A Mixed-Methods Exploration into the Impact of the Mandarin Immersion Journey for Alumni of Preschool to 8th Grade Schools

• Main Author: Brooks, Sue
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01-01-2020
• Subjects: Bilingual education; Data Analysis; Education; Educational Environment; Elementary education; Individualized Instruction; Language; Language Proficiency; Language Skills; Learning Processes; Literature Reviews; Young Children
• ISBN: 9798569984718

To keep the United States economically competitive in a rapidly changing world, businessleaders are calling for employment candidates who can work efficiently in a globalized contextwith both language skills and cross-cultural dispositions critical to the economic success of thecountry. These language proficiency skills and cross-cultural dispositions are fostered by duallanguageimmersion programs; yet the benefits of a bilingual education for young adults had notbeen explored to date to concisely understand what leveragability they gain. This mixedmethodsresearch study with a sample of 38 young adults sought to answer the question: "Whatdid it matter?" to explore how alumni of two San Francisco Bay Area dual language immersionprograms describe the advantages they have as bilingual speakers of English and Mandarin.Results shows that most participants (75%) did not leverage their Mandarin skills during jobinterviews even though the majority of them are pursuing or planning on careers in business.After a substantial amount of time studying Mandarin in their lives, 82% of the non-heritagepopulation were not using Mandarin at all in their workplaces and 3 respondents use Mandarinaround 10-30% of the time. Implications are strong for research to explore where the journey topreparing biliterate young adults is broken down, and recommendations are given for universitiesto work with multinational companies to foster the capacity of alumni in specialized programsand internships. As only 7% of university students in the U.S take a world language course, it isimperative that research examines how the skills and dispositional capacity of our bilingualyouth are unguided by the time they arrive in the job market; just when the economy needs themthe most.