modify or translate the English literacy curriculum into a Chinese literacy curriculum and create relative Chinese literacy curriculum materials from scratch due to the shortage of well-designed Chinese immersion curriculum materials [14,27]. In addition, Chinese immersion programs adapt their subject matter curriculum based on national standards, state standards, or “common core” standards into the Chinese language [27]. Thus, in designing the Chinese language literacy and subject matter curriculum, Chinese immersion teachers, who are unfamiliar with the American curricula, lack Chinese curriculum and curriculum development skills [14].
In the process of teaching language and content, immersion teachers tend to struggle to match students’ target language proficiency levels with the alignment of curriculum and materials [28,29]. Especially in Chinese immersion programs, Chinese immersion teachers use the Chinese language as a medium to teach the academic content; however, they struggle to integrate the subject content into Chinese language teaching [14,21,30]. Chinese immersion teachers believe that the subject content in the Chinese language is difficult for students to understand due to the shortage of appropriate and systematic learning materials designed for content-based learning in the Chinese immersion setting [14,30]. In addition, Chinese immersion teachers who do not have a background in teaching a subject or adequate subject matter instructional knowledge struggle with the subject area instructions [14,20].

2.2. Teaching and Classroom Management Style

Although Chinese immersion teachers share the same above-mentioned challenges with other immersion teachers, research has discovered some challenges that are unique to Chinese immersion teachers. First, some Chinese immersion teachers’ teacher-centered teaching styles are mismatched with the popular notion of the student-centered classroom in the U.S. [15,19,30]. In addition, Chinese immersion teachers may tend to have knowledge-centered beliefs and emphasize mechanical memorization [23,31]. Second, Chinese immersion teachers have high participant expectations and value teachers’ absolute authority in their classroom management process [32,33,34]. In this case, some Chinese immersion teachers’ behavior management strategies are ineffective due to students’ different cultural understanding and/or misunderstanding of the instructional language [23].

2.3. Cross-Cultural Communication

Previous reports have indicated language immersion teachers’ challenges in working or communicating with parents and American colleagues [14,20,35]. First, language immersion teachers feel challenged to help parents understand the language acquisition process and articulate the academic and linguistic goals [36]. Especially, Chinese immersion teachers struggle to help parents understand Chinese immersion teachers’ curriculum perspective, such as high expectations for learning and challenging students [19]. Second, Chinese immersion teachers report their miscommunications with American colleagues due to the indirect expression of the Chinese culture and the active expression of the American culture [14,21]. Thus, Chinese immersion teachers feel challenged in cross-cultural communication.

2.4. Knowledge Gaps and Motivations

Therefore, to start, it is essential to understand Chinese immersion teachers’ perceptions of their current teacher preparation programs. Prompted by the drive to address this knowledge gap, the authors of this study aim to explore the helpful and critically needed aspects of the current teacher preparation received by Chinese immersion teachers, especially those from different programs (public and private), grade levels (Prek-9), teaching duties, and teacher preparation programs. By purposefully interviewing a diverse group of six representative Chinese immersion teachers, this study examines their teacher preparation needs that could be better addressed to support their immersion teaching jobs.
Based on the literature review, the results from this study will provide a fundamental understanding of the preparation of current Chinese immersion teachers in the U.S., such as the helpful content that supports them with their immersion teaching, and potential critically needed aspects. In this way, the teacher preparation programs for Chinese immersion teachers can be developed to better suit the teachers’ needs, and ultimately improve the quality of Chinese immersion programs.

3. Methods

The authors aim to gain an in-depth understanding of Chinese immersion teachers’ perceptions of their teacher preparation programs. Thus, this study uses a case study approach to investigate the preparation experience of Chinese immersion teachers in the U.S. As its research focus is descriptive and exploratory, this study uses the case study approach to offer a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the bounded context and contemporary phenomena [37]. Within the case study approach, this study uses the multiple-case design method to collect several individual cases on the same topic or phenomenon [38,39], which in this case is Chinese immersion teachers’ perceptions of their teacher preparation programs.

