The Second Language Component of Primary French Immersion Programs in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Abstract

Abstract This article provides a critical description of a long-standing Canadian bilingual program that completely immerses Anglophone students in a French academic context. Support from the target language culture, along with environmental reinforcements, contribute to the academic success of the students and the steady program enrollment. For Anglophone Montrealers, the immersion programs have been a staple of the public school system since the early 1970s. Owing in part to a law that has made French the official language in Quebec, Anglophones have flocked to bilingual education programs with aspirations of becoming functionally bilingual. With minor adjustments according to parental demands, curricular objectives are designed first to meet Anglophone students' needs, and second to match those of the French mother tongue students. While the successes of immersion programs are well documented in the literature, Anglophone students rarely develop a linguistic competence in French indistinguishable from their Francophone counterparts.