Research Project: Balancing Language Development and Belonging in a Domestic Language Immersion Program
Our intention of this research is to study and improve the quality of learning and mental wellbeing of language students participating in the Language Immersion Student Residence (LISR) program at Brigham Young University. We plan to collect quantitative data by measuring participants’ oral proficiency level at the beginning and end of the program as well as by collecting participants’ self-measured stress level. To collect qualitative data, we will give open-ended survey questionnaire and follow-up interviews about participants’ language background, language use and beliefs about the language pledge, social relationships, L1 and L2 identity, physical and emotional well-being, and ideas for improving the program. Focal participants will attend mindfulness sessions specifically geared towards language immersion students. These sessions will be led by Dr. Adam Fisher, one of the faculty members from the Counseling and Psychological Services at BYU. Since three of the researchers in the research group currently supervise the Chinese, Korean, and Japanese program in the LISR, we will examine these programs for this study.
If you have questions or want to get involved with this research group, contact ShuPei Wang.