In Canada, education in French as a second language (FSL) offers students the opportunity to learn a second official language. Is such an opportunity appropriate for allophone students who are still in the process of learning English? This literature review provides a fourfold consideration of the issue. Section 1 examines the political response by investigating whether Canadian federal policies provide for the inclusion of allophone students in FSL programs. Section 2 provides an overview of provincial policies, specifically examining allophone students' access to FSL. A review of the literature regarding the motivation of allophone students is found in Section 3. Finally, Section 4 details the research on the achievement of allophone students studying French.