Attempting to search for new and skillful Chinese language teaching strategies, this study describes and analyzes the teaching practices and teacher-student interactions in four Mandarin Chinese language classrooms of a Chinese immersion school. Five research questions were developed to guide the study: (1) What teaching strategies are used in these Chinese immersion classrooms? (2) What are the patterns of teacher-student interaction in these Chinese immersion classrooms? (3) What are the patterns of language use in these Chinese immersion classrooms? (4) What unique characteristics of Chinese language instruction are reflected in the teaching practice? (5) What are teachers' perceptions of their roles in these Chinese immersion classrooms?

A qualitative approach was adopted to conduct this classroom process study seeking to understand the Chinese teaching strategies, classroom interactions, and the teachers' perceptions in the context of the Chinese immersion classrooms. Data was collected over a two-month period using the strategy of triangulation, incorporating classroom observation, field notes, and interviews. The data analysis addressed the five research questions through detailed description and comparison of the teaching practices and interactions in individual classrooms as well as the presentation of the four teachers' perceptions of their roles as Chinese immersion teachers.

The results of this study reveal that the Chinese immersion teachers put into practice several major second language acquisition theories, such as Krashen's "comprehensible input," Swain's "comprehensible output," Long's "interaction hypothesis," and the rationales of immersion education. In this way, these Chinese immersion teachers earnestly moved away from traditional Chinese teaching strategies to effectuate their instruction of the Chinese immersion students. Not only did they frequently interact with the students, but they also intently engaged them in group activities to allow for meaningful interactions, thus achieving students' communicative competence. The findings suggest that these teachers reflect a new model of Chinese language instruction, using immersion teaching strategies and focusing mainly on the process of student learning. They further imply that a change of Chinese language teachers' perceptions of their roles in the language classrooms is necessary for effective instruction.