During a classroom-based study, eight- to ten-year-old students had multiple opportunities to develop their knowledge and understanding about semiotic resources for meaning-making in picturebooks and graphic novels. Instruction during the study included a variety of activities that focussed on a selection of elements of visual art and design, and…

This study explores the cross-linguistic reading strategies that 16 Grade 3-4 French immersion pupils schooled in Saskatchewan used while reading two types of dual-language children's books: translated and integrated. In the first type, the same text appears in both French and English, whereas in the second one, English and French are integrated…

This paper looks at reading in French immersion and how learning French is seen more as a skill rather than a social practice that could be examined through a more critical lens. Most of the teachers often teach students how to read but rarely will they discuss the role of French in Canadian society and how this is manifested in the texts they…

In this paper, both a cognitive and a sociocultural theoretical perspective are used to bring together findings from two studies that investigated the effects of instruction designed to enhance the potentially positive effect of peer interaction on L2 development. Despite differences between the studies' learning contexts, participants' age, and…

The relationship between first language (L1) typology, defined as the classification of languages according to their structural characteristics (e.g. phonological systems and writing systems), and the development of second (L2) and third (L3) language skills and literacy proficiency in multilingual children was investigated in this study. The…

This summary report is the third of three reports (Preliminary, Final, and Summary) of the findings of the 1988 Provincial Writing Assessment in Manitoba, Canada for grades 4, 8, and 11 of French Immersion schools. It contains a brief description of the study along with recommendations. The report notes that the 1988 Writing Assessment was the…

This final report is the second of three reports (Preliminary, Final, and Summary) of the findings of the 1988 Provincial Writing Assessment in Manitoba, Canada for grades 4, 8, and 11 of French Immersion schools. It contains an overview of the purposes, procedures, and a detailed presentation of the findings and recommendations of the Writing…

Presents a quasi-experimental study conducted among younger immersion students that focused on determining whether an area of French vocabulary identified as problematic for these students can be successfully learned via increased exposure to such vocabulary in interesting reading material supplemented with associated analytic language activities.…

Presents the first report of a three-year evaluation of the impact of French schooling on English-speaking children in Quebec. Focuses on the English language development, French language proficiency, and mathematics achievement of children in the fourth grade. Systematic observations of teaching approaches in the French schools were also carried…

This study used the think-aloud methodology on six Canadian fourth graders to promote the use of reading strategies in their first and second languages as part of a bilingual process-based remedial reading program. Students' English and French reading levels were established at baseline and reexamined at the end of the intervention. Pre- and…

This manual for fourth grade French instruction accompanies the early French immersion program. It is based on general and specific learning objectives for the four language skills the child needs to develop. The introduction to the manual provides an overview of the program for the middle grades and learning objectives for the four language…

This study reports the follow-up assessments of fourth- and fifth-grade students who had participated in a French immersion program beginning in kindergarten, and of students in the same grades who had not participated in immersion programs. The study was designed to assess the predictive validity of the early identification battery used for…

The assessment reported in this paper represents the first attempt by British Columbia to use the Canadian Ministry of Education's assessment program model with special programs; in this case, the French immersion program was chosen. Objectives of the assessment were as follows: (1) examination of the extent to which students are achieving…

The 1991 Manitoba Health Education Assessment consisted of the grade-4 health education test, a survey of grade-4 teachers, and the comparison of student performance in grades 5 and 10 from 1982 to 1991. The grade-4 sample consisted of 10% of students from English language schools, all students in Franco-Manitoban schools, and 25% of all students…

Alberta's teaching guide for upper-elementary French immersion instruction provides assistance in integrating notional program content with communicative language techniques. It does not provide content material, but focuses on techniques for enhancing instruction of both receptive (reading and listening) and productive (writing and speaking)…