French Immersion Research Agenda for the 90s

Lapkin, Sharon; Swain, Merrill; Shapson, Stan

doi:10.3138/cmlr.46.4.638

Cited by 70 publications

(31 citation statements)

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“…These results reaffirm the conclusion that early foreign language learners benefit more in oral communication than those who start their foreign language instruction late (Genesee, 1987;Swain & Lapkin, 1986;Wesche, Morrison, Ready, & Pawley, 1990). Furthermore, research on early L2 learning has provided evidence of cognitive, academic, and attitudinal advantages for children who start foreign language instruction early (Cummins 1981;Cummins & Swain, 1986;Lapkin, Swain, & Shapson, 1990;Swain & Lapkin, 1986).Although the research findings are inconclusive, there seem to be numerous advantages to beginning foreign language study at an early age. Children who begin early appear to develop better L2 oral proficiency and to feel more secure in their oral L2 performance.…”

supporting

confidence: 68%

Early Versus Late Start in Foreign Language Education: Documenting Achievements

Domínguez

Pessoa

2005

Foreign Language Annals

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This study compares 27 sixth grade students who have been learning Spanish since kindergarten with 5 who have had Spanish for only 1 year using a battery of Spanish oral and written tests. The students who started early outperformed the new students in listening, speaking, and writing Spanish. Those who started early also displayed a positive attitude toward speaking Spanish in the classroom, a high level of confidence in their Spanish oral and literacy skills, and the use of sophisticated language structures in writing. These findings provide additional evidence supporting the case for early foreign language learning. Key words: content-based instruction, early versus late second language learning, foreign language in the elementary schools (FLES) Language: Spanish Early Versus Late Foreign Language Education: Why Start Early?Even though Krashen, Long, and Scarcella (1979) concluded that early foreign language learners show better results than older ones in the long run, later studies of the early-late distinction have provided conflicting findings. In many cases, these studies focused on a particular skill or task (e.g., reading comprehension), thus making it difficult to conclude anything substantial about an early start. The present study presents findings that support foreign language learning for early learners based on results from a battery of oral and written tests comparing the academic and nonacademic language skills of two groups of children. In addition, this study includes students' perceptions of their language learning skills.Singleton (2001) provided a recent review of research on the impact of age on second language acquisition (SLA) and discussed various trends in this area. Harley (1986) concluded that an early start may lead to greater oral proficiency and confidence in using the target language. Furthermore, Harley and Wang (1997) found that early learners outperformed older ones not only in pronunciation, but also in morphology and syntax. Regarding the achievements of late beginners, studies show that some learners whose exposure to a second language (L2) begins after age 12 can nevertheless acquire nativelike pronunciation (Bongaerts, Mennen, & Van der Slik, 2000; Bongaerts, van Summeren, Planken, & Schils, 1997;Palmen, Bongaerts, & Schils, 1997). These studies are consistent with the results of Scovel (1988) and Flege (1999), who found that children can attain nativelike pronunciation in their L2. Researchers have begun to identify other factors that are intrinsically related to age of learning and that may affect SLA. For example, DeKeyser (2000) found that the few adult beginners in his study whose scores were identical to those of child beginners had high levels of verbal analytical ability. According to DeKeyser, these results suggest that maturational constraints apply only to implicit language learning mechanisms.Harley and Hart (1997) indicated that differences of instructional styles associated with primary and secondarylevel education may be a factor related to L2 ag...

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supporting

confidence: 68%

Early Versus Late Start in Foreign Language Education: Documenting Achievements

Domínguez

Pessoa

2005

Foreign Language Annals

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“…For example, Genesee (1978) noted that children attending French immersion schooling in Canada tended to limit their use of French to the school context, using English in the wider community, which may explain why children's productive knowledge of French lags behind their receptive knowledge (Lapkin, Swain, and Shapson 1990;Harley et al 1991). Similarly, Vila (1996) (as cited in Vila i Moreno 2008) observed that Castillian Spanish L1-speaking children learning Catalan at school tended to conduct peer-peer interactions in Castillian, even within the classroom.…”

Section: Intrapersonal Factors: Children's Social Use Of Languagementioning

confidence: 97%

Exploring bilinguals’ social use of language inside and out of the minority language classroom

Roberts

2011

Language and Education

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This paper examines bilingual children's use of language inside and out of the minority language classroom. A total of 145 children between 8 and 11 years of age, attending 16 bilingual Welsh-English primary schools in North Wales, responded to questionnaires (supplemented by classroom observations) requesting information about their language backgrounds, their use of language at school (inside and out of the classroom) and in the wider community, their self-ratings about their linguistic competence in Welsh and in English and their attitudes towards Welsh and English and towards bilingualism per se. Whilst the results, in general, demonstrated a positive attitude towards bilingualism, there was a clear trend towards favouring the use of English outside the classroom. This pattern was mediated by language experiences and perceived language abilities within the individual. The implications of the findings for language policy and planning in education and in minority situations are discussed.

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“…However, a small proportion of students come from homes in which one or both parents are native speakers of French, and in some large urban centres such as Toronto, or Calgary in Alberta, there are substantial numbers of students from homes in which one or both parents speak a third language-that is, they have a native language other than English or French (Hart, Lapkin & Swain, 1989;Hart & Lapkin, 1990). Generally speaking, immersion programmes have been found to attract more enrollment from families of higher socio-economic status than is characteristic of the general population in any given geographic area (Lapkin & Swain with Shapson, 1990). In large urban centres, this means that most students come from families where one or both parents are university-educated.…”

Section: Background On Immersion Programmesmentioning

confidence: 99%

After immersion: Maintaining the momentum

Harley

1994

Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development

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Surveys of recent graduates of French immersion programmes in Canada have found relatively few of them making substantial use of French in the years immediately following their schooling. What factors appear to be influencing this phenomenon? Do these young adults risk losing the second language skills that they have invested so much time in developing over their school careers? What advice can one give to those who wish to maintain their skills but have so far found little opportunity to do so? In this paper, these questions are considered in the light of the views of the immersion graduates themselves, the literature on second language retention, and some case studies of adult Canadians who have been engaged in maintaining or improving the French skills they first learned at school.

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French Immersion Research Agenda for the 90s

Cited by 70 publications

References 0 publications

Early Versus Late Start in Foreign Language Education: Documenting Achievements

Early Versus Late Start in Foreign Language Education: Documenting Achievements

Exploring bilinguals’ social use of language inside and out of the minority language classroom

After immersion: Maintaining the momentum

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