Language Proficiency, Biliteracy and French Immersion

Auteurs-es

  • Jim Cummins The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Mots-clés :

French immersion, Bilingualism, Biliteracy, Language proficiency, Second-language learning, Cognitive development

Résumé

Cet article traite des recherches qui ont été faites au Canada sur les programmes de français par immersion. On y analyse leur impact sur notre compréhension du bilinguisme et sur le rôle qu'il joue dans le domaine de l'éducation. Les quatre domaines majeurs où cet impact a été le plus marqué sont les suivants: (1) les effets du bilinguisme sur le développement cognitif et académique des enfants; (2) les effets de l'intensité de l'exposition à L2 sur le développement L1 et L2 des enfants; (3) le problème de « l'âge optimal » dans l'apprentissage de L2; (4) la pertinence d'un changement de langue, de la maison à l'école, pour tous les enfants. Contrairement à de nombreuses opinions préconçues, les résultats des recherches sur les programmes d'immersion au Canada suggèrent que: (1) les enfants qui arrivent à maîtriser assez bien deux langues sont avantagés sur le plan de la connaissance; (2) le temps consacré à l'enseignement par l'intermédiaire de la langue de la minorité est généralement lié à la réussite dans cette langue, mais sans rapport avec la réussite dans la langue de la majorité; (3) les étudiants plus âgés progressent plus rapidement que les jeunes étudiants lorsqu'il s'agit d'acquérir une compétence cognitive et académique en L2; (4) les programmes d'immersion conviendraient vraisemblablement à toutes les catégories d'étudiants. On suggère que ces résultats soient interprétés suivant un modèle théorique de compétence linguistique en tenant compte des dimensions trans-linguistiques du modèle, lequel pose en principe: (a) une distinction entre compétence cognitive et académique dans une langue et, d'autre part, les talents élémentaires de communication interpersonnelle en L1 et L2; (b) une interdépendance entre L1 et la compétence (cognitive/académique) linguistique de L2.

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Publié-e

01-01-1983

Comment citer

Cummins , J. (1983). Language Proficiency, Biliteracy and French Immersion. Revue Canadienne De l’éducation, 8(2), 117–138. Consulté à l’adresse https://cje.journals.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/cje-rce/article/view/8158

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