3.1. Research Questions

The case studies were configured to answer three key research questions:
Research question 1: What do Chinese immersion teachers consider to be their level of preparedness in their immersion teaching?
Research question 2: What do Chinese immersion teachers consider as the beneficial topics or aspects in their teacher preparation program that helped them in their immersion teaching?
Research question 3: What are the concerns and areas that needed improvements during Chinese immersion teachers’ teacher preparation programs that could better help their teaching?

3.2. Participants

This study involved six full-time Chinese immersion teachers at four different types of Chinese immersion programs in the U.S. A purposeful sampling method was used to recruit participants and identify the target population who are more likely to participate in the in-depth interviews [40]. Purposeful sampling is effective for multiple case studies to select samples [37], as it helps to explore a phenomenon via in-depth and information-rich cases [41]. The goal of using purposeful sampling in this study is to find individuals, who are Chinese immersion teachers from various educational and teaching backgrounds, to provide insights into their teacher preparation programs.
At the time of this study, the pre-determined criteria for the participants were as follows: (1) the selected teachers were teaching the Chinese language or using the Chinese language as a tool to teach subject matter (e.g., mathematics, science, social studies); (2) the selected teachers were teaching in different grade levels because this study took into account different perspectives from teachers’ various grade levels; (3) the selected teachers attended different pre-service teacher preparation programs; thus, the diverse background characteristics among these participants could reflect the wider Chinese immersion teacher population.
Following the Institutional Review Board’s (IRB) approval, recruiting messages were sent out to the Chinese teacher groups via social media to seek available Chinese immersion teachers who met the selection criteria. Based on the responses, consent forms were distributed, and interviews were scheduled with the potential Chinese immersion teachers willing to participate in the study. In this case, six Chinese immersion teachers from various types of Chinese immersion programs met all the criteria and agreed to participate in the study.
Table 1 shows the participants’ teaching positions and educational backgrounds. Among the six Chinese immersion teachers, three of them were from public schools, while the rest were from private schools. All of them held U.S.-issued teaching credentials at the time of the interview. Two of the teachers received bachelor’s degrees that were not related to language or teaching. The participants were represented as “P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, and P6” to ensure the confidentiality of the participants.

3.3. Data Collection

This study used a semi-structured interview protocol design to obtain relevant narrative information on the perspectives of the selected participants. Each interview was scheduled as an uninterrupted online session that ranged from 1 h to 1.5 h. Due to the persistent COVID-19 outbreak and safety protocols limiting in-person contact, the interviews utilized Zoom as the main online interviewing resource.
The interview protocol was composed of a set of guiding questions, which were organized into different topics and areas of interest. The first section included information related to participants’ professional and educational backgrounds. The second section explored participants’ preparedness for immersion teaching by gathering their experience and opinions regarding their teacher preparation programs. The interview questions were developed based on the review of the existing literature and studies on immersion teaching and teacher preparation, which ensured the questions were relevant and comprehensive, and were able to address the key areas of interest in the study. The validation process of this study included expert reviews and pilot testing to ensure the interview protocol was unbiased and clear.
This semi-structured interview format was delivered as an open-ended question format and the study was flexible in the wording of particular interview questions. In this case, the interviews were personalized, and the participants had more opportunities to respond elaborately. This format also allowed for more opportunities to ask follow-up questions based on participant responses. The participants were ensured enough time to freely respond to the open-ended questions, allowing the researcher and participants to co-produce the data throughout the interaction. The obtained interview data were in the form of audio recordings to help decode during the data analysis.

3.4. Data Analysis

This study utilized qualitative thematic analysis to decode textual data and themes from the in-depth interviews to effectively focus on the explicit description of the communication content instead of the implicit meanings [42]. As one of the popular qualitative research methods, thematic analysis is used to identify, analyze, and report patterns or themes within data. The thematic analysis allows for detailed themes to be systematically identified across the qualitative dataset [43].
Guided by this approach, five themes were generated and named: (1) understanding educational philosophy and psychology theories and practices; (2) designing language and subject matter curriculum; (3) teaching language and subject matter content; (4) developing cross-cultural competence; (5) teaching observation, practices, and practicum.
The recorded data collected during the interview were converted into digital transcriptions and analyzed via the four-phase theme development systematic analysis, including initialization, construction, rectification, and finalization [42]. In the initialization phase, codes from the raw data of each transcript were screened to reflect on the main features of the interview questions. For example, when the teachers reported the helpful aspects of their teacher preparation programs, the data would be coded as “behavioral management” and “special education”, which characterized the main feature, but needed to be further categorized.
In the following construction phase, similar codes were grouped and compared to the codes to determine the themes of their perceptions of the preparation programs. The developed themes were verified in the rectification phases to ensure the maturity and completion of the theme development. Lastly, a written narration was developed to provide an in-depth discussion of the identified themes in the finalization phase.

