A Comparison Study of Early and Late French Immersion Programs in British Columbia
Keywords:
French immersion, early immersion, second-language learning, French language proficiency, British ColumbiaAbstract
This study compared the French language skills and attitudes of grade 7 early and late immersion students in three school districts in British Columbia. Statistical comparisons in each district revealed that only in one (District C) did early immersion students perform significantly higher than late immersion students in both French language arts and French comprehension. In the two other districts, early immersion students performed significantly higher than late immersion students in French comprehension but not in French language arts. Early and late immersion students in one district (District A) did not differ significantly on attitudinal measures, whereas in the two other districts early immersion students displayed significantly more positive attitudes to their schooling than their late immersion counterparts. The British Columbia results show some of the same variations that have been found in comparisons of early and late program options conducted elsewhere in Canada.
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