ABSTRACT In this narrative inquiry, I examined parents’ stories to gain insight into their journey toward selecting a French Immersion Catholic stream of education for their Kindergarten-aged children. As a teacher, I first noticed a pronounced shift in the parents who were choosing Catholic French Immersion for their school-aged children and, then, as I formed close relationships with a diverse range of parents, I became cognizant that many families were deeply rooted in a faith other than that of Catholicism. With my curiosity piqued, I engaged in research to explore what these diverse parents believe Catholic French Immersion schools have to offer them. Utilizing both Joseph Schwab’s (1973) notion of curricular commonplaces and Allen’s (2007) web of caring as a framework for my research, I demonstrated how important it is that educators invite parent knowledge (Pushor, 2011, 2013) onto the school landscape as they attend to parents’ intentions in making particular school choices for their children. Using a metaphor of painting, and to paint both individual stories and a triptych of stories to capture parents’ influences, thoughts, hopes and dreams for their children that led them to Catholic French Immersion, I chose narrative inquiry methodology. I utilized field texts gathered from three sets of parents, including stories, journals, field notes, letters, conversations, and family stories, to paint an intimate understanding of the research puzzle. In terms of Catholic education, these families value a faith-based school environment but for different reasons. The Nelson family, rooted in Baptist faith, felt it was important that their child be schooled alongside other faithful children and also believed that Catholic schools inherently value the sanctity of each child. The Padrique family, newcomers to Canada, assumed that Catholic education would teach their child important values and that parents in the Catholic system would share parenting philosophies similar to their own. The Larocque family saw that through learning Catholic doctrine in school their children would be provided an opportunity to be exposed to, and to accept or reject, a system of beliefs not taught to their children at home. In terms of French Immersion, the families understood that their children’s ability to speak French would enhance their employment opportunities in the future. Both the Nelsons and the Padriques further viewed French Immersion as a program choice for the more academically inclined. Similarly, the Larocques, whose children have Treaty Status, understood French Immersion as a more challenging program where children become accustomed to working hard. This research will help deepen educators’ understanding of parent motivations for choosing this stream of education and more fully attend in their practice to parent intentions and parent knowledge.

We examined the relationship between orthographic processing and spelling in French immersion children. Study 1 included 148 first graders and they were assessed on orthographic processing and spelling in English and French. In Study 2, we followed 69 second graders for two years. Orthographic processing and spelling in English and French were administered in second and third grade. In Study 3, we analyzed the spelling errors made by the third graders in Study 2. In Study 1, we found a within-language relationship in English and French between orthographic processing and spelling. Cross-language transfer from French orthographic processing to English spelling was also observed. In Study 2, Grade 2 English spelling predicted gains in Grade 3 English and French orthographic processing. Study 3 showed that children made transfer errors when spelling in English and French. Overall, the current research highlights the importance of orthographic processing and spelling in French immersion children.

This qualitative research, conducted as a collective case study, investigated the strategies used by French immersion teachers, librarians and school principals to motivate students to read in French in school and at home. A total of 12 educators from three French immersion elementary schools participated in the study and each school was considered as a separate case study. Collected data included semi-structured interview transcripts, classroom observations and artifacts. The three schools were examined individually and a subsequent cross-case analysis identified the commonalities and the unique aspects among the schools. The findings of the study revealed that all of the participants believe that it is very important for French immersion students to read in French; that each individual in the study uses a variety of reading strategies to promote student reading in French; and that the classroom libraries and school libraries are organized in ways to motivate students to read in French. Analysis of the data also identified many of the challenges that French immersion staff experience teaching reading in British Columbia. Finally, suggestions are made of the possible changes that could occur in schools to improve the promotion of reading in French. Further case study research should explore the reading practices of a greater number of teaching professionals in French immersion schools and examine the attitudes, beliefs and reading habits of French immersion students in order to develop a broader understanding about how to effectively motivate students to read in French. In addition, research needs to evaluate students’ reading performances in different French immersion classrooms to determine if, and how, the strategies used by teachers and librarians affects students’ reading achievement scores in French immersion schools.

