Vocabulary Teaching in a Grade 8 French Immersion Classroom: A Descriptive Case Study

Abstract

There have been few descriptive studies of vocabulary teaching in second language classrooms, and only two in a French immersion setting (Swain & Carroll, 1987; Wright, 1993). Both involved descriptions of vocabulary teaching at a single grade level in multiple classrooms in an attempt to provide an overview of lexical instruction. In this paper we take an in-depth look at one effective teacher known to achieve high levels of second language proficiency in his students and who places a great deal of emphasis on vocabulary teaching and learning. From a detailed analysis of the instructional strategies used by this teacher, we hope to contribute to a framework for lexical teaching that could have broader relevance for language teaching in immersion and other classroom contexts.