Profile of a group of "successful" bilingual senior high school students

Bilingual Research Journal, Spring 1998 by Foster, Rosemary

Abstract

Student enrollment in French immersion programs in Canada is declining(Commissioner of Official Languages,1997). This article addresses the issue of attrition and retention in secondary school bilingual programs through the presentation of a descriptive profile ofa group of"successful" French immersion high school students. The construction of this profile is supported by the major findings of a qualitative study that investigated reasons why a group of Anglophone students of varying abilities made the decision to continue and complete their high school studies in French immersion (Foster, 1992). By offering this perspective of "success," the contention here is congruent with what other researchers have claimed (Johnson & Swain, 1997; Tardif & Weber, 1987); consideration must be given to factors other than academic achievement and program limitations when probing the issue of participation levels in this bilingual alternative in high school programming.

Context of the Study

Often referred to as the "immersion phenomenon," French immersion programming in Canada is an innovation in public schooling that has been "one of the most studied programs in the educational field in Canada" (MacIsaac, 1991, p. 36). Classrooms where students learn their second language "by use while learning something else and not by formal language instruction, is an experiential approach which has had a revolutionary impact on second language learning and teaching" (Stern, 1984, p. 4). According to Krashen ( 1984):

Canadian immersion is not simply another successful language teaching program-it may be the most successful program ever recorded in the professional language-teaching literature. No program has been as thoroughly studied and documented, and no program, to my knowledge, has done as well. (p. 61)

The advantages of bilingualism have been equally well documented. In a recent article, Latham (1998) claims that "numerous research studies in the past 30 years have concluded that fluent bilingualism contributes to the cognitive growth of children," and that "most researchers believe that knowing two languages and perspectives gives bilingual children a more diversified and flexible basis for cognition than their monolingual peers" (p. 79).

What started as a pilot project, an "experiment" in bilingual schooling (Lambert & Tucker, 1972) proposed by a small group of parents in the province of Quebec in 1965, has now become an integral part of every Canadian province's educational system. In 1991 it was estimated that over 288,000 elementary and secondary school students were enrolled in French immersion programs throughout Canada (Commissioner of Official Languages, 1992, p. 217).

More recent studies and statistics, however, have indicated a leveling off and a drop in participation in this program, particularly at the secondary level (Commissioner of Official Languages, 1996, pp. 98-101). A study conducted in the Carleton Board of Education in the province of Ontario, for example, found that 50 to 75 % of French immersion students there dropped out of immersion (but not out of their studies) during high school (cited in the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Official Languages, 1992, p. 217). With the aim of investigating the variables associated with attrition, a national study involving over 350 school districts throughout Canada was undertaken in 1991 (Halsall, 1991 ). Chief researcher Nancy Halsall reported in the document that between 20 and 80 % of French immersion students left the program upon entering high school for a variety of reasons (p. 3). Even though numerous empirical studies conducted over the past 30 years have reported on the positive association "between bilingualism and both general intellectual skills and divergent thinking" (Cummins & Swain, 1986, p. 10), the widespread perception persists that students who undertake secondary school studies in their second language may be disadvantaged. Significant numbers of students enrolled in bilingual programs are choosing not to continue study in their second language at high school.

The issue of attrition and retention of students in senior high school French immersion programs in Canada presents one of the greatest challenges in providing a comprehensive bilingual program, Kindergarten through grade 12. The reasons associated with students leaving high school bilingual programs have been well documented (Annual Report of the Commisioner of Official Languages, 1992; Halsall, 1991). Little has been written, however, about why some students make the choice to continue their participation in the program at the high school level. The study reported on in this article was conceived and designed within this context (Foster, 1992).

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study reported here was to contribute to the knowledge about student retention in high school bilingual and immersion programs. This was undertaken through the investigation of the perceptions and experiences of a select group of Anglophone Grade 10 students enrolled in the first year of a French immersion program in a suburban high school in Alberta, Canada. This group of students had become involved in a French immersion pilot program in elementary and junior high school, and had made the choice to take the core courses of their high school credit program in their second language, Specifically, the purpose of the study was to provide an interpretation of how the "lived experiences" of these students had influenced their decision to continue in the program after junior high school. Because parents helped make the initial choice for French immersion in elementary school, and many were involved when these children chose to continue the program in high school, it was assumed that the perspectives of the parents would assist in contextualizing the students' understandings of their experiences.