Examines the variable presence/absence of third person plural marking on French verbs in the speech of French immersion students. Considers both linguistic and social factors that condition variation and compares results with those found for native speakers of French. (Author/VWL)

A pair of qualitative case studies looks at the pedagogical practices of two teachers, and the role they played in the development of print literacy of young anglophone children who were immersed in French as a second language. Results suggest that teachers who provide a structured instructional scaffold for their students offer a richer literacy…

This article summarizes the results from the first statewide study of two-way immersion (TWI) programs for English language learners. The survey was conducted electronically with 304 Texas bilingual/English as a Second Language directors in districts that serve English language learners. Data are reported for the following research question: What…

This paper examines the role that cultural identity and grassroots activism and community development have played in the creation, maintenance and expansion of Louisiana French immersion education. Although linguists tend to portray the extinction of endangered minority languages as inevitable, research on the effects of minority language…

Within '"communicative language teaching," "natural" language has had a privileged position, and a focus on form has been seen as something inauthentic or as something that is inconsequential for learning (for a critique, see Kramsch and Sullivan 1996; Cook 1997). Yet in the present study of an immersion classroom, it was found that children with…

Jamaica is a Creole-speaking environment, where children enter school with a range of varieties, some of which are closely related to English. The expectation is that they will learn English in school. The appropriate language teaching approach, it is argued, is not English as a mother tongue, English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign…

This article describes a learning context in which the first grade classroom teacher creates a learning community where she uses different teaching strategies to encourage children's second language use and learning. The first graders share, discuss, and learn both the second language (German) and content.

Arizona's Proposition 203 places restrictions on bilingual and English-as-a-second-language programs and essentiality mandates English-only education for English language learners (ELLs). This article provides an analysis of this initiative and the wide variations in its interpretation and implementation. Data sources include official policy and…

This paper reports similarities and differences in teachers' corrective feedback and learners' uptake across instructional settings. Four communicative classroom settings--French Immersion, Canada ESL, New Zealand ESL and Korean EFL--were examined using Lyster and Ranta's taxonomy of teachers' corrective feedback moves and learner uptake. The…

In this paper, we explore the intersection of practice, identity, resources and literacy central to the New Literacy Studies and recent second language research informed by sociocultural theories of learning and language. Drawing on the construct figured worlds of literacy that describe how representations of literacy practices invoked in relation…

A study investigated how skills involved in phonological processing (phonological awareness, verbal working memory, and lexical access) are related to reading achievement when a child learns to read in a language not spoken at home. Subjects were 151 English-speaking children in a French immersion program, initially in grades 1, 3, and 5 in 1995.…

This study evaluated a partial-immersion program in French in Victoria, Australia, an area in which little research has been conducted to date. The program has operated at an elementary school since 1991 and is the first English/French program of its kind in Victoria. French is the language of instruction for at least 40 percent of classes, with…

This curriculum unit is for use in an elementary school foreign language immersion program in Montgomery County, Maryland. The unit is geared toward the second grade science classroom. It includes instructional and performance objectives, vocabulary lists, optional language structure sections, illustrations, activities, evaluation suggestions, and…

This curriculum unit, developed by the Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland, was designed for use in the elementary level foreign language immersion program. It is geared toward the first grade science classroom. The unit includes instructional and performance objectives, necessary vocabulary lists, optional language structure sections,…

This curriculum unit, developed by the Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland, was designed for use in an elementary level foreign language immersion program. It is geared toward the sixth grade social studies classroom. The unit includes instructional and performance objectives, necessary vocabulary lists, optional language structure…