In the present day Mandarin Chinese has become a commonly taught language in the U.S. Mandarin is widely taught in colleges and universities; K-12 Chinese programs, including immersion programs, have also grown rapidly. However, to date little research has been conducted on the latter programs. This study examines immersion programs in elementary schools. I investigate three aspects: 1) teaching methods in Chinese immersion programs, 2) acquisition of grammatical patterns, and 3) computer assisted methods for character learning. I adopted a qualitative approach; the methods I employ include observation, interviews, questionnaires, and tests. Data were collected from two immersion programs and two non-immersion programs in a Southwestern city in the U.S. The first study compares the teaching methods used in Chinese immersion and non-immersion programs. It is found that the two immersion programs adopted the functional approach with explicating in each class time, while the non-immersion programs used the analytical approach with practicing in context in most classes. The immersion students produced spontaneous speech in each class, while non-immersion language class students did not. The second study examines how immersion learners acquire the ba-construction and time phrases. We found that immersion students produced not many ba sentences but a large number of time phrases. However, in terms of accuracy, ba sentences were produced almost flawlessly, while time phrases were often placed incorrectly in a sentence. This result is quite different from what we find in adult learners who mostly acquire Chinese in a non-immersion setting. It shows that immersion learners’ acquisition differs from both L1 acquisition and L2 acquisition by adults. The third study investigates how computer-assisted methods help students learn Chinese characters. I compare immersion learners with heritage learners with respect to how they respond to computer-assisted methods. No difference is found between the two groups of learners in terms of their performance in character recognition, pronunciation and writing. It is also found that while computer assisted materials helped with character recognition, it did not help with character writing.

This study is an evaluation of online annotated readers developed for first grade students enrolled in Chinese immersion. The electronic readers were created to provide additional input to immersion students, who had little time in class for Chinese character reinforcement. The students accessed online readers from their homes and took assessments before and after each reader to test for improved character comprehension. In addition, students were divided into treatment and control groups. The treatment group had annotated electronic readers with audio and games. Conversely, the control group did not have annotations but audio was included. Results demonstrate a significant difference between preliminary and post-assessments, suggesting that students comprehended more characters after reading. No significant differences were detected between the control (non-annotated) and treatment (annotated) groups. Additional data collected from parent surveys provide useful demographics about subjects' socio-cultural and language variables as well as highlight parental desires for more support and help-aides. Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) in relationship to young immersion students learning Chinese is also discussed. Results suggest that online annotated readers can be an important resource for students who have limited instructional time in the classroom and little opportunity to receive help at home.