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

Laptop Poster Session for Graduate Students

French Immersion

One-Way Second/Foreign Language Immersion

High School

The word is the object: in L2 output, overuse of high-frequency words and optimal word selection are problematic. Furthermore, explicit vocabulary instruction is not promoted in typical language curricula. This research tests a compelling new approach to vocabulary enrichment. Its goal: lexical competence through linguistic exploration of the lexicon.

When second-language (L2) learners speak and write, their primary lexical task is the appropriate use of their available vocabulary. However, overuse of high-frequency words, coupled with the challenge of optimal word selection for a given context, compromise the effectiveness of L2 learners’ output. Troublingly, strategic, explicit vocabulary instruction is not promoted in typical Canadian French Immersion (FI) curricula. How then are students to enrich their L2 vocabulary?

FI education in Canada has been a prized program since the 1970s. Its participants enjoy demonstrated cognitive, academic and social advantages (Cummins, 1983; Jedwab, 2003; Genesee, 2004; Rehorick et al., 2006). Typically, Anglophone students take most academic subjects in L2 French, with the ambition of becoming bilingual and bicultural citizens in a nation where an English majority and a French minority coexist. This is equally the case in New Brunswick on Canada’s East Coast. For that province’s Anglophone students, however, annual FI literacy test scores consistently prove mediocre at best. Writing results in vocabulary, syntax and grammar all fall well below targeted levels. Our question: can all three deficiencies be remedied by systematically targeting the first?

J. Picoche’s (1993a, 2002) actanciel approach to vocabulary instruction aims to develop lexical competence through the explicit linguistic exploration of the lexicon. A word, typically high-frequency and polysemous, is mined for its linguistic riches:  synonyms, antonyms, derivations, collocations, figurative uses. The word itself becomes the object of study, framed in syntactic and semantic relationships. This innovative method equips learners with the linguistic tools to strengthen and broaden their vocabulary. Originally developed for L1 students, the approach has not yet been attempted in a Canadian FI classroom. We believe its potential is compelling.

Our research develops and tests an actanciel toolkit for the FI classroom, examining its application and the merit of systematic vocabulary instruction for L2 learners.