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

Paper/Best Practice Session (1 hour)

French, multiple

One-Way Second/Foreign Language Immersion

Elementary (K-5)
Middle School/Junior High
High School

We will explore how to enhance the written production of immersion students by implementing Lyster's Noticing-Awareness-Practice model in tandem with the Neurolinguistic Approach's Literacy Loop. By focusing on developing writing skills as the culminating step of literacy development, we can contribute to immersion students' overall language skills.

In this presentation, I will discuss the possibilities for enhancing the writing skills of Immersion students by implementing Lyster’s 2007 Noticing-Awareness-Practice model, as investigated in a research study in a Canadian Grade 12 French Immersion language class, in tandem with the literacy loop as described in the Neurolinguistic Approach (Paradis 2004) and as implemented in the Intensive French program (Netten & Germain 2012). The research study exploring Lyster’s model was undertaken in order to address the issue of the accuracy of written production of French Immersion students (Genesee 1987; Harley 1989; Cummins 2000; Lyster 2007; Burger et al 2011). The goal of the study was to explore the effects of explicit instruction on students’ written production and the effects of such instruction on their metalinguistic awareness. Following a mixed-method design, quantitative data were collected from a treatment class and a control class, and supporting qualitative data were provided by student and teacher interviews and audio recordings of peer work groups in the treatment class. The results from this study show that providing explicit and proactive grammar instruction within the framework of Lyster’s model, supplemented by opportunities for peer interaction, can enhance students’ metalinguistic awareness, and have a positive impact on the accuracy and frequency of use of a targeted structure in their written production. Results of qualitative research conducted subsequently in three schools using the Intensive French program with Grade 5 and 6 students, and of FSL and French Immersion classes implementing the strategies suggested by Intensive French has shown that students’ written production is optimized by introducing writing as part of the literacy loop. I will explore in this presentation the intersection of Lyster’s Noticing-Awareness-Practice model for targeting the accuracy of written production and the positioning of writing within the literacy loop in order to enhance Immersion students’ language development.