After completing eight months of research on mental health in immersive language environments, three BYU professors share their findings with the Humanities Center.
Learning a language takes time. After 15 minutes on Duolingo, you can hardly expect to be fluent. In fact, most of the time, serious language scholars venture abroad to be immersed in their target language—a practice many find both rewarding and extremely challenging. In a Humanities Center colloquium held January 30, 2025, Associate Professors Shin Tsuchiya (Japanese Language Acquisition) and ShuPei Wang (Chinese Media Curriculum Design) and Clinical Professor Adam Fisher (Counseling and Psychological Services) shared their research on how students can learn a second language in an immersive environment without sacrificing their personal health.
To bring this study to life, Tsuchiya, Wang, and Fisher recruited students living in the Chinese and Japanese Language Immersion Student Residence (LISR) and began gathering data: Tsuchiya conducted one-on-one interviews with LISR students, Wang tested language proficiency using Oral Proficiency Interviews (OPI) before and after the eight-week research period, and Fisher hosted weekly group meditation sessions in English.
After analyzing student responses and interactions with each activity, the researchers made two important findings. They first found that both meditation and native language usage can benefit language study. Along with this, they went on to explain that English usage in an immersive environment will help students maintain healthy stress levels without sacrificing their well-being or their language study. Wang concluded that meditative practices can “help build a stronger community . . . and a support system, and I think that is also a key factor in language success.”
Read this article to learn more about Dr. Tsuchiya’s research.