Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education - Volume 9, Issue 2, 2021

Extensive research has evaluated the effectiveness of dual language (DL) programs in Canada and the U.S. The majority of that research has focused on typically-developing students who represent the majority ethnolinguistic group in the broader community. This article reviews research on the suitability of DL forms of education for students with diverse backgrounds and, in particular, students with personal, familial, or ethnolinguistic characteristics that are often associated with underachievement in school. The review begins by examining research evidence that speaks to young leaners’ capacity for learning more than one language during early stages of development. It then presents evidence from research that has examined the effectiveness of DL forms of education for diverse learners. Extant evidence indicates that young learners have the capacity to learn more than one language without jeopardizing their development and that DL education is suitable and effective for students with diverse characteristics.

This study investigated access to and outcomes of Early French Immersion (EFI) for students with special education needs (SEN) attending a large school board in Canada. Data analysis was carried out on: provincially mandated achievement test scores for all Grade 3 students with SEN participating over a three-year period (n = 705) who attended either EFI or English programs; standardized French and English language and reading scores for a small subset of students (n = 20); and interviews with parents of Grade 4 students in EFI (n = 9). Results revealed lower participation but higher English academic and language performance for students with SEN in the EFI program as well as development of French language and reading skills. Interviewed parents often believed children with SEN ‘could not handle’ EFI and that withdrawal should be an option in response to learning difficulties. Implications for inclusive practices in EFI are discussed.

This study investigated the French and English outcomes and experiences of one student with Down syndrome enrolled in a Canadian French Immersion (FI) program. Testing in Grades 6 and 8 revealed development in both languages, higher English than French skills, and progress across the two years in English only. English language and reading comparisons in Grade 8 showed the bilingual student had similar or better English abilities than age-matched monolinguals with Down syndrome (DS) schooled in English only. Interviews revealed that the parents were strong advocates for their son and worked closely with the school to ensure accommodations were in place in FI that fostered his success. The interviews also offered some explanation for the lack of French progress at second testing. This study provides the first evidence that FI can provide a path to bilingualism for students with DS. The findings have implications for inclusive education.

Considerable research documents the efficacy of dual language programs for the reading achievement of English learners from Spanish-speaking homes. However, there is uncertainty in the field of dual language education about how students at-risk for literacy difficulties fare in these same programs, as well as questions about how risk should be defined – i.e., difficulty with decoding versus lower levels of vocabulary – with distinct understandings of risk potentially differentially explaining students’ reading trajectories. This study followed Spanish-speaking students from Grades 3–5 to understand how students at-risk for reading difficulties fare in English reading comprehension in dual language versus English-medium programs, examining two different risk indicators in the process. Study results indicate that across risk categories, students performed equally well regardless of program model. In addition, decoding was a more robust indicator of risk than vocabulary.

When the earliest Irish language immersion schools outside Irish-speaking (Gaeltacht) areas were established, students were likely to come from relatively high socioeconomic backgrounds. While research has shown positive outcomes for these students, less is known about the outcomes of immersion education for students from areas of social disadvantage. Of 145 Irish immersion primary schools in the Republic of Ireland in 2016, 13 (8%) served low socioeconomic status (SES) communities. The current study examined the achievements of Grade 3 (n. = 283) and Grade 6 (n. = 235) students in these schools on nationally-standardised tests of English reading and mathematics. Their scores are compared to those of students attending schools in areas of disadvantage nationally. Immersion students in Grade 3 achieved lower mean scores on both English reading and mathematics when compared with their low-SES English-medium peers. However, Grade 6 students achieved at about the same level in mathematics and outperformed their low-SES peers nationally in English reading.

This study examines female–male differences in English writing outcomes for Taiwanese primary school learners enrolled in a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) program. Narrative and expository writing samples of 212 primary school students (Male = 103, Female = 109) in Taiwan were collected and scored using several measures including spelling accuracy, correct word sequences, lexical diversity, total t-units, and a holistic rubric for ideas. Students’ topic interest was also measured through a Likert-scale survey. The findings revealed differences between females and males and the two genres of writing. While there were statistical differences attributed to gender and topic interest variables for some writing measures, further analysis revealed that these effects were minimal in terms of practical significance. The paper raises questions about the relationship between female–male writing differences and CLIL and provides suggestions for future research to broaden our understanding and support diversity in the CLIL classroom.

French immersion programs throughout Canada have historically consisted of predominantly Anglophone populations pursuing bilingualism in the country’s two official languages, English and French. Nevertheless, recent developments in immigration and refugee resettlement have contributed to increasingly diverse student backgrounds nationwide (Statistics Canada, 2014). Researchers have explored the motivation for Allophone families to pursue FSL in Canada (Dagenais & Berron, 2001; Dagenais & Jacquet, 2000; Mady, 2010); the language proficiency of Allophone learners in FSL programs (Bérubé & Marinova-Todd, 2012; Carr, 2007; Mady, 2015); and the perspectives of FSL educators with respect to such learners (Mady, 2016; Mady & Masson, 2018; Roy, 2015). The present study draws from interview data to explore and compare the experiences and perspectives of seven Allophone parents and 43 FI educators in Saskatchewan. In the present article, we examine the perspectives of FI educators, the experiences of Allophone families, and the implications for immersion programs worldwide.