Louisiana French Immersion Education: Cultural Identity and Grassroots Community Development

Abstract

This paper examines the role that cultural identity and grassroots activism and community development have played in the creation, maintenance and expansion of Louisiana French immersion education. Although linguists tend to portray the extinction of endangered minority languages as inevitable, research on the effects of minority language immersion education provides evidence that this portrayal is not an accurate one. In Louisiana, community concerns over the eminent death of Louisiana French and its associate culture have mobilised parents, educators and other advocates to establish French immersion programmes in public schools throughout southern Louisiana. Issues of regional and familial cultural identity have provided much of the impetus to expand these programmes in the region. As a result of the successful community-based efforts to create and extend immersion education in Louisiana, there is now a growing youth population proficient in Louisiana French, providing hope that the region's unique Francophone culture remains an enduring, active presence.