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 124-126). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

French Immersion (FI) is a form of second language education with various programs in which French is both a subject and the language of curricular instruction (Canadian Parents for French [CPF], 2019). In 1965, when FI first began in St. Lambert, Québec, it was aimed at middle-class, anglophone students (Davis, 2017; Davis et al., 2019; Kunnas, 2019; Lambert & Tucker, 1972), but its population has since expanded to include culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) learners - that is, students whose first language is neither English nor French and whose cultural and linguistic repertoires represent a strength in their learning communities. These students may be enrolled in FI programs, but their cultures and languages aren't necessarily recognized, valued, and integrated as assets for personal and collective learning - calling into question the potential for true inclusion (Mady et al., 2017). This study thus examines the inclusion of CLD learners in FI at an independent school in southeastern Ontario. Taking a multiple-case study approach, it uses critical race theory to explore the understandings, beliefs, and practices that CLD learners (n = 4), French as a Second Language (FSL) teachers (n = 3), teacher-administrators (n = 2), and parents and guardians of CLD learners (n = 12) associate with the inclusion of these students in FI. Data collection methods included semi-structured interviews, photo elicitation, in-person and virtual classroom observations, an online questionnaire, and a reflective journal. Although participants' understandings alluded to greater visibility of CLD learners, the findings suggest that these students weren't always seen in their full complexity. In terms of beliefs, CLD learners were generally viewed through an asset-oriented perspective; however, tensions remain in accepting and understanding knowledge different from the White standard. Finally, although practices were indicative of a pedagogy focused on students' academic success (Ladson-Billings, 2014), the findings showed evidence of a risk of underlying racial inequities. Implications include the need to understand the endemic nature of racism, to problematize race through dialogue and stories that counter "master narratives" (Martinez, 2014), and to address underlying racial inequities consistently and concretely. Ultimately, this research contributes to the development of culturally and linguistically inclusive learning spaces in FI.

Middle school French immersion teachers often report that they have a difficult time engaging their students in second language reading. This research used a constructivist, critical, and pragmatic approach to case study to explore middle school French immersion students’ perceptions of themselves as readers of French and of their experiences with reading in French. The research sought to understand, through thematic cross-case analysis, which themes appear most prominently in student accounts of their experiences with reading in French. Four major themes were identified: choice, assigned work, understanding, and interest. Additionally, the research sought to identify which instructional strategies might be most effective in promoting student engagement in reading in an additional language. The findings suggest a need for highly differentiated instructional models that emphasize teaching students how to assess a text for its appropriateness to their interests and reading level and providing students with ample time for free, independent reading. / Graduate / 0515 / 0282 / 0279 / 0535 / 0727 / 0525 / jwhittin@uvic.ca

A focal concern amid Canadian French immersion students upon completion of their secondary school studies is a shared belief and feeling that they are limited in their ability to communicate with francophone communities (Howard, 2007; Schaffer, 2013; The Globe and Mail, Friesen, 2013). Furthermore, it has been widely discussed that French immersion students are finding themselves in the midst of language identity crisis, unable to find a place among either of the dominant monolingual groups (Roy, 2010). This case study examined the potential persistence of language identity crisis in three French immersion students who extended their French as a second language education by pursuing post-secondary education in a French immersion program at a large bilingual university. The study reveals the linguistic identity construction of these students by clarifying how each participant positioned (Davies & Harré, 1990) herself towards Francophone language and culture. It exposes the factors which influenced the linguistic positioning of the participants and comments on patterns in the factors which affected their linguistic identity in particular.

La présente étude avait pour objectif de décrire comment est enseignée (si elle l’est effectivement) la distinction d’emploi entre le passé composé et l’imparfait, une distinction aspectuelle posant problème aux apprenants du français langue seconde, dans trois classes de 3e à 5e années en immersion française précoce aux Territoires du Nord-Ouest et de décrire l’utilisation que font les enseignantes de ces temps verbaux. À partir de dix-neuf heures d’observation en classe et d’entretiens menés avec deux enseignantes, nous avons élaboré une proposition didactique basée sur la réflexion guidée avec exemples positifs et négatifs de Nadeau et Fisher (2006) mettant en évidence le contraste d’emploi entre le passé composé et l’imparfait. Cette proposition didactique fournit aux enseignantes une façon de l’enseigner alors qu’elles ne le font pas à ces niveaux, et aux apprenants, un intrant où la fréquence des emplois atypiques est plus grande que dans le discours de leur enseignante. / The present study is aimed at describing how the distinction in use between passé composé and imparfait, an aspectual distinction that is problematic to learners of French as a second language, is taught (if it is effectively taught) in three 3rd to 5th grade classes of the French early immersion program in the Northwestern Territories, and how the teachers use these verb tenses. Based on nineteen hours of classroom observations and interviews with two teachers, we developed a teaching proposal using Nadeau and Fisher’s « guided reflexion with positive and negative examples » (2006), that brings to light the contrast of use that exists between the passé composé and the imparfait. This teaching proposal gives the teachers a way to teach it, as they don’t teach it at these levels, and exposes the learners to an input in which the frequency of atypical uses is higher than in their teachers’ discourse.

