In a World of Immersive Behaviors, Why Not Reading Immersion to Strengthen Educational Skills Free

In a world of immersive behaviors, why not immerse students in words, vocabulary, and language to improve their reading skills. Reading immersion will improve the learners’ reading skills and comprehension across the curriculum in all subjects. Many strategies could be pulled from various immersion techniques used in other areas to employ reading immersion. A combination of techniques used in the trending art and classic language immersions is symbolic of John Dew/s philosophy of marrying traditional education and progressive education and using the best qualities of the two to enhance and build upon the learners’ educational experience and further the learner’s knowledge and education.

As the world changes and we become more of a blended culture of inclusion and not so much a separated society, sticking to our own kind, segregating haves and have-nots, and separating highly intellectual students from struggling students are factors in our presentation of educational materials that have to adjust to the new inclusive educational environment. Reading immersion is that change.

The definition of immersion is the action of engulfing someone or something entirely in a liquid; engaging in deep mental involvement; a method of teaching a foreign language by exclusively using the language to be learned. State of being completely engaged, involved, or absorbed by something; an idea, liquid, or thought (Merriam-Webster, 2022). I envisioned immersion as being completely consumed by something that is absorbed through several senses, smelling, feeling physically or emotionally, seeing, tasting, hearing, and experiencing something that touches you internally that will allow you to take in and understand the very essence of that “thing.” Everyone understands being immersed in water and being surrounded, under the surface engulfed by something.

Art immersion is an idea, like the Van Gogh Exhibit: The Immersive Experience (2021) or the Beyond Monet: The Immersive Experience (2022). Being wholly surrounded and placed in the painting in a 4-D experience; hearing the birds chirping and the waves crashing, seeing the waves roll in and out, or the brightness of the day in the painting, feeling the warm sun on your back or face and the wind blowing your hair and, in some instances, smelling the sea salt or fresh apple pie and tasting the very essence of a piece of art. Being consumed by the art as it whirls around you as you stand in the center of the room. That is a stimulating educational experience and an experience that will not be forgotten and has piqued the learned’s curiosity to learn more. What if we could take that same idea and immerse students in words to ignite greater engagement and excitement for reading, improving comprehension and test scores in general. What would that immersion look like?

Language immersion is done a little differently. There are levels to how language immersion is done and specific age ranges and timetables as to when immersion is taking place to optimize learner education and a positive educational experience. There are three types of immersion: (1) Total immersion is when the learner is taught and only interacts with the instructor in the language to be learned. (2) Partial immersion is when the learner is instructed in his home language and the language to be learned. (3) Two-way immersion is when learners of the majority language in the environment and those of the minority language in an environment learn in the same space (Wikipedia, 2021).

Age ranges can further break down the stages of immersion and the amount of immersion the learner is exposed to at one time. Early immersion occurs when the learner is about 5 or 6 years old in elementary school. If the early immersion stage is divided, the total early immersion stage would be at 90 to 100% in kindergarten and 1st grade, and partial early immersion at 50% in kindergarten and first grade. Middle immersion occurs at about age 9 or 10 in elementary and middle school. Total middle or delayed immersion would be at 90% immersion in fourth or fifth grade and partial middle or delayed immersion at 50% in fourth or fifth grade. Late immersion takes place at about age 11 or older in middle or high school. Total late immersion at 80% would occur in the sixth or seventh grade, and late partial immersion at 50% would occur in the sixth or seventh grade (Wikipedia, 2021).

What would happen if we took the same reading approach as language immersion? To surround or immerse the learner in letters, letter sounds, words, vocabulary, different writing styles, and various written expressions using all the writing and reading techniques across the curriculum. What would that look like for struggling learners and proficient learners? How much will this improve reading fluency and reading comprehension? Reading will become as seamless as bilingualism and multilingualism, being able to switch back and forth between and speak two or more languages fluently. The depth of reading proficiency and critical thinking would immensely increase.

