Research on French DLI in the US

What has been done so far and where

do we go from there?

Ève Ryan, Ph.D.

National Seminar on French DLI

Washington, DC

October 24, 2023

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Research on French DLI in the US

What has been done so far?

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Methodology

• Empirical studies (i.e., based on observation or experiment)
• Published in peer-reviewed journals
• Past conference presentations I attended
• Research database: Google Scholar
• Keywords: “French” + “immersion” + “United States”
• “Recent” studies published in the last 20 years

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TOTAL: 10 studies in 4 different contexts

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Studies 1, 2, 3 and 4 - Factors contributing to the bilingual development of early-immersion students

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1. Ryan, È. (2021a). French vocabulary development of early-elementary students in a dual language immersion program: The role of out-of-school input and output. International Journal of Bilingualism, 25(5), 1200-1213.
2. Ryan, È., Potter, P. D., Luna, M., Bailey, A. L., & Darriet, C. (under review). Bilingual oral language development among dual language immersion students: Use of a Bayesian approach with language learning progressions. Applied Psycholinguistics.
3. Ryan, È. (2021b). The impact of home literacy on bilingual vocabulary development. Bilingual Research Journal, 44(1), 108-123.
4. Ryan, È. (2020). Parents’ investment in a French-English dual language immersion program in the United States. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 22(1), 51-65.

Context

• 50/50 two-way immersion school in the Southwestern US
• 42 K-1 students
• 16 from households where French is spoken
• 12 from households where a language other than French and English is spoken
• 14 from English-only households
• Parents filled out a survey on children’s out-of-school language exposure and use at the beginning of the study
• Children assessed in French & English at 5 time points over 1 calendar year
• Receptive vocabulary standardized tests
• Oral picture description task → Recorded, and transcribed

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Study 1 - Impact of out-of-school French input and output on vocabulary development

• To what extent are children’s (French) vocabulary trajectories affected by their out-of-school input and output experiences in French?
• Instruments
• Survey: How much French input and output the children received/produced out of school
• Receptive French vocabulary: scores on standardized test
• Expressive French vocabulary: Number of different words used in the picture description task
• Longitudinal growth model

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Study 1 - Impact of out-of-school French input and output on vocabulary development

• Students’ out-of-school output experiences were much more homogenous (and low!) than their out-of-school input levels
• Students who were exposed to more French input had higher scores on the French receptive vocabulary measure at baseline (but not on the expressive measure)
• Students who produced more French output had higher scores on the French expressive vocabulary measure at baseline (but not on the receptive measure)

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Study 2 - Bilingual oral language development using language learning progressions

• What are the French and English growth patterns as measured by learning progressions?
• Instruments
• Transcripts from oral picture descriptions
• Learning progressions from Not Yet Evident to Controlled
• Focus on language features at the word-, sentence-, and discourse-levels
• Bayesian methods

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Language progressions (Bailey & Heritage, 2019)

Not evident

Pre-

emergent

Early emerging

Emerging

Early developing

Developing

Controlled

* Language may be “flawed” production during these acquisition stages (Valdés, 2005)

Study 2 - Bilingual oral language development using language learning progressions

• French: meaningful positive linear growth for all language features
• English: meaningful linear positive growth only detected for vocabulary
• Coming from a French-speaking household → Steeper French oral language trajectories
• Coming from an English-only household → No specific impact on English oral language trajectories

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Study 3 - Impact of home literacy on bilingual vocabulary development

• Print and media exposure at home in French and English → How do they affect children’s scores on the standardized vocabulary tests?
• Growth modeling

RESULTS

• Print and media exposure at home in English is the same for children from English-only and multilingual households
• No effect of English print and media exposure on English or French baseline vocabulary

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Study 3 - Impact of home literacy on bilingual vocabulary development

• More exposure to French print and media → higher baseline French vocabulary scores, and this effect was stronger for children with less exposure to English print and media
• No monthly vocabulary growth in French unless children came from a French-speaking household, after controlling for French and English print and media exposure
• Regardless of home language background, children displayed growth in their English vocabulary over time.

