Dual Language Books Go Digital: Storybooks Canada in French Immersion Schools and Homes

Abstract

In response to Canada’s growing ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity, educators in French immersion classrooms are increasingly responding with enhanced cross-linguistic initiatives, and dual language books are promising resources in the promotion of multilingualism (Zaidi, 2020; Zaidi & Dooley, 2021). This paper details a research project we completed in a 2019 classroom-based qualitative case study in a French immersion school experiencing an increasing enrollment of linguistically diverse students. The researchers sought to determine if Storybooks Canada, a free digital platform with 40 dual language books in multiple languages, could help promote literacy engagement and strengthen home-school connections. Five teacher participants identified a range of features that make the platform a useful resource for promoting literacy engagement, text comprehension, learner autonomy, meaning-making, and instructional differentiation. These included (i) the multilingual features, (ii) the ability to project stories on a large screen, (iii) the audio component, (iv) the illustrations, and (v) the different levels of text difficulty. While teachers made almost exclusive use of the French language features of the site, for classroom purposes, they supported cross-linguistic uses of the platform in the home context, with a view of strengthening home-school connections.

Multilingual Stories for Immigrants and Refugees: A Language-as-Resource Approach

“…This allows for accessing the same information through two different languages, and the reader can compare the story-either as a whole or at sentence/page level. Reading a story in a familiar language first allows for an overview and contextual understanding, while switching between languages at the sentence or page level affords contrasting of words and phrases [32].…”

Quand l’école promeut des albums plurilingues de littérature jeunesse pour soutenir des pratiques inclusives de collaboration avec les familles en milieu pluriethnique et plurilingue

“…Quelques recherches ont permis de documenter les effets de projets d'utilisation de ces albums auprès d'enfants et d'élèves bi/plurilingues (Gosselin-Lavoie, 2021 ; Naqvi et al, 2012 ;Zaidi, 2020), certaines dans une perspective de collaboration école-famille (Zaidi et al, 2022 ;Perregaux et Zurbriggen, 2012 ;Rodriguez-Valls, 2009). À notre connaissance, seule deux d'entre elles se sont centrées spécifiquement sur l'appréciation de l'expérience des parents.…”

Teaching in a French Immersion Setting: A Review of the Who, the What and the How

“…Whereas in the past, FI teachers chose a monolingual, French, approach by monopolizing talk time, forbidding code-switching, and restricting group work options for example (Cummins, 2007). In recent years, there has been a shift in the traditional belief that a purely input-driven L2 learning experience is most effective, as advocated by proponents of FI programs (Cummins & Persad, 2014;Swain & Lapkin, 2013), to an increased focus on the examination of the role use a student's L1 can play in the language learning process (Davis et al, 2019;Fortune & Tedick, 2019;Mady, 2012;Mady & Garbati, 2014;Roy, 2015;Zaidi et al, 2022). Swain and Lapkin (2013) encouraged teachers to reflect on L1 use and to consider when and if its use supports student learning by facilitating comprehensible input.…”

“…Swain and Lapkin (2013) encouraged teachers to reflect on L1 use and to consider when and if its use supports student learning by facilitating comprehensible input. Zaidi et al (2022), conducted a case study whereby FI students from Grades K-6 were exposed to multilingual literacy teaching through the use of Storybooks Canada platform. Findings from this study revealed that the use of such multilingual tools enhanced student engagement in their respective multilingual contexts and reduced isolation of newly arrived students who were able to comprehend the stories that were being presented in their L1.…”