Notre thèse s’intéresse à l’apprentissage de la lecture dans un contexte et avec un public particulier : des enfants anglophones scolarisés en école d’immersion française aux Etats-Unis (Minnesota). Ces enfants apprennent à lire en français langue étrangère à l’école alors qu’il incombe aux familles de les exposer à l’écrit de leur langue maternelle anglaise.Afin d’étudier comment s’effectuent ces apprentissages (en L1 et en L2) nous avons mené une étude longitudinale auprès de quatre enfants de 7,1 ans (âge moyen). Notre cadre théorique s’inscrit à la croisée de la linguistique, la psycholinguistique, la psychologie cognitive et la pédagogie. Notre démarche suit celle proposée par les recherches orientées en didactique cognitive.D’une part, les enregistrements des performances dans une tâche de lecture à voix haute de courts textes narratifs anglais /vs/ français nous permettent d’évaluer la prononciation, la réalisation de mots connus/inconnus, la fluence. D’autre part, des questions simples posées après la lecture nous renseignent sur le degré de compréhension. Enfin, l’environnement familial est pris en compte par le biais d’un questionnaire administré aux parents durant toute l’étude. Nos hypothèses concernent les apprentissages dans chacune des deux langues, les influences d’une langue sur l’autre et le transfert de compétence dans le décodage des graphèmes en phonèmes. / Our thesis focuses on learning how to read by a particular group of children in a particular setting: Anglophone children enrolled in a French immersion school in the United States (Minnesota). These children learn how to read in French as a foreign language at school while their families are responsible for exposing their children to written material in their mother tongue: English.In order to study how learning how to read occurs (in L1 and in L2), we carried out a longitudinal study among four children who were 7,1 years old (mean age). Our theoretical framework lies at a crossroads of linguistics, psycholinguistics, cognitive psychology and pedagogy. Our reasoning follows the kind of research that has been carried out in cognitive didactics On one hand, we recorded the children while they were reading aloud short narratives both in French and in English. These recordings enabled us to assess the children’s pronunciation, their performance in reading known and unknown words and their fluency. On the other hand, simple questions, asked after reading, give us information about how well the children understood what they had just read. Finally, the family background is taken into account through a questionnaire that was filled in by the parents throughout the study. Our hypotheses concern learning in each of the language, the influences of one language on the other and the transfer of skills regarding decoding graphemes into phonemes.

La présente étude avait pour objectif de décrire comment est enseignée (si elle l’est effectivement) la distinction d’emploi entre le passé composé et l’imparfait, une distinction aspectuelle posant problème aux apprenants du français langue seconde, dans trois classes de 3e à 5e années en immersion française précoce aux Territoires du Nord-Ouest et de décrire l’utilisation que font les enseignantes de ces temps verbaux. À partir de dix-neuf heures d’observation en classe et d’entretiens menés avec deux enseignantes, nous avons élaboré une proposition didactique basée sur la réflexion guidée avec exemples positifs et négatifs de Nadeau et Fisher (2006) mettant en évidence le contraste d’emploi entre le passé composé et l’imparfait. Cette proposition didactique fournit aux enseignantes une façon de l’enseigner alors qu’elles ne le font pas à ces niveaux, et aux apprenants, un intrant où la fréquence des emplois atypiques est plus grande que dans le discours de leur enseignante. / The present study is aimed at describing how the distinction in use between passé composé and imparfait, an aspectual distinction that is problematic to learners of French as a second language, is taught (if it is effectively taught) in three 3rd to 5th grade classes of the French early immersion program in the Northwestern Territories, and how the teachers use these verb tenses. Based on nineteen hours of classroom observations and interviews with two teachers, we developed a teaching proposal using Nadeau and Fisher’s « guided reflexion with positive and negative examples » (2006), that brings to light the contrast of use that exists between the passé composé and the imparfait. This teaching proposal gives the teachers a way to teach it, as they don’t teach it at these levels, and exposes the learners to an input in which the frequency of atypical uses is higher than in their teachers’ discourse.