This study investigates students', parents' and teachers' beliefs about first language literacy experiences at home and at school. Written questionnaires and interviews were used as tools of inquiry. The students were grade five, majority language students in an early immersion program. Students, parents and teachers were asked about their beliefs on first language reading development, literacy experiences at home as well as at school, second language impact on first language and related topics. / Results showed that all students in the study had similar types of literacy experiences at home, regardless of reading ability. By adhering to an Emergent Literacy perspective, parents provided many diverse opportunities for their child(ren) to engage in literacy activities at home. The school had similar views about the importance of literacy practices. Students' literacy experiences at home appear to be in synchrony with their literacy experiences at school. This finding aligns with the aims of a Social Construction of Literacy perspective. / Learning to read in a second language did not hinder a child's development of first language reading, although for students having difficulty reading in the first language, the addition of a second language seemed to pose some difficulties for some students. / Recommendations are made for future research into family literacy in immersion programs and a follow up study. Research on individual differences among siblings could provide insight into why some children appear to have difficulties reading in their first language while others do not. A follow up study on some or all of the participants would provide continuing data on immersion students' literacy at home and at school.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.33303 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | McWhinney, Heather L. |
| Contributors | Maguire, Mary (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of Second Language Education.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001779357, proquestno: MQ70611, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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