4. Results

The participants in this study attended different teacher preparation programs in the U.S., but none of them graduated from immersion teacher preparation programs, which were limited in numbers in the U.S. in 2021. In this case, the participants were asked to report the content of the study in their teacher preparation programs that contributed to their immersion teaching assignments and the critically needed preparations for Chinese immersion teachers. Five core contribution areas emerged from the responses, which included the preparation related to understanding educational philosophy and psychology theories and practices, designing language and subject matter curriculum, teaching language and subject matter contents, developing cross-cultural competence, and teaching observation, practices, and practicum. The findings for each of these areas are summarized in Table 2, and the participants’ key responses are reported in detail below.

4.1. Understanding Educational Philosophy and Psychology Theories and Practices

All the participants reported that the theories and practices related to educational philosophy and educational psychology in their teacher preparation programs contributed to their Chinese immersion jobs in different ways, and it was essential for Chinese immersion teachers to receive relevant preparation on this topic. Within the theme of educational philosophy and psychology, they reported two aspects that were beneficial but were critically needed, which included social and emotional learning (SEL) and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
For SEL, the participants reported the importance of understanding the physical, emotional, and psychological development of students. Chinese immersion teachers benefited from SEL education as (1) psychology knowledge can help teachers self-examine whether they were mentally prepared to enter this career. For example, P4, one of the interviewees, believed that teachers needed to invest more time in learning the essentials of building a relationship with the students and being mentally ready instead of rushing through teaching. (2) SEL knowledge can help them better understand students’ social and emotional development needs. P6, another interviewee, who received relevant preparation in her pre-service teacher preparation programs, reported “When you know they are at a certain age, maybe they need more repetition, they need the visual. Or you can just teach in an abstract way, so that is very different”. (3) The preparation would support them in designing SEL lessons. P1, P4, and P6 believed they lacked preparation to implement teachings that properly addressed students’ social and emotional learning needs, for example, how to plan a lesson to address social-emotional components. In addition, P3 noted that the school provided its teachers with training on the topic of trauma: “During the pandemic, maybe the students they became much stressful, so we need to be ready when they came in and know how to help them”. However, the participants reported that SEL was not emphasized enough in their teacher preparation programs. Some of them did not receive SEL training before they started teaching, and the relevant information was self-taught. Thus, they asserted that it would be much more beneficial if such preparations were provided before becoming a teacher.
Second, the knowledge of DEI was also helpful and necessary in their teacher preparation programs, as it could help Chinese immersion teachers familiarize themselves with this notion and address it with the students. For example, P4 reported in the interview: “[in my teacher preparation programs,] I also had some special education-related courses; those courses gave me an idea about what were those programs for. They [the preparation programs] didn’t give me much instruction on how to handle the [special education] problems and how to instruct those populations. But at least I got a sense that they exist. They are there”. In addition, P1 indicated that Chinese immersion teachers felt challenged to teach DEI, as the shortage of resources made the content too hard for students to understand in the Chinese language. In this case, more curriculum materials and preparations were needed for Chinese immersion teachers to learn and teach the notion of DEI in Chinese immersion programs.