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Study 4 - Parents’ investment in children’s bilingual education

Why do parents decide to enroll their child in a French-English DLI program?

• Parents have an imagined identity for their child as a French speaker.
• For French-speaking parents, they want to foster a strong sense of Francophone identity among their children, as it ties to their heritage (the past).
• Non-French-speaking parents’ motivations were more instrumental in nature (e.g., future economic opportunities).

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Study 4 - Parents’ investment in children’s bilingual education

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Studies 5, 6, & 7 - French proficiency and academic achievement of DLI students

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5. Watzinger-Tharp, J., Swenson, K., & Mayne, Z. (2016). Academic achievement of students in dual language immersion. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 21(8), 913-928.
6. Watzinger‐Tharp, J., Rubio, F., & Tharp, D. S. (2018). Linguistic performance of dual language immersion students. Foreign Language Annals, 51(3), 575-595.
7. Watzinger-Tharp, J., Tharp, D. S., & Rubio, F. (2021). Sustaining dual language immersion: Partner language outcomes in a statewide program. The Modern Language Journal, 105(1), 194-217.

Context

• State of UT
• One-way French immersion programs since 2009
• French exposure
• 50% in elementary school
• 30% in middle school
• Less than 20% in high school

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Study 5 - Math achievement in grades 3 and 4

• 5 schools across the state - Inaugural cohort (started in 2009)
• Math and all other content areas, including social studies and science, are taught nearly exclusively in the target language in 1st grade through 3rd grade
• In 4th and 5th grade, math instruction changes to 60 minutes daily in the English classroom, and 30 minutes in the target language

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Study 5 - Math achievement in grades 3 and 4

1. How do DLI and non-DLI 3rd graders perform in math, relative to their performance in ELA?
1. Performance in math relative to ELA scores was similar for DLI and non-DLI students
2. Math scores were neither relatively lower nor higher than ELA scores for DLI and non-DLI 3rd graders
2. How much growth in math is observed in the 4th grade year for DLI and non-DLI students?
1. Propensity score matching
2. More growth in math for DLI students compared to non-DLI matched peers

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Study 6 - French proficiency in grades 4, 5, & 6

• Grades: 4, 5, & 6
• ACTFL Assessment of Proficiency Towards Performance in Languages (AAPPL)

2 modes of communication:

• Interpretive (listening and reading)
• Interpersonal (listening/speaking)
• At what levels do DLI students at different grade levels perform in interpretive listening and reading and in interpersonal listening/speaking?
• To what extent do DLI students’ scores change from one tested grade to the next, and are there statistically significant differences among skills?

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Study 6 - French proficiency in grades 4, 5, & 6

• French DLI students attained Intermediate Low proficiency (I1 on the AAPLL scale) in listening and reading in 4th grade, and in speaking in 5th grade.
• 6th-grade French DLI students were able to perform interpretive (listening and reading) and interpersonal (speaking) tasks, on average, at the Intermediate Mid level of proficiency.
• Students progressed significantly between grades 4 and 6 in all tested skills, except listening. Reading growth rates were the highest.

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Study 7 - French proficiency in secondary grades

Do DLI students grow in French listening, speaking, reading, and writing from elementary to secondary grades? YES!!!

• Between Grades 3 and 7, students’ median scores grew from Novice High/Intermediate Low to the upper end of Intermediate Mid in speaking
• Students reach upper Intermediate Mid to Intermediate High by Grades 8 and 9 in listening and reading
• A substantial number of students in Grade 8 attained the AAPPL Advanced level in listening and reading BUT these percentages declined somewhat in Grade 9

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Study 7 - French proficiency in secondary grades

• Across all four skills, the majority of students who had scored below Intermediate High in Grade 8 raised their scores in Grade 9
• 80% of students in Grade 9 met or exceeded the state grade-level benchmarks (targeting the top of Intermediate Mid or Intermediate High) in all four skills.

