A review of research on content-based foreign/second language education in US K-12 contexts

AbstractThis review of the extant research literature focuses on research about content-based language instruction (CBI) programmes in K-12 foreign/second language education in the USA. The review emphasises studies on one-way language immersion (OWI) and two-way language immersion (TWI) programmes, which are school-based and subject matter-driven. OWI primarily targets majority-language students and TWI a combined student population of minority- and majority-language learners. Reference to the few studies on non-immersion CBI programmes in the USA is also included. This article presents a review of the research in relationship to four broad themes: student outcomes, classroom language use and development, the hidden curriculum, and teacher preparation and practice. The research review is followed by a discussion of the research methodologies and theoretical frameworks used in these studies and concluding sections that set suggestions for paths for future inquiry in four areas: student diversity, the role of English in classrooms, teacher development, and achievement research.Keywords: content-based language instructionlanguage immersion educationcontent-and-language-integrated learninglanguage teacher education AcknowledgementsThe authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewers who offered comments that improved this article.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.Notes1. In the US, K-12 education comprises primary school for students aged 5–11 years (kindergarten through Grade 5) and secondary school for students aged 12–18 years (Grades 6–12).2. CAL's OWI and TWI directories may be accessed at http://webapp.cal.org/Immersion/ and http://www.cal.org/twi/directory/.3. These are comparable to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) levels B2 and C1 (http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/cadre1_en.asp).4. Many states have recently adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which were developed by a consortium of governors, education commissioners, and other educators. Development of national CCSS assessments is currently underway (http://www.corestandards.org/). Unfortunately, the CCSS emphasise English language development; there is no attention to bilingual development.