Development of English and French Language and Literacy Skills in EL1 and EL French Immersion Students in the Early Grades

In this article, we report two studies that compared the development of English and French language and literacy skills in French immersion students identified as native English speakers (EL1s) and English learners (ELs). In study 1, 81 EL1s and 147 ELs were tested in the fall and spring terms of gr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Reading research quarterly 2015-04, Vol.50 (2), p.233-254
Main Authors: Au-Yeung, Karen, Hipfner-Boucher, Kathleen, Chen, Xi, Pasquarella, Adrian, D'Angelo, Nadia, Hélène Deacon, S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Childhood
Elementary education
English as a second language learning
English language
etc
First
First, second, etc., language (L1, L2,etc.)
French language
Grade 1
language (L1
Language learners
Literacy
Phonological awareness
Reading comprehension
Receptive language
second
Second-language learning
Second-language reading
Skill development
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Summary:In this article, we report two studies that compared the development of English and French language and literacy skills in French immersion students identified as native English speakers (EL1s) and English learners (ELs). In study 1, 81 EL1s and 147 ELs were tested in the fall and spring terms of grade 1. The EL1s and ELs had similar outcomes and comparable gains in English phonological awareness and word reading. Comparable performance was observed on all the French measures (phonological awareness, receptive vocabulary, word reading, and reading comprehension). Only in English receptive vocabulary did the EL1s outperform the ELs. In study 2, a subset of the students in study 1 was followed into grades 2 and 3 (36 EL1s and 33 ELs). Overall, the EL1s and ELs demonstrated similar performance and gains in English phonological awareness, word reading, and reading comprehension in grades 2 and 3. The EL1s outperformed their EL peers in English expressive and receptive vocabulary across all grades, despite more rapid growth among the ELs. At the same time, outcomes on all of the French measures were comparable between the two groups. The findings of remarkably comparable performance by the EL1s and ELs suggest that overall, French immersion does not impede English language and literacy skill development in ELs, making it a viable option for these students.
ISSN:0034-0553
1936-2722
DOI:10.1002/rrq.95