Immersion Learning Explained: How to Make the Most of the Learning and Teaching Experience

Immersion classrooms are the norm in teaching English as a Foreign Language. But what exactly is immersion learning? 

What is the meaning of immersion learning?

Immersion learning in a language learning situation refers to an environment in which only the target language is used. 

Immersion environments provide authentic and meaningful scenarios in which to learn and practise the language. 

If you think about travelling to a country where they don’t speak your language, but you learn to speak the local language – that’s immersion learning. You don’t necessarily take language lessons but you’re hearing the language all around you every day, in every situation. You’re essentially forced to use the language to get by.

What is the immersion method of learning?

Most commonly, this method of teaching is used in teaching English. But many international and bilingual schools use immersion learning with other subjects too. 

For example, a high school in Spain might teach History in English. In this way, the students are learning the content subject History, but they are also learning English.

In an immersion EFL classroom, the lessons are taught completely in English. Most of the time the teacher does not speak the students’ first language so it is not even possible to use translation during the lesson. 

Examples of immersion learning

Let’s imagine Karl. Karl is from Germany. He wants to study at a university in the UK, so he needs to improve his English level. Karl attends a language centre in his hometown in Germany. In his class there are 10 other German students.

 Each lesson, the teacher and the learners only speak English. Instructions, activities, reading and listening texts – everything is in English. Even better, the teacher uses authentic texts. In other words, she uses real-life written and audio texts to help her teach the language. Menus, magazines, TV and radio shows, newspapers and books, instruction manuals – these are all examples of authentic texts. The English in these texts is natural and real – it hasn’t been altered or graded for English language learners. 

Read more: Authentic Materials: How To Find Them And How To Use Them

What’s the importance of immersion learning?

Studies have shown immersion learning to be a highly effective tool in teaching foreign languages. 

• It increases motivation.
• It fosters a desire to belong to and assimilate into the local culture.
• It promotes higher fluency than other teaching methods.
• It improves performance in other academic subjects for school-learners.

Problems with immersion learning in the classroom

It can seem quite simple to conduct English lessons in an immersion environment – simply speak English! But it’s not always as easy as that!

Sometimes your students may be resistant to always speaking English. They might get tired of having to think about everything before they speak. They may want to communicate as best as they can i.e. in their first language. Or they may not know how to say what they want to say in English.

As a result, it’s important to cultivate a good atmosphere in your classroom which encourages your students to speak English. There are a number of things you can do to achieve this. At the same time, there are a few things that you should avoid doing:

What NOT to do in an immersion classroom

DON’T speak your students’ first language

Using translation in the classroom is not the problem here. There are many ways translation can be very useful. But, as the teacher, you need to speak English all the time. 

There may be times when you feel it would be easier to switch to the students’ first language – introductions, instructions, explanations – but always use English. Your students may find it hard at first, especially if they are lower level learners, but they will survive and their English will improve much more quickly as a result.

DON’T  overcomplicate things

While you should speak only in English, this should be done as simply as possible. There are many ways to introduce yourself or give instructions or give explanations, but you should use the simplest way for your level of learner.

Repeat yourself often and make sure your students are following your meaning before moving on to the next point.

DON’T talk at your students

Even though they may not understand every word you say, this doesn’t mean you can spend your whole lesson talking at your students and letting them absorb your language. 

Your students need to be interactive in your lessons. Prepare activities which encourage participation from your students. Bear in mind that you need to keep your activities aimed at the right level – if they’re too easy or too difficult your students will lose interest.

Are immersion learning and immersive learning the same thing?

Yes and no, though we can understand why the terms are similar. Sometimes the two terms are used interchangeably. But recently, immersive learning is used to refer to a specific situation.

ImmersIVE learning places students directly in a learning environment similar to how immersION language places students in an English environment. But immersIVE learning makes use of virtual reality (VR).

Immersive learning is an experiential training methodology that is used to upskill employees in their roles. It places subjects in virtual situations which mimic their working life. This is an interactive and engaging way to experience real-life scenarios.

So while the principles are the same, immersive learning uses VR, and immersion learning refers to language learning. 

This is not to say that there isn’t an overlap between the two. There is a growing movement of incorporating immersive learning and VR to teach foreign languages. At the moment, this is aimed at individual learners rather than foreign language classrooms, but who knows where VR can take us in the future!