Sixth International Conference on Immersion and Dual Language Education: Connecting Research and Practice Across Contexts

Paper/Best Practice Session (1 hour)

English and French

One-Way Second/Foreign Language Immersion

Elementary (K-5)

This study compares the performance of multilingual children (children who speak neither English nor French as their first language) and English first language children on language and literacy measures in French immersion programs. It focuses on the effects of socioeconomic status (low vs. high), English language status and grade. 

Purpose: Success in French immersion (FI) has been attributed to cross-language transfer of literacy skills such that skills acquired in one language foster the development of  another language (e.g., Chen et al. 2010). Au-Yeung et al. (2015) found that multilingual children (children who speak neither English nor French as their first language) performed as well as English-first language (EL1) children on all the French measures and most of the English measures in a French immersion program, providing strong evidence that FI education is a viable option for multilingual children. However, a limitation of Au-Yeung et al. (2015)’s study was that it involved only children from middle and upper-middle socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds. It is not clear how well children from low SES backgrounds perform in FI compared to their EL1 peers. In this study, we compared the performance between multilingual children and EL1s on English and French language and literacy skills as a function of SES at the earliest stage of FI instruction. Method: 373 FI students in senior kindergarten and first grade completed measures of phonological awareness, word reading fluency and accuracy, vocabulary and reading comprehension skills in the spring semester. The data was analyzed with multiple ANOVAs for the variables. In each ANOVA, SES (low and high), English Language Status (ELL and EL1), and Grade (SK and Grade 1) were included as between-subject factors. Results: Measures of English/French phonological awareness, English receptive vocabulary and English reading comprehension distinguished children from different SES backgrounds, in favour of high SES and/or EL1 children. Differences were not found on other variables. Conclusions: Overall, the children performed similarly on most measures, suggesting that multilingual children can thrive in FI programs. However, ELL students who come from low SES backgrounds need additional support in developing phonological awareness skills and vocabulary, both are critical for reading comprehension ability.