In 2006, Arizona ELL Task Force implemented Structured English Immersion (SEI) within its public schools to educate emergent bilingual (EB) students. Although prior research has demonstrated limitations of SEI, we investigate whether institutionalization has improved its implementation and outcomes using coordinators' and teachers' responses from…

The present studies revealed different factors associated with the reported advantages found in fully bilingual children for metalinguistic awareness and executive control. Participants were 100 children in Study 1 and 80 children in Study 2 in the process of becoming bilingual by attending immersion programs. In both studies, "level of…

Focuses on an early partial immersion program in Australia, in which children study mathematics in French. Testing of childrens' mathematics ability in their first and second languages (L2) is part of a long-term evaluation of the immersion program. Reveals new information about children's reading processes in their L2 and provides insights into…

Describes a reading experiment with two groups of English speaking children attending French immersion programs. The two groups, from grades 3 and 6 respectively, were tested in both English and French for their ability to recognize spelling patterns and to make positive transfers from one language to the other. (MES)

Examines the effect of teaching mathematics in French on mathematics achievement evaluated in English. Analyzes the effect of increased intensity of bilingual education on mathematics achievement and the effects of language of testing in the context of French immersion at the intermediate level. (Author/VWL)

This study validated the Student Oral Proficiency Assessment (SOPA), an oral proficiency instrument designed for students in elementary foreign language programs. Elementary students who were tested with the SOPA were also administered other instruments designed to measure proficiency. These instruments included the Stanford Foreign Language Oral…

Evaluates the role of age on the rate of acquiring English as a second language in an immersion setting in children with native languages typologically very different from English. Results suggest that on certain aspects of grammar, different-aged children can acquire a second language during the first three years of acquisition at similar rates…

An experimental study was designed to evaluate the effect on French language proficiency of an integrated, formal, analytic and functional, communicative approach to second-language teaching in French immersion. The study consisted of 315 grade 7 early French immersion students. (28 references) (VWL)

Compared 719 first-, second-, third-grade students enrolled in partial-immersion (PI) programs in Japanese, Spanish, or French to 3 comparison groups. Outcome measures used were a mathematics test, Metropolitan Achievement Test in Reading, and Student Oral Proficiency Rating. PI students scored at least as well as, and to some extent better than,…

This overview of research focuses on the characteristics of immersion programs in the Ottawa area. These are primary-entry, late-entry (grade 6 or 7), and secondary level bilingual programs. The following matters are treated: tests and testing conditions; comparisons with Canadian Public Service language requirements; comparisons between groups…

A study was carried out to assess the French language proficiency of students enrolled in two different programs at the kindergarten level in Montreal: an early immersion program and a "class d'accueil" program. Three groups of students were tested: (1) an early immersion class; (2) a "classe d'accueil," or class for immigrant…

The fifteen articles in this volume are generally concerned with the role of vernacular language in bilingual education on an international scale. They examine specific nations and how bilingualism affects their social milieu. The following articles are included: (1) "Bilingualism and the Vernacular," by Shana Poplack; (2) "The…

Generally, immersion is carried out in circumstances where children who speak the majority language are taught the minority language. In this way, the security of the language learners is secured in intensive teaching. In Pietarsaari, Finland, an experiment on language immersion has been started, in which minority Finnish children with a…

Research was conducted to investigate the development of linguistic competence in early French immersion programs. Fifty-five students in grades 3, 4, and 5 were administered a test of oral production in French. Twenty-seven grammatical features were examined by means of a detailed error analysis. The results show that there was little improvement…

A set of functional-analytic materials, entailing the study and practice of sociostylistic variation, was implemented in three eighth-grade French immersion (FI) classrooms by their respective teachers during French language arts classes over a five-week period. Pre- and posttests indicate that functional-analytic teaching improved FI students'…