English as a Second Language for Native Canadians
Keywords:
Oral English proficiency, Second-language learning, Northern OntarioAbstract
In many northern communities in Canada, children begin their schooling speaking mainly or only a Native language. In many of these communities, English or French is rarely used in community contexts and the school is sometimes one of the few places where one of Canada's official languages is spoken. The study reported here concerns an isolated northern Ontario community where a population speaking Swampy Cree is served by an English-medium school. The paper reports results from the administration of an oral English proficiency test to students in Grades 2, 4, and 6 in the Cree-speaking community and in a northern English-speaking community. The Cree-speaking students exhibit much lower English proficiency than a group of northern Ontario anglophone peers. Factors involved in this apparent failure in second-language learning are explored, and recommendations are made for improving this situation.
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