A survey of research on French as a second language (FSL) education in Canada suggests that French immersion (FI) students enjoy significant linguistic, academic, and cognitive benefits. We organize our summary of the advantages of FI around these three themes, comparing students' proficiency in French and English across various FI programs, and…

A powerful tool for creating culture while, at the same time, a cognitively rigorous exercise, Indigenous-language immersion could be a key for producing both language fluency and academic success in culture-based schools. Drawing on seven years of critical ethnographic research at Ojibwe schools in Minnesota and Wisconsin, this researcher…

In 2002, Massachusetts voters passed Question 2, a law similar to its predecessors in California (Proposition 227) and Arizona (Proposition 203) to replace bilingual education with structured English immersion (SEI) programs. Using Ruiz's (1984) framework for language planning as an analytical lens, this study examined how three Massachusetts…

Differences between early and late Irish-immersion secondary school students are examined, not only in terms of academic outcome and target language ability, but also in terms of attitudes to learning the target language. Participants included a gender-balanced group of 97 students in Irish-immersion in fourth year of secondary school (mean age…

A colloquium convened at the Deutsches Haus in New York is summarized that brought together experts to discuss (1) the significance foreign languages have for other elementary school subjects, and (2) what function the other subjects serve for early foreign language learning. The following six topics, guided by session leaders, provided the…

French immersion, a relatively new concept in second language teaching in the sixties, is well known in Canada today. Generally developed for Anglophones wanting to become bilingual, the program has tended to serve the needs of the English-speaking middle class. The question then is posed as to what must be done in order to offer the same kind of…

This article discusses the two main types of trilingualism, individual trilingualism and societal trilingualism, or multilingualism. Research directions in third language learning are also noted. (CLK)

A description of an immersion program for 6-year-old anglophone children modeled on "les classes d'accueil" for immigrant children. The program of intensive instruction in oral and written French is outlined. This school district has found this type of immersion superior to the usual kind. (The text is in French.) (AMH)

Describes and assesses the general direction of French immersion research and establishes the need for more qualitative and theoretical approaches to research in this field. The areas of particular interest include (1)language learning environment; (2) children's language learning strategies; (3) classroom communication; (4) effective teaching…

Modeled after the pioneering French immersion programs developed in Canada in the 1960s, foreign language immersion programs in the United States are designed to enrich the education of native-English-speaking students by teaching them all of their academic subjects in a second language. The goal is for students to become proficient in the second…

This document is a comprehensive two-way Spanish immersion third grade curriculum. The paper highlights the Maxwell Elementary Escuela de Inmersion de Espanol, Fayette County Public Schools, Lexington, KY. It includes "essential questions," a scoring guide, and detailed instructional sequence guidelines. Detailed ideas are provided for…

This annotated bibliography of children's literature presents over 150 books, stories and songs that can be used in the French language classroom to introduce literature in French to children in Kindergarten through third grade. The selected texts (97 titles in fiction and 62 titles in non-fiction) were chosen for their age-appropriate language…

Discusses and compares the relative effects of a French immersion program in two different settings: a French-speaking setting in Quebec and an English setting in British Columbia. No clear-cut differences in favor of either setting were found, although students in the French setting reacted more favorably to their program. (PJM)

A study of attitudes of English-speaking Canadian elementary school students, half of whom had participated in a French immersion program, indicated that extensive experience with another group's language led to reduction in the extensity of the language ethnicity dimension and in differences perceived between self, one's own ethnolinguistic…

Some views on and implications of "the output hypothesis," which proposes that the process of producing written or spoken language results in language acquisition/learning, for immersion pedagogy and second-language learning are discussed. The role of collaborative learning is considered. (Contains 14 references.) (LB)