Multilingualism in French Immersion in Canada: Factors Explaining Ultimate Success

• In Event: Language and Literacy Development: Immersion Education in the United States and Canada

Abstract

Purpose: The expected French language outcomes are the same for both Early (entry at age 5) and Late (entry at age 11) French Immersion (FI) programs in Canada, yet it is commonly believed that an early start to language learning will lead to a greater level of second language proficiency. Research in the context of FI programs has not always supported this view. The proportion of students from homes where neither English nor French is the dominant language (multilinguals) has been steadily increasing and it is unknown how well they do in FI. Thus, we aimed to establish levels of language proficiency in English and French of multilingual students in FI and to identify factors that contribute to their ultimate success in French foreign language learning.

Theoretical framework: According to the critical/sensitive period hypothesis it is expected that the ability to achieve very high levels of proficiency in a non-native language (L2) gradually declines with age and learners exhibit great degree of individual variation in their ultimate language proficiency (Granena & Long 2012; Birdsong, 2005). This hypothesis has been challenged with evidence showing that post-pubescent learners could achieve native-like proficiency in their L2s. Language aptitude and motivation have been identified as more consistent predictors of language proficiency (Dörnyei & Skehan, 2003) and also experience learning other languages, and their typological similarity to the L2 (Berube & Marinova-Todd, 2012) also play a role.

Method: The French and English language proficiency of 83 Early (n=56) and Late (n=27) FI students at the end of Grade 11 (mean age = 16.6) was compared. Subsequently the sample was divided by home-language into a group of bilinguals (those who spoke only English at home, n=36) and a group of multilinguals (n=47).

Materials: All students were given equivalent measures of language proficiency in English and French in four language domains: vocabulary (Peabody Picture vocabulary Test – IV), morphosyntactic knowledge (grammaticality judgment tests), listening comprehension (subtest from Woodcock Language Battery Proficiency-R) and pronunciation (accent ratings by 10 native-speaking judges of spontaneous and elicited speech audiosamples). The Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery, the Gardner Attitude/Motivation Test Battery and the Language History Questionnaire (Li, Zhang, Tsai, & Puls, 2013) were also administered.

Results: Repeated ANOVAs revealed no significant differences between Early FI and Late FI groups. Moreover, multilinguals performed as well as, and on French listening comprehension, French pronunciation, and English moprhosyntax even better than bilinguals in both languages. Hierarchical regression models showed that higher language aptitude and motivation to learn a foreign language observed in the multilingual group were factors that explain these results.

Significance: Findings suggest language aptitude relates to French proficiency regardless of age of onset or age or amount of time spent learning the AL, and combined with motivation and socio-linguistic background is a better predictor of foreign language proficiency than age or amount of time spent learning a language. The results emphasize the success of multilinguals in FI, but also highlight the need to account for the changing demographics of students in FI.

Author

• Stefka H. Marinova-Todd, The University of British Columbia