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Examination of educational literature reveals a wealth of suggested materials and procedures to provide independent study facilities for students of the sciences, social studies and English. Very little mention is made of library resources for students of French or other foreign languages. This thesis proposes to survey the present relationship between secondary school French teaching and school libraries in British Columbia, and to make recommendations for the future growth of libraries offering independent French language study facilities. From questionnaires completed by French teachers and school librarians across the province, summaries of their respective holdings were obtained. Typical situations could be described, although few consistent patterns of organization were found. The questionnaires were analyzed in three school-size groups: under 500 pupils, between 500 and 1000, and over 1000. As expected, the larger schools have an advantage in obtaining most types of supplementary materials and equipment. With British Columbia's present situation clearly in mind, some attention is given to the relationships, personal and organizational, between French teachers and librarians. From recent literature and a visit to a leading American high school, a modern, realistic role for both language department and library resources is proposed. The thesis examines audiovisual learning in some detail. It was found through the questionnaires that many libraries are prepared to adopt the "materials centre" concept which implies a wide variety of electronic and other non-print resources. Some cautionary statements are directed to librarians after a discussion of the limited ability of modern technologies to serve students of French in secondary school library settings. Appendices explore the usefulness of the Bell and Howell Language Master, an audio-instructional device which purports to have applications to all learning tasks. Pupils who used the Language Master extensively during a two-week period made progress similar to that of a control group who remained under regular classroom instruction. A further attempt to use the machine for individual remedial study revealed some apparent deficiencies in such an application. It is concluded that it is of minimal value for language training, and recommendations are made for further research. Finally, a list of reading materials related to French courses is offered as an aid to teachers and librarians. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

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Recently, there has been growing interest in the status of functional projections (i.e. the determiner phrase (DP), the inflectional phrase (IP), and the complementizer phrase (CP)) in first language (L1) development. / The purpose of this study of child second language (L2) acquisition was to determine the status of functional projections in the first months of L2 development. Data from two child subjects (with English as their L1) acquiring French as an L2 were examined for evidence of DP, IP and CP. The results show that all functional projections are present in the grammar from the earliest months of child L2 development. The implications of this finding for L1 and L2 acquisition theories are discussed.

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The effects that various forms of bilingual education may have on children's reading development are of concern to parents and educators alike. In this thesis, I investigate the development of mother tongue and second language reading in two bilingual education contexts, and assess the effects of the language of initial formal reading instruction upon this development. This study examines children's reading within the home, classroom and community environments. / The research involved two Grade 1 classes mainly comparing the language of initial formal reading instruction. One site was a French immersion school offering a 50% English/50% French program in which initial formal reading instruction was in English. The second site was a French school, with a majority of anglophone students and initial formal reading instruction was in French. The participants in this study were 12 children from each class, their parents, and the classroom teachers. / Three main tools of inquiry were used: classroom observations were carried out in each of the two classes during the Grade 1 school year; samples of oral reading and retellings, in English and in French, were collected from the participating children for miscue analysis, and informal interviews were conducted with all the participants. / The analysis revealed that regardless of the language of initial formal reading instruction, the children's reading abilities developed in both languages. Children tended to feel more comfortable reading in the language in which they had been formally instructed but, despite this, meaning-construction was more effective in the mother tongue. Differences in reading abilities for both groups could be accounted for by limitations in knowledge of the second language rather than by language of initial instruction. Finally, children with initial formal reading instruction in the second language easily applied their reading abilities to reading in their mother tongue. / The conclusions drawn from this inquiry are that having supportive home and community environments, exemplary teachers and constructive classroom environments enables children to use their creative abilities and language resources to make sense of reading in two languages. It is the continuities and connections between these elements which enables children to transcend any difficulties arising from the fact that reading is being encountered in two languages.

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This study reports the spontaneous linguistic behaviour of three children acquiring French as a first language. The introductory chapter presents such information as the children's ages and the parents' linguistic background. In Chapter Two, the children's abilities to pose questions, make requests, and give commands are described. Chapter Three discusses the various negative speech actions that the children are able to perform, and the scope or range of each child's negation vocabulary. Chapter Four discusses the children's abilities to initiate, participate, and recognize linguistic play, that is, speech which is in direct contradiction with the facts and is not intended to be serious. Finally, the concluding chapter summarizes the study and points out its significant findings. / Arts, Faculty of / Linguistics, Department of / Graduate