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Studies 8 & 9 - French immersion teachers & administrators in LA

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8. Barnett, C. B. (2016). La Francophonie en Louisiane: Problems and recommendations to strengthen the French immersion model. The French Review, 90(1), 101-120.
9. Grivet, C. S., Haj‐Broussard, M., & Broomé, R. (2021). School administrators’ perspectives of French immersion programs. Foreign Language Annals, 54(1), 114-138.

Study 8 - French immersion teachers in LA

• 12 teachers across the state, from various national origins (North America, Europe) interviewed in French or English
• What problems do French immersion teachers in Louisiana encounter?
• Availability of materials
• Demanding workload
• Negative interaction with non-immersion American colleagues
• Administration not completely understanding immersion
• Parental power over teachers and parental lack of French language skills
• Lack of communication among French immersion teachers
• No formal immersion training and no opportunities for immersion class observations
• CODOFIL services not available to all teachers
• Not enough instruction time in French
• Non-existent French Language Arts curriculum

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Study 8 - French immersion teachers in LA

• According to the teachers, what are possible solutions to these problems?
• Streamline access to materials to decrease workload
• Common core of Louisiana French language and culture
• Increased access to Francophone events throughout the state

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Study 9 - School administrators’ perspectives in LA

• Large urban school district in LA with well‐established French immersion programs (between 7 and 26 years old)
• Individual interviews with 5 school administrators
• 2 school principals and 1 assistant principal from elementary schools
• 1 assistant principal from a middle school
• 1 principal from a high school
• How do school principals and assistant principals understand and plan for French immersion program components in K‐12 schools?

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Study 9 - School administrators’ perspectives in LA

• Despite the challenges in FLIPs, school administrators develop a high degree of advocacy, teachers’ support, and shared leadership.
• Program planning focuses on strengthening communication and relationships with local, national, and international partners to deepen stakeholders’ involvement in the program.
• Recommend developing immersion‐specific tools, including: curriculum, teachers’ support, and shared leadership

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Study 10 - Motivation of immersion middle schoolers

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10. Wesely, P. M. (2009). The language learning motivation of early adolescent French immersion graduates. Foreign Language Annals, 42(2), 270-286.

Study 10 - The language learning motivation of French immersion middle schoolers

• Public school in an affluent suburb
• 100% French instruction K-1, with more and more English instruction in grades 2 through 5
• Middle school: math and social studies in French + French language arts
• 6th graders (N = 6) filled out a survey and were individually interviewed
• Although students appeared to be motivated by both instrumental and integrative factors, relationships with teachers and peers were also influential.

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Research on French DLI in the US

Where do we go from there?

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Goals of DLI education (Cervantes-Soon et al., 2017; Christian, 2016)

1. Bilingualism & Biliteracy
2. Academic achievement
3. Cross-cultural competence: ability to display a sense of both themselves (i.e., identity) and of others within a socially and culturally diverse environment such as the DL classroom
4. Critical/Sociopolitical consciousness → awareness of power issues related to language, race, class, immigration status, and gender

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Goals of DLI education (Cervantes-Soon et al., 2017; Christian, 2016)

1. Bilingualism & Biliteracy
2. Academic achievement
3. Cross-cultural competence: ability to display a sense of both themselves (i.e., identity) and of others within a socially and culturally diverse environment such as the DL classroom
4. Critical/Sociopolitical consciousness → awareness of power issues related to language, race, class, immigration status, and gender

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Translanguaging

Translanguaging

Tian, Z. (2022). Challenging the ‘Dual’: Designing translanguaging spaces in a Mandarin-English dual language bilingual education program. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 43(6), 534-553.

• Strict language separation policy = artificial → Some have called for the development of flexible, multilingual spaces in dual language bilingual education
• Grade 3 Mandarin classroom in a DLI program