Learning across the curriculum is a concept spoken about in education; however, it has not been developed and implemented because it is challenging. Learning across the curriculum requires that all subjects teach one concept at one time from different perspectives using the same jargon. There must be an agreement or consensus amongst the educators on what needs to be taught over the school year and how that information will be presented.

For instance, if all the educators in the different subjects decide to teach about flowers, then the art teacher would talk about the flower’s colors, shapes, textures, smells, sizes, and uses. In math, they would discuss the flower’s sizes, shapes, the amount of water and sun they need to grow, and the difference between annuals and perennials. In science, they would discuss the differences between annuals and perennials, what soil flowers need to grow, how much water or rain the flowers need, the smell of the flowers, and how much sun or shade they need. In social studies, there would be a discussion about flower agriculture, how flowers affect the economy, and the impact of buying flowers in a domestic and international market (this could also be discussed in math). These educators and the English/ language arts teacher would then produce a word list of vocabulary that is common among all subjects.

These will be the words the learners will be immersed in all subjects, in the classrooms, on the walls down the hallway transitioning from classroom to classroom, in their class and homework assignments, on the computer listening to the immersive reader as they read from their virtual textbook. The learner will be bombarded with words, hearing, seeing, and interacting with a continuous educational experience as described by Dewey. The learner will have built, in their brain, vocabulary muscle memory for these words and will be able to understand and use them interchangeably in the correct context in any subject they apply to.

Reading immersion is immersed in words, jargon, ideologies, letters, letter sounds, vocabulary, and phrases. Reading immersion would have to be an everyday event, an exciting experience continuously evolving and everchanging, a daily wow factor. The term immersive reading is the interaction of the reader reading a particular text. At the same time, an electronic device the reader uses is reading the text aloud to or with the reader. That is one entity of the idea of the reading immersion experience. Reading immersion is an experience that will awaken your senses and draw the reader into the process of reading.

Using the same characterizations and fashions as the immersion types used in Language Immersion, Reading immersion should follow the exact timelines with adaptations and adjustments made to facilitate the flow of stimulating information in the learning environment and the educational experience of the learners. Language immersion is encouraged in the United States and many other countries, but there is no set curriculum for language immersion to guide the process.

The philosopher, John Dewey’s thought process behind education is interesting. Dewey founded a laboratory school known as the Dewey School at the forefront of experiments in educational thinking. Two principles guided Dewey’s philosophy: continuity, that learning is continual, nonstop everchanging, perpetual, and developing, and the principle of interaction, which determines the influence the experience has had on the learner internally. Dewey brought together traditional education with its rigid rules, dos and don’ts that constricted the learner, and progressive education, which allowed for individual freedoms, and consideration of the learners’ impulses and interests. Reading immersion is a direct example of how the bombarding of letters will enhance the learner’s educational experience, letter sounds, blends, and words in assorted sizes, colors, fonts, and textures in the early Reading Immersion environment, ascetically drawing the learner in. Words and letters on the wall in unusual colors, shapes, fonts, textures, and sizes, evolving weekly and or monthly with additions of the innovative words and phrases that were learned. There will not be just a word wall but word walls in every classroom utilizing and interconnecting words across the curriculum. The reiteration and constant use of these words will foster word recognition, enhance the learners’ comprehension of the word, build the learners’ vocabulary, and sharpen the learners’ higher order of thinking. The Reading Immersion experience makes way and lays a foundation for future learning.

I theorize that the more exposure a learner has to a particular educational experience, the more familiar the learner becomes with the knowledge. The words and phrases become like second nature, somewhat of a scaffolding effect. The experiences further the learners’ future education, according to Dewey. The future knowledge is built from the learners’ previous experiences, and the learning continues. Reading immersion is here. The close caption on the computer now automatically comes on so you can see the words while a song is playing on YouTube, the option to choose immersive reader when reading a book or email, the next step is to add an explosion of color and design and bring the words to life. The educator is shaping the direction of the reading immersion experience and facilitating the learner’s growth through the experience while considering the environment and the learners sharing the meaningful educational experience.