Demographic Characteristics, Engagement, and Achievement of Canadian Students in French Immersion and Extended Dual-Language Programs

• In Event: 77.030 - French as a Second Language Programs in Canada: Perception, Assessment, and Academic Outcomes

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to provide an empirical overview of the characteristics of students in French as a Second Language programs in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). This study compares two primary intensive French programs offered by the TDSB: French Immersion and Extended French. French Immersion is a program that commences in senior kindergarten. Students initially receive 100% of the school instruction in French. English is introduced in Grade Four and gradually increases in instructional time. The Extended French Program begins in Grade Four, with students receiving about 50% of the instruction in French. Furthermore, this study reveals strengths and areas for improvements in the French as a Second Language program.

Perspectives: As a field of research, educational linguistics is increasingly dealing with contexts wherein the population includes both bilingualism and multilingualism. In particular, there is a focus on dual language programs (Baker, 2011), through which students develop additive bilingualism. Immersion and Extended French programs both fall under this umbrella, as the minority language is taught at least 50% of the time (Schwartz et al., 2017). It is important to examine the efficacy of different bilingual programs and promote best educational practices.

Methods & Materials: All data utilized in this study was collected through three comprehensive sources: the TDSB student and parent censuses, which is conducted approximately every five years, and the TDSB’s School Information System (SIS). In this particular study, we are using three census years (2006-07, 2011-12 and 2016-17) combined with the SIS data in these years.

Results: As this study primarily examines student learning outcomes and demographic characteristics, it is mainly comprised of descriptive statistics and frequencies. These results comprise groups such as: Special Education Needs (SEN), representative Socio-economic Status (SES) groups, ethno-racial background, recent immigrants, and allophone (non-anglophone) students. Results demonstrate that (1) the proportion of SEN students improved slightly between the census years, and (2) Extended French included more allophone students as well as those from lower SES backgrounds, those whose parents had lower levels of education, and those who had non-normative familial structures and most importantly. Finally, preliminary analysis based on population data found that academic outcomes were slightly better for students in the Extended French program as opposed to the French Immersion program. These results will be verified with analyses of matched groups between the two programs. Additional analyses will explore the effects of student, family, school, and neighbourhood variables on student achievement, belonging and well-being.

Scientific significance: The results of the study reveal strengths and limitations of different dual language programs. Within the past decade, some researchers have investigated the discrepancies between the policy behind dual-language programs and their implementation (De Palma, 2010; Lee, 2007). Some of the results in this study, such as the divergent academic outcomes between extended and immersion children, shed light on this issue. This study will furthermore contribute to a growing body of research that compares bilingual programs across different linguistic and cultural contexts (Fishman, 1976; Schwartz et al., 2017).

Authors

• Xi Chen, University of Toronto - OISE

• Diana Burchell

• Erhan Sinay, Toronto District School Board