Describes an experimental French foreign language program in one Italian region's primary schools. Discussion focuses on specific strategies used for developing proficiency at that age level based on the characteristics of French and the nature of language. (MSE)

This study examined the strategies that 12 kindergarten and first-grade French immersion students in Ontario developed for oral communication and the contexts of such communication. Over the course of the school year each student was videotaped once a month in various classroom settings. The transcriptions of student conversations and utterances…