4.2. Designing Language and Subject Matter Curriculum

Although the participants graduated from various teacher preparation programs, most of them received relevant preparation on designing language and subject matter curricula and believed that the related studies were helpful and needed. The participants successfully transferred their knowledge such as designing engaging lessons and drafting detailed lesson plans from their teacher preparation programs to the immersion setting. Specifically, the teacher preparation programs that provided curriculum design in different subjects (e.g., English, social studies, science, math, Chinese) helped Chinese immersion teachers teach the academic content in their immersion jobs.
Similar to DEI, these participants also reported that further preparation on designing language and subject matter curricula would be very beneficial. On the language side, as immersion programs used different Chinese language art curricula, there was no guidance or unified curriculum for Chinese immersion teachers to follow in the U.S. Although the resources for teaching Chinese were increasing, there was still a shortage of guidelines or standards on how to use these textbooks or other language materials. Thus, Chinese immersion teachers had to design their lessons step by step without any references, which challenged the inexperienced Chinese immersion teachers in general. In this case, preparation on how to create a Chinese language curriculum or what type of curriculum existed as an option for teachers in the immersion setting would be beneficial.
For the subject matter, the participants indicated a shortage of pre-service preparation on designing the whole-year blueprints for the curriculum content. The main reason could be that the participants were not educated in the K-12 educational system in the U.S. As a result, the participants tended not to be familiar with teaching content across grade levels and subject areas. For example, P4 stated, “If I went through the education [K-12] here, at least I would have a sense that around the third grade or the fourth grade, I should start to learn multiplication and division. And then [in] the four or the fifth [grade] you started to learn about fractions. But with[sic] the fact that I wasn’t educated here, I had no clue”. Another reason was the shortage of subject teaching resources and the lack of teacher’s instructional manuals for Chinese immersion teachers. For instance, P1 reported that the shortage of social studies resources made the content too hard for students to understand in the Chinese language. Therefore, the participants reported that they were not adequately experienced in preparing their teaching curriculum if they did not receive enough preparation on teaching subject matter content.
In this case, when compared with other fellow teachers who had received their education in the U.S., it took a certain amount of time for P4 to familiarize herself with the standards and curriculum. Thus, Chinese immersion teachers needed to equip the knowledge of scope and sequence across different grade levels in each subject. They also needed to understand and familiarize the subject matter contained in the U.S. K-12 system to design the curriculum in the whole-year blueprints.

4.3. Teaching Language and Subject Matter Content

Beyond designing language and subject matter curricula, instructional strategies were also beneficial but lacking. Specifically, the pedagogy and methodological education in participants’ teacher preparation programs benefited their immersion teacher jobs. For example, project-based learning, hands-on activities, and educational technology were helpful. P4 explained: “The technology course, actually provides you a lot of resources and platforms to support you in terms of technology in the classroom setting. For example, I explored and tried iMovie, webcams, and these types of things. I am still using that in my teaching. That is what I am still carrying on with”. P6 further noted the need for relevant preparation on technology, especially remote learning, which would be helpful for Chinese immersion teachers:
Right now, it is a really difficult time, we are doing remote learning. This whole remote learning is a new concept. Everybody is trying to figure out what it is and how we can teach [with it]. So, this is also one expectation and a trend for teachers. A lot of the courses will be taught online even for young children. So [an important question right now is] how can we teachers receive more training when it comes to remote teaching?
In addition, the participants who received preparation related to teaching Chinese language and culture, such as teaching Chinese as a second language (TCSL) and Chinese language and literature, tended to feel more confident in teaching Chinese in immersion settings. These relevant preparations were effective regardless of whether they were received in China or the U.S. For example, P2 and P5 both believed the methodology in TCSL was helpful. P2 mentioned that the Chinese classical literature courses helped them teach Chinese characters, such as word structures and radicals, as well as the story behind them. On the contrary, P4, who did not receive preparation focused on teaching the Chinese language, lacked confidence during their teaching assignments. Beyond language, the teachers (P1 and P6) who received preparation on how to address Chinese culture were well prepared to integrate cultural elements in their immersion teaching.
Surprisingly, the preparation on teaching the English language and culture was also deemed critical by the participants. Some participants needed to teach English in their schools. For them, the knowledge of English linguistics and the methodologies of teaching English literacy were necessary.
Beyond languages, as Chinese immersion teachers were using the Chinese language to teach different subject matter, they needed the subject matter teaching preparation that was specifically designed for immersion teachers.
Classroom management was another topic that the participants needed in their teacher preparation programs. As explained by P4, a lot of teachers struggled to manage their classes. Thus, their teaching was not effective even if they had designed excellent lessons and adapted what they had learned during their teacher preparation programs. In this case, novice teachers, having limited experience in classroom management, would benefit from receiving the relevant preparations on the topic of classroom management strategies.

