Using critical interpretive procedures, this synthesis reviews qualitative and quantitative empirical studies (N = 181) published between 2000 and 2017 in the Canadian French as a Second Language (FSL) K-12 context. This study examines the thematic focus of findings relevant to key stakeholders (i.e., students, teachers, teacher candidates,…

This study explores the cross-linguistic reading strategies that 16 Grade 3-4 French immersion pupils schooled in Saskatchewan used while reading two types of dual-language children's books: translated and integrated. In the first type, the same text appears in both French and English, whereas in the second one, English and French are integrated…

While Canada's multiculturalism and bilingual education represent an opportunity for educational sectors to foster students' intercultural citizenship, in New Brunswick -- Canada's only officially bilingual province -- provincial language ideological debates (LIDs) may create structures impeding Anglophone French immersion (FI) students'…

Translanguaging practices come into play in social interactions between bilinguals when they are making use of all their shared linguistic resources and blending their languages in natural ways. Stemming from these practices is translanguaging pedagogy, which is designed so that students in school-based additive bilingual programs can benefit from…

The Syilx Language House has completed two years of a four-year, 2,000-hour program to create new adult Nsyilxcn speakers, based on Syilx communities' specific priorities. Our critically endangered status requires radically decolonizing teaching techniques. Nsyilxcn (Okanagan) teachers are learners, trained to deliver sequenced curriculum in full…

Grounded in the cross-linguistic influence(s) (CLI) literature, this study used objective measures to compare the use of English, lexical richness and syntactic complexity, and grammatical accuracy and fluency in the texts of three groups of Grade 6 French immersion students: Canadian-born anglophones (C-A), Canadian-born multilinguals (C-M), and…

The present article examines discourses on bilingualism in French immersion schools and connects local ideologies of bilingualism to a more global view of what it means to be bilingual in Canada. Bilingualism is usually regarded as two isolated monolingualisms (or monolingual systems) in which there is no place for code-switching, uneven language…

We investigated the evocation of mental imagery and affect in English/French bilinguals to determine whether the linguistic demands of reading in a second language (L2) limit readers' ability to form non-verbal text representations of literary stories. The participants were 26 Grade 11 French immersion students enrolled in a Canadian high school.…

A survey of research on French as a second language (FSL) education in Canada suggests that French immersion (FI) students enjoy significant linguistic, academic, and cognitive benefits. We organize our summary of the advantages of FI around these three themes, comparing students' proficiency in French and English across various FI programs, and…

This study investigates the motivation for learning French, the ethnic identities, and the decision to pursue post-secondary education in French of anglophone graduates of intensive French language programs in high school. Sixty-two graduates of either French immersion, Advanced Placement French, or the International Baccalaureate French program…

This article examines the sociolinguistic competence of French immersion students. We first present an overview of the range of variation found in L1 speech and make a distinction between vernacular, informal, formal, and hyper-formal variants. We then compare the use of these forms in the speech of Canadian francophones and Grade 9 and 12…

Describes and evaluates French immersion programs in New Brunswick, covering grades 1-12. (CK)

A study indicates that students in French immersion programs in Canadian schools achieve superior progress in French and equal skill in English relative to students in partial immersion classes or traditional second-language study. (CK)

An explanation of a kindergarten French immersion program includes essential background information, details of implementation, problems encountered, practical and theoretical implications and suggested solutions to the difficulties encountered. (CK)

Discusses early and late French immersion programs, their advantages and disadvantages, and considerations of staffing, cost, student motivation, effect on native language skills, and program effectiveness. (CK)