History of dual language programs (DLE) in Canada
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Historical Highlights
- Dual Language Education (DLE) refers to schooling at the elementary and/or secondary levels in which English along with another language are used for at least 50% of academic instruction during the school year; · also referred to as “immersion programs”
- Goal: to learn another language effectively; a personal, social, cognitive, and economic advantage that does not need to take place at the expense of the child’s first language competence.
- Developed in mid 1960s in Quebec (for English and French immersion)
- The 1960s are marked by political, social, and even militant action in the French community of Quebec to address the perceived power imbalance (Ibid) – also known as the Quiet Revolution
- DLE programs are responding to issues of social inequality, including language and culture, between the French and English speaking populations of Canada
- French has been the historically disadvantaged partner in Canada, despite its role in the colonization and development of Canada, its contemporary status as an official national language, and its demographic significance (native language of ~ 25% of the Canadian population)
- Evidence of the inferior status of French is evident in historical legislation, which at times “prohibited the use of French; patterns of language use, which favoured the use of English in most bilingual contexts, even in Quebec; and in language attitudes” (Genesee & Lindhold-Leary, p.3)
In response to the Quiet Revolution and the new legislation in favour of the French-language, there was an increasing awareness in the English-speaking community that French was becoming the more important language of communication in Quebec life. In the 1960s, English alone was no longer sufficient for assuring social and economic success. Rather than resisting the French “take-over,” in an effort to bridge the Two Solitudes, in the early 1960s a group of English-speaking parents in the suburban community of St. Lambert, outside of Montreal, began discussing strategies for change. As Genesee and Lindholt-Leary write, “they were determined to improve the quality of second language instruction in English schools and “immersion” was the educational improvement they developed. The first immersion class was opened in September 1965” (4). Immersion programs were, from the onset, designed to provide students with functional competence in written and oral communication in French, and ensure an understanding of and appreciation for French Canadian people, their language, and culture. Further, the developers hoped that immersion programs would improve relationships between Anglophone and Francophone Quebecers and Canadians (Ibid).
Although Canadian education is administered on a provincial level, the federal government has provided support for second-language education since 1970, with the aim of supporting bilingualism in Canada, or more specifically, fostering the recognition and use of both languages (Statistics Canada). Most Canadian students receive some form of core French or English training (depending on their native language) for at least part of their schooling.In addition, some students participate in more enhanced language training such as immersion, extended, or intensive courses. These enhanced programs vary considerably and have been continually evolving with changes in policy and new approaches to language learning.
Exceptions to Canada's conventional French-English DLE system may be made on First Nations and Inuit reservations, where bilingual programs incorporating Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtan, Cree, Blackfoot, Ojibwe, Mohawk, Mi'kmaq, and Salish languages. Some school boards have also developed DLE programs in other minority languages, such as Mandarin and Arabic.
Program Models
Differentiation Factors
- Grade/age level of implementation/Length of immersion – what grade level or age the second language is used for intensive academic instruction
a. Early immersion (beginning in Kindergarten/Grade 1)
b. Middle immersion (beginning in Grade 4/5)
c. Late immersion (beginning of Grade 7/early grades of secondary school)
Middle and late immersion programs provide core instruction in the second language preceding the beginning of the immersion.
2. Extent of instruction – the amount of instructional time devoted to the second language (versus native language)
a. Partial/Extended immersion (50% of instruction is presented in the second language and 50% in the native language of the students)
b. Total immersion (100% of instruction is presented in the second language)
Immersion Program Objectives
Explicit Objectives
· Advanced levels of functional proficiency in written and oral forms of the second language
· Normal levels of first language competence
· Grade-appropriate levels of achievement in academic school subjects
Implicit Objectives
· Promote awareness, understanding, and tolerance of the culture of the second language group