A study of the child's experience in learning a second language as it is embedded in his experience of kindergarten looks at two classes of unilingual (English-speaking) Canadian children in a half-day French immersion program. The immersion experience for the children is described in these terms: what "French" means to them; what and how they…

Alberta's curriculum guide for French immersion programs outlines the programs' rationale and objectives and the content of the oral language, reading, and writing components for six years. An introductory section discusses the aim of developing language competence and recent theory on competence. The role of language as an instrument of…

Research was conducted to investigate the development of linguistic competence in early French immersion programs. Fifty-five students in grades 3, 4, and 5 were administered a test of oral production in French. Twenty-seven grammatical features were examined by means of a detailed error analysis. The results show that there was little improvement…

An experimental bilingual bicultural French language program for kindergarten students in a former French-speaking area of Western Newfoundland was initiated in an integrated primary school in September 1975. The experimental class of thirty students was taught entirely in French while the control group received twenty minutes of French per day…

The contents of this book are divided into sections on cognitive and affective studies in bilingual-bicultural education, programs in bilingual-bicultural education: an analysis of total or partial immersion programs, and teacher directed issues: some practical suggestions from theoretical domains. The following papers are in this collection:…

Current publications do not cease to stress the unfortunate fact that language ernollments are declining; this paper is an exception to the prevailing pessimistic trend. Its aim is to describe the success of the first and second year German language courses taught at Middlebury College during the summer of 1975. This was an intensive program with…

The results of the evaluation of the French immersion program at a school in a unilingual English environment are described. A battery of tests was administered to a random sample of children from the kindergarten and grade one experimental French immersion classes and to a comparison group composed of children following the regular English…

A model is presented for postsecondary French language education based on the belief that linguistic improvement and cultural rappprochement are complementary goals. Data on secondary French immersion enrollment trends are noted, and planning difficulties due to small enrollments and insufficient information about career goals are discussed. (MSE)

The guide is designed to encourage parents of children in elementary school French immersion programs to take an active role in the programs, and to provide practical information to support such participation. Sections address these topics: terminology concerning program types and other aspects of immersion instruction; the rationale for learning…

This book presents European perspectives on the means of structuring curricula that integrate content and language teaching, drawing on the experience of practitioners at a range of levels. It also provides details of the outcomes of such programs and describes the current and future challenges for wider scale adoption of content and language…

The intent of this paper is to examine dual language instruction by describing a 50-50 language immersion program operating at Leigh Elementary School in Phoenix, Arizona. Specifically examined are the challenges encountered as school personnel worked to provide language minority students with greater opportunities to learn in six dual language…

Explores what it means to think in a target language, discusses those factors determining planned and unplanned use of more than one language for thinking, considers the role of target-language thinking in improving language ability, and examines mental translation in the reading of intermediate college French. The article concludes that benefits…

Reports on a 3-year study of approximately 100 students through grades 4, 5, and 6 on the impact of a variety of second-language learning options among English-speaking children in francophone Canada. Finds that those options that use early, French-only environments were most effective. (CFR)

A set of functional-analytic materials, entailing the study and practice of sociostylistic variation, was implemented in three eighth-grade French immersion (FI) classrooms by their respective teachers during French language arts classes over a five-week period. Pre- and posttests indicate that functional-analytic teaching improved FI students'…

Presents the results of the second year of a four-year longitudinal evaluation of a partial French immersion program in Cincinnati, Ohio, that includes children from lower socioeconomic group and ethnic minority group (Black) backgrounds in addition to majority (White) and middle-class students. (17 references) (GLR)