Exploring Middle School Teachers’ Understanding of English Immersion and Their Instructional Practices in Xi’an, China

Abstract Although there is an increasing number of middle schools establishing English immersion programs, teachers are not well-understood immersion and its application, as educators would hope them to do. Inadequate attention is paid to how teachers teach, how in-service training influences their understanding, and their practice of teaching. There is a pressing need to address these issues. This study is a mixed research design aimed at exploring selected in-service teachers’ understanding of English immersion, and their experiences. Data were obtained through a questionnaire, in-depth individual interviews, classroom observation, and post-observation discussion. The findings indicate there was confusion about content teaching vs. English teaching, and sometimes a failure to understand why teaching content in English was necessitated. The novice teachers have more irregularities between their understanding and practices. Factors, such as insufficiencies of in-service training, lacking time for planning and exposure to English practising activities; and absence of a policy framework and inadequate support, were identified as the cause for less success of the English immersion program. Implications are discussed, and suggestions for future studies are provided.