Seventh International Conference on Immersion and Dual Language Education

Strand IV: Culture, Identity & Community

not language specific

Middle School/Junior High

Language socialization theory emphasizes how language students actively construct identities for themselves, consciously or unconsciously (Duff 2005). Such identities are embedded in specific socio-political and historical contexts, of which language ideologies form a signifying role. It is thus important to reflect on what language students think it means to be bilingual in their specific contexts.

This study is on adolescent students’ perspectives on their bilingual identities in a one-way French immersion program in New Brunswick, Canada’s only officially bilingual province. The study employed focus group methodology based on pedagogical principles of differentiation and constructivism. We present key findings on how pedagogy and research can inform each other and illuminate student perspectives while engaging students in the transformative processes of developing their bilingual selves (Kramsch 2009). Attendees will engage in two of the focus group activities from this study.