French Immersion in Canada: 
A critical evaluation of current findings and 
proposals for an improvement of teaching methods, 
leading to greater effectiveness in L2 teaching

by

Eric Mühle

Hauptseminar Bilingualism, WS 1999/2000
Gerhard-Mercator-Univsersität Duisburg GH

Table of contents

Introduction 1

1. What is Immersion? - Definition and key features of French Immersion 2

2. Historical development of French immersion 5

3. Different types of immersion programs - Benefits and problems 7
3.1) Early Total Immersion Conception 7
3.2) Early Partial Immersion 9
3.3) Late Immersion Bilingual Education 11
3.4) Summary of results and critical evaluation: 13

4. The effectiveness of immersion programs: Are they a suitable tool for the acquisition of native-like performance in a second language ? 14

5. Ways and methods to make the immersion classroom more efficient 16
5.1) Demand for a new national curriculum 17
5.2) Error correction in French immersion: An attempt to prevent the early fossilization of an interlanguage 18
5.3) Process writing as a learning tool in the Foreign Language Class 21
5.4) Explicit vocabulary instruction in French Immersion 23

6. Conclusion: 26

7. List of works cited 28

Introduction

French Immersion in Canada has long been considered as one of the most efficient programs to promote "real" bilingualism. A lot of research has been carried out in that field and mainly stated positive results for this special way of learning a second language. But if one goes deeper into the literature concerned with that subject, one encounters more and more critical voices doubting the proverbial effectiveness of these programs. This paper shall provide a critical evaluation of the findings, research provided in respect to the effectiveness of immersion programs in Canada. Furthermore, proposals for new teaching techniques, which shall make the immersion classroom more efficient, will be described and evaluated. At the beginning of this paper, a short introduction to immersion education is given, including a definition of the term "immersion" and a presentation of the key features of Canadian Immersion Education, followed by an abstract of the history of immersion education in chapter 2. The following section describes the conception of different types of immersion programs, along with findings concerning their effectiveness. This shall help the reader to gain a complete picture of the pros and cons of a specific type of program. The main part of this paper (chapter 4) starts with a critical evaluation of the results presented in previous chapters and tries to assess whether these programs are a suitable tool for the acquisition of native-like performance in a second language. Chapter 5 offers a selection of four different teaching methods which can make - if they are applied correctly - the immersion classroom more efficient. The paper concludes with a summary of the most important results, trying to provide a critical evaluation of immersion as such.

1. What is Immersion? - Definition and key features of French Immersion

Immersion is a common term which has been used in connection with various programs of second language education all over North America. But before we are going to have a closer look at French immersion in the following chapters, it is necessary to define what immersion really means. If we try to formulate a definition one could say that "an immersion program is a device for introducing a non-native language and culture to majority language students with the aim of providing students with native-like language skills in the foreign language." Although the term immersion has been used to describe a great number of programs dealing with bilingual education, our definition is restricted to what is known as French immersion in Canada.

French immersion in Canada rests on four key features which make it important as a model for foreign language education in general and specifically – and more importantly – as an effective model of elementary education. 

The first key feature is that the second language (L2) is used for the delivery of subject matter instruction (Snow (1), 1990: 111). Practically this means that the second language is the medium of instruction for school subjects like mathematics, science and social studies. Here, children are supposed to learn a foreign language in the same way as they have learned their mother tongue– by being exposed to authentic, communicative situations in the target language. Secondly, children in these immersion programs benefit from being separated from native speakers of the foreign language, as learners are all in the same “linguistic boat” (Krashen, 1984 zit. nach Snow (1), 1990:111) and therefore only receive information which has specially been designed for their developing levels of proficiency in the foreign language. A third key feature is that immersion programs reflect the broader perspective of the world outside of school. Thus, immersion students are in no danger of losing their first language proficiency (as they receive most of their instruction in L2) – on the contrary: immersion education promotes additive bilingualism1 because students are adding to their linguistic repertoire and sense of identity through the experience of being schooled in the foreign language (Snow (1), 1990, p. 111). The fourth key feature of immersion education is the change of sequence and intensity of first- and second language instruction. In early total immersion all initial instruction is in the foreign language, but then, after the end of Grade One, the amount of time in which children are instructed in L2 is gradually reduced, so that children receive more and more instruction in English.

[...]