In this study, I investigate the use of applied theatre with French Immersion Grade 8 students to better understand social justice issues. Through unstructured interviews, four participants were asked to recall their past experiences participating in applied theatre projects as a learning experience and as a process to better understand social…

French second language education, including the option of one-way French immersion, is mandated for majority-language Anglophone children in New Brunswick, Canada's only officially bilingual province. Language ideological debates in the province surrounding official English--French bilingualism led us to investigate adolescent majority-language…

This study explored the effects of learner response systems (clickers) on the development of vocabulary knowledge in English (L2). Sixty-one Grade 8 learners divided in two groups participated in the experiment, which followed a pretest-posttest-delayed posttest research design. While the experimental group received a clicker-based treatment via…

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…

This mixed-method study examines the proficiency in and perceptions of French language learning of Grade 8 students who were exposed to an instructional approach called the Accelerative Integrated Method (AIM). Six AIM classes (n = 125) and six non-AIM classes (n = 135) were observed and their students tested using a four-skills French as a second…

The question of access to French-immersion programs has become a timely subject in Canada as a result of shifting political priorities, cutbacks, and growing concern around finding the most efficient way to teach French as a second language (FSL). While drawing on social selection and identity perspectives on school choice, this article presents…

Students enrolled in elementary French at grade 8 of the Ontario school system were tested to determine whether a lengthening of the daily session devoted to French from 20 to 40 minutes resulted in increased proficiency. Data make it apparent that increasing the amount of instructional time has produced a significant improvement in students'…

Successive samples from among students enrolled in French in grade 8 of the Ontario public schools were given English usage and mathematics concepts tests. Results revealed that an increase from 20 to 40 minutes per day of French instruction had no significant effect on students' achievement in English or mathematics. (JB)

Several hundred junior high school students of French in Ontario were administered a battery of various tests of French skills and of language and cultural attitudes. The purpose of the testing was to determine the relationships among the dimensions being tested, as a step in the evaluation of Ontario's elementary French program. Total amount of…

A comparison of the French proficiency of bilingual and monolingual native English, Italian, or non-Romance language speaking eighth graders in an Ontario bilingual program found that the bilingual students generally performed better than monolingual students on cloze procedure tests and story telling tasks. (40 references) (Author/CB)

Results of a large-scale evaluation of early and middle immersion programs in the Toronto (Ontario) area, involving 4 districts and 26 grade 8 classes, suggest that middle immersion yields less consistent performance levels than early immersion. Overall, findings favor early immersion. (11 references) (Author/MSE)

Materials about the culture specific to French-speaking people in Canada are presented as part of the cultural component of the prescribed second language curriculum. The materials follow the suggested sequence of studying the "French Fact" in Alberta in grade 7, the study of French settlements in Canada in grade 8, and in-depth study of…

The eighth grade unit in Ukrainian as a second language, the second in a series, is designed as a teacher's guide for use in Alberta secondary schools. The unit duration is approximately 15-20 lessons. An introductory section outlines the structures and vocabulary used in the unit and contains a dialogue in Ukrainian. A series of exercises…

Aligned with its 1998 standards for first and second language learning, Alberta Learning has published lesson plans that aim for a closer relationship between learning and evaluation. Each volume in this series presents a specific task for students that involves planning, carrying out and evaluating their work. The task for eighth grade students…

Investigated the relationship between cultural background of Arab students in Canada and Israel and reading comprehension of majority and minority group stories. Findings indicate that, in terms of language education, it is essential to develop pedagogies that respond to the diversity of the social contexts in which the learners are situated. (70…