4.4. Developing Cross-Cultural Competence

The preparation on cross-cultural understanding helped the participants adapt to American culture, especially those who came to the U.S. without knowledge of the local culture. Representative examples include P1, who stated that the teacher preparation program provided teachers opportunities to “Learn [about] the local community, work with families and future students, as well as knowing the boundaries in the classroom”, which proved to be beneficial.
Beyond cross-cultural understanding, preparation on cross-cultural communication was helpful. During their teacher preparation, P2 learned about “How to talk to parents [and] how to work with colleagues” in the U.S. school context. Hence, more preparation in cross-cultural communication would help foster Chinese immersion teachers’ effective communication and collaboration with students, colleagues, and parents in the U.S. Here, the original words from the participants could best describe this need. As P2 explains their needs, “Being a teacher, especially you are not native to this country, how would you understand and cooperate with colleagues, and work with parents and students in general”. More specifically, how to communicate with parents effectively via email to explain students’ Chinese learning progress was one of the concerns explained by P6.

4.5. Teaching Observation, Practices, and Practicum

Chinese immersion teachers benefited from the teaching observation and practices in their teacher preparation programs. During these observations and practices, novice teachers could conduct mock teaching and receive feedback from experienced instructors and peers. Given the opportunities to observe demonstrations of the instructors and peers with teaching experience, the novice teachers gained valuable insights into teaching practices in the U.S. context. Thus, these kinds of opportunities helped Chinese immersion teacher candidates apply the teaching strategies they learned from the courses, but mainly through observing instead of practicing.
Beyond the teaching observation and practices in their teacher preparation courses, the practicum experience in either general K-12 settings or immersion programs also helped Chinese immersion teachers in different ways. The participants gained a better understanding of the schools’ operations or routines from their practicum experience, even before they started working as immersion teachers. P3 explained that visiting and observing a real classroom was beneficial for international students. As they do not have educational and teaching experience in the U.S., they did not receive the opportunities to practice the learned strategies in a real classroom. P3 stated, “Because we were learning everything the same. It is cool to see she [the classmate] apply these strategies in the classroom”. P4 further explained that the classroom observations could help the pre-service teachers learn class management techniques and become familiarized with the school’s structure and procedures, such as the daily routine, the fire drills, and the shelter-in. P4 further commented, “When you are physically in a classroom setting, you will look completely different from what you learned from a certain course”. Specifically, P5 indicated that communicating with parents and families was one of the most useful experiences during their practicum.

5. Discussions and Recommendations

Each subsection in the above results summarizes the beneficial but critically needed aspects within the participants’ teacher preparation programs identified during the interviews. Notably, none of the teaching preparation programs these participants attended were dedicated specifically to immersion teacher preparation programs. In this case, the discussions focused on what these non-immersion teacher preparation programs contributed to Chinese immersion teachers’ curriculum design, instruction, and communication capabilities during their work.
Walker and Tedick [28] previously stated that immersion teachers require the same level of fundamental preparation elements in the teacher preparation programs as monolingual teachers. Educational philosophy and psychology were listed as two of the foundation studies within teacher preparation programs [44]. Thus, the first contributing aspects included educational philosophy and psychology theories and practices, which helped Chinese immersion teachers understand the education system in the U.S.
The introduction of special education in the U.S. has provided Chinese immersion teachers with a general understanding of this program, which, according to Zhou and Li [45], was lacking by many Chinese immersion teachers before teaching in the U.S. As a result, Chinese teachers have limited knowledge and experience working with students with special needs.
Lastly, preparation in educational psychology and philosophy could benefit Chinese immersion teachers’ capabilities to practice SEL and DEI. From the interview results, the participants started to realize the importance of these aspects, although most of them systematically lacked the relevant training. More studies should be conducted to explore how to effectively introduce SEL and DEI teaching and learning for Chinese immersion teachers’ preparation programs.
Besides educational philosophy and psychology, the preparation related to designing language and subject matter curricula is also critically needed. In general, the basic knowledge and practices regarding curriculum design (i.e., lesson planning and assessment) in a general classroom setting have already been implemented. Although the Chinese immersion programs in the U.S. develop their Chinese language and literacy curriculum based on the existing English language and literacy thematic topics, they need to create the relative Chinese literacy curriculum materials from scratch [14,27]. In this process, Chinese immersion teachers lack Chinese curriculum and curriculum development skills [14]. Therefore, Chinese immersion teachers are in dire need of relevant preparation related to Chinese language curriculum design.
Chinese immersion teachers also need to use a target language to teach subject matter content and therefore serve a dual role of language teacher and homeroom teacher. Thus, they serve as both language and content experts and should be capable of designing content-based lessons to help students achieve their second language development goals while learning the academic content [24,25,26]. When it comes to Chinese immersion programs, they also adapt their subject matter curriculum based on national standards, state standards, or “common core” standards in the U.S. [27]. Chinese immersion teachers, who are not educated in the K-12 system of the U.S., would be more effective if they were equipped with the knowledge of scope and sequence across different grade levels for each subject. In this case, Chinese immersion teachers need the knowledge of designing language- and content-based curricula during their preparation.
Following the general pedagogical preparations, it is critical to provide relevant preparation related to teaching language and subject matter content for Chinese immersion teachers. Chinese language and literacy teaching preparations, either in China or the U.S., tend to make Chinese immersion teachers more confident than those who have not received the relevant preparations. Therefore, the authors propose that language-specific preparation should be incorporated into the Chinese immersion teacher training program as well.
Classroom management preparation is another key aspect of teacher preparation programs. As students could have different cultural understandings and/or misunderstand the instructional language, some Chinese immersion teachers’ behavior management strategies are ineffective due to their teacher-centered teaching style, knowledge-centered beliefs, and high participant expectations [15,19,23,30,31]. These challenges require Chinese immersion teachers to receive more relevant preparation in classroom management in the U.S.
From the results, the fourth area that has gradually gained importance among Chinese immersion teachers is cross-cultural competence development. The development of cross-cultural competence could help teachers gain cultural awareness [23,45]. In addition, teachers could also help students interpret the culture reflected in the target language [46]. Particularly, more teacher preparation in cross-cultural communication would contribute to Chinese immersion teachers’ effective communication and collaboration with students, colleagues, and parents in the U.S. Thus, the potential miscommunications between Chinese immersion teachers and their American colleagues [21] could be recognized and reduced before teachers start their careers. Also, Chinese immersion teachers would feel more comfortable working or communicating with parents, such as helping parents understand the language acquisition process, the academic and linguistic goals, and teachers’ curriculum design perspectives [14,19,20,35].
Finally, the mandatory practicum in K-12 educational systems in some of the pre-service teacher preparation programs has helped Chinese immersion teachers familiarize themselves with the school’s operations and daily routines (e.g., fire drills), which should be recommended for all Chinese immersion teachers during their teacher preparations. As indicated previously, most participants did not attend K-12 immersion schools themselves, and the literature from the previous decade reported that most of the immersion teachers did not have practicum experience in an immersion setting [47]. Thus, the practicum experiences were the most suitable methods for them to learn effective instructional and classroom management techniques in a real language immersion program environment in the U.S. [36,48,49,50].
Note that even though none of the participants graduated from immersion teacher preparation programs, some of them did have practicum experience in the immersion setting. During these practicum experiences, these teacher candidates acquired cross-cultural communication skills, which helped them effectively work with parents, colleagues, and communities in their careers. Therefore, there could be a potential for growth by having Chinese immersion teacher candidates complete their practicum in immersion schools, which is also recommended in this study.
Based on the discussions above, the following recommendations are made to improve the preparation of Chinese immersion teachers.
  • Develop more immersion teacher preparation or certification programs at the college or university level to fulfill the increasing demand for licensed Chinese immersion teachers.
  • Enrich the current teacher preparation or certification programs by adding more courses that focus on the curriculum and instruction in language immersion settings for immersion teacher candidates.
  • Provide elective courses to introduce the K-12 school system to immersion teacher candidates who have not received their K-12 education in the U.S.
  • Include and/or require more practicum experience in language immersion programs.
  • Offer well-designed, unified, and published standards, curricula, and materials across the nation for language immersion programs.

6. Conclusions

To conclude, there has been a shortage of teacher preparation programs for language immersion teachers in the U.S. Thus, this exploratory study interviewed representative Chinese immersion teachers who attended their teacher preparation programs in the U.S., but none of the programs were designed for immersion settings.
Nevertheless, the participants still reported a certain amount of content from their teacher preparation programs that contributed to their success in immersion teaching careers in the U.S. The beneficial preparation aspects include understanding educational philosophy and psychology theories and practices, designing language and subject matter curricula, teaching language and subject matter content, developing cross-cultural competence, and teaching observation and practicum.
Beyond the beneficial aspects, Chinese immersion teachers also faced many challenges and hence demanded more preparation on social-emotional learning, diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as strategies for managing students’ behaviors. Also, they required more preparation on the theory and practices of the curriculum and instruction focused on language immersion education, especially teaching subject matter in Chinese, designing content-based learning curriculum, and cross-cultural competence.
To help meet these demands, teacher preparation programs were recommended to introduce more elective courses and allow for more immersion practicum experience for immersion teacher candidates. Finally, the Chinese immersion programs and policymakers could help Chinese immersion teachers by offering more unified and standardized curriculum materials.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, M.C.; resources, M.C., J.L. and Y.Z.G.; data curation, writing—original draft preparation, M.C.; writing—review and editing, M.C., J.L. and Y.Z.G.; visualization, supervision, project administration, M.C. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement

The study was conducted in accordance and approved by the Institutional Review Board of St. Cloud State University (protocol code 1978-2558 and date of approval 08/27/2020).

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Data Availability Statement

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Table 1. Participants’ teaching positions and educational backgrounds.
Table 1. Participants’ teaching positions and educational backgrounds.
TeacherGenderGrade LevelBachelor’s DegreeMaster’s DegreeImmersion ExperienceNon-Immersion Experience
P1Female5th gradeChinese Language and Literacy (China) *Teaching and Curriculum (U.S) *6 years<1 year
P2Female3rd gradeEnglish Literature (China)Teaching Chinese as a Second Language (U.S) *7 years2 years
P3Male6th gradeEnglish (China)Teaching English as a Second Language (U.S) *4 years8 years
P4Female4th gradeNot related to language or teaching (China)Teaching English as a Second Language and Childhood Education (U.S) *4 years1 year
P5Female1st gradeTeaching Chinese as a Second Language (China) *Bilingual Bicultural Education (U.S) *1 years2 years
P6FemalePre-schoolNot related to language or teaching (China)Family Education and Early Childhood Education (U.S) *3.5 years4 years
Note: * denotes the training programs that are related to teacher preparation.
Table 2. Key responses of participants.
Table 2. Key responses of participants.
Beneficial AreasRelated Subject Knowledge
Understanding Educational
Philosophy and Psychology Theories and Practices
  • Philosophy of education
  • Psychological stages of the students
  • Special education
  • The notion of diversity, equity, and inclusion
Designing Language and
Subject Matter Curriculum
  • Detailed unit/lesson planning
  • Subject matter curriculum design
  • Chinese language curriculum design
Teaching Language and
Subject Matter Content
  • Teaching Chinese language and literacy
  • Teaching English language and literacy
  • Use of teaching technology
  • Classroom management
Developing
Cross-Cultural Competence
  • Bicultural education
  • Teaching Chinese culture
  • Adapting to U.S. culture
  • Cross-cultural communication
Teaching Observation,
Practices, and Practicum
  • Within the teacher preparation programs
  • Within the mandatory teaching practicum
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Chen, M.; Li, J.; Gorke, Y.Z. Chinese Immersion Teachers in the U.S.: Perceptions and Needs in Their Teacher Preparation Programs. Educ. Sci. 2024, 14, 878. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14080878

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Chen M, Li J, Gorke YZ. Chinese Immersion Teachers in the U.S.: Perceptions and Needs in Their Teacher Preparation Programs. Education Sciences. 2024; 14(8):878. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14080878

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Chen, Mengyao, Jiahang Li, and Yongling Zhang Gorke. 2024. "Chinese Immersion Teachers in the U.S.: Perceptions and Needs in Their Teacher Preparation Programs" Education Sciences 14, no. 8: 878. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14080878

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