This paper presents empirical data concerning the use of a cloze test as a measure of second language proficiency. Grade four students in their fifth year of a French immersion program were tested using both English and French cloze tests. Correlations between the cloze test and other language achievement measures were calculated for both…

Needs of French immersion programs in Alberta, Canada, are discussed, including teachers, preservice and inservice teacher training, instructional materials, program accessibility, support organizations, research and evaluation, administrative and political support, school and school district support services, secondary school programs,…

The report, entirely in French, describes Alberta's curriculum for second-year French immersion, as revised in 1994. An introductory section offers background information on the curriculum revision, links between the core curriculum and French immersion, underlying principles of second language instruction, the revised curriculum's objectives and…

The report, entirely in French, describes Alberta's curriculum for third-year French immersion, as revised in 1994. An introductory section offers background information on the curriculum revision, links between the core curriculum and French immersion, underlying principles of second language instruction, the revised curriculum's objectives and…

Researchers worked with French, Japanese, and Spanish immersion teachers in metropolitan Washington, DC elementary schools (grades 1-6) to implement language learning strategies in their classrooms. Workshops, materials, and observations were provided for professional support. Teachers were debriefed on the effectiveness of the teacher training…

Questioning the notion of a sensitive period for second language acquisition, this research examined students' interlanguage development in selected classes at two grades in early, middle, and late French immersion. These classes were administered the same verb tense tests: an oral elicited imitation test and written rational cloze test. Analysis…

This guide to secondary school French reading instruction addresses a variety of general and specific instructional issues. An introductory chapter discusses program objectives, minimum program requirements, and the population to be taught. The second chapter looks at theoretical aspects of the development of reading ability: current thoughts on…

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 evaluation of Manitoba's French immersion programs for grades 6 and 9, undertaken as part of a policy formation process, compares students' achievement in English language skills and mathematics to the national norm and within immersion groups in those grades. Achievement in French and French language proficiency are also compared within…

This paper discusses the use of the LISREL computer program to compare two groups of Ontario students who studied French as a second language in either a regular or an immersion program. Longitudinal data on growth in mathematical ability, from grade 4 to grade 6, are analyzed using seven different mathematical models. The paper illustrates the…

This report discusses the views of students now in the eleventh grade who participated in the original pilot class of the St. Lambert early immersion program in Montreal. They were asked to look back on their schooling and to appraise its effects on their lives. Their parents were asked to do the same. Questionnaires designed to elicit information…

The status of foreign language in the elementary school (FLES) is discussed in an attempt to dispell the myth that there are few successful FLES programs in the U.S. Results of an eight-state survey show that 18% of the responding elementary schools report that they do teach foreign language. Descriptions of eighteen innovative programs confirm…

This paper reports on a study undertaken to investigate the relationship between elicited imitation data and comprehension data, as measured by a picture-identification task and a second language (L2) to first language (L1) translation task, and between elicited imitation data and production data, as measured by a spontaneous production task and…

Evaluates and compares English graphophonic and word knowledge of anglophone children in French immersion (FI) programs with those of children in regular English (ENG) classrooms. Reveals no differences between the FI and ENG children in kindergarten, but ENG students scored higher at the end of Grades 1 and 2 on most measures. (NKA)

The materials in this document present the results of a study of French second language immersion testing in Alberta (Canada) public schools for grades 1-3 based on the curriculum instituted in 1998. As a result of the study, this collection was developed for grades 1-3 students who need to be taught French as a second language. A separate section…