The study reported on in this paper investigated the concurrent development of spelling in children learning two languages. The study compared over time and between languages the types of spelling errors made in English as a first language and French as a second. Fortyseven grade one English-speaking children completed an English and French…

Most research on language awareness in a second language (L2) has been carried out with adult learners. This research presents data showing that pedagogical techniques can be devised enabling children as young as 8 to develop metalinguistic awareness of their emerging L2 system. Building on existing work by Canadian researchers, this…

Reasserts, in response to a review of a book about language immersion programs, that the linguistic failure of immersion programs has major theoretical implications, focusing on the failure of immersion students to reach nativelike language proficiency and the failure to emphasize language accuracy. (two references) (CB)

Uses data from English-speaking children learning French in the Toronto French Immersion Program as evidence to support the 1981 study by Gundel and Tarone on the acquisition of pronouns by Chinese- and Spanish-speaking adults learning English. This study concluded that the acquisition of direct object pronouns proceeds in three stages. (SED)

A study of the error patterns and corrections in the casual peer conversation of anglophones educated in a French immersion program shows the same peer correction patterns used by native speakers, undermining the assumed importance of peer talk in second language classes. (MSE)

This collection of six essays and one bibliography on second language learning includes: (1) "Transfer in Relation to Some Other Variables in L2-Learning" (Hakan Ringbom); (2) "Word Frequencies in Finnish and Finland-Swedish Learner Language" (Hakan Ringbom); (3) "The Influence of Swedish on the English of Finnish…

Research on the language development of children in immersion programs has uncovered a certain amount of data. Immersion students have less well developed productive skills than their francophone peers and passive receptive skills which approach those of francophones. Error analysis studies have found that immersion students reach a plateau in…

This study examines the occurrence of transfer in the simultaneous acquisition of French and Hebrew by 57 native English-speaking children in a primary grades French/Hebrew immersion program in Montreal. The study focuses on three issues: (1) whether transfer of genetically related first and second languages differs quantitatively and…

Reviews the results of six studies which indicated that the output of students involved in an immersion program was linguistically faulty, and suggests ways in which immersion programs can be made more effective and lead to greater linguistic competence as well as communicative competence in its students. (CB)

Reports on the speech difficulties of four French immersion anglophone students participating in a three-month interlinguistic exchange. Each student was interviewed three times, and the transcripts were analyzed for linguistic, sociolinguistic, and sociocultural errors in oral French and for performance evaluation by the students. (51 references)…

Reports on a study that monitored and corrected the writing of bilingual Fransaskois students and immersion graduates in the same class. The study's objectives were to determine whether francophones and anglophones made similar or different mistakes and whether the two groups could be taught together without prejudice. Both groups made similar…

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…

Examined corrective feedback and learner response to feedback in four primary level immersion classes. Transcripts of classroom interactions from subject-matter and French language arts lessons were analyzed using a model comprising the various moves in an error treatment sequence. Findings reveal a strong tendency for teachers to use recasts…

The goal of this study is to discover the phonetic difficulties encountered in the acquisition of French as a second language by English-speaking children. The children are studying French in a total immersion situation without benefit of structural exercises or special French language laboratory classes. Of particular interest here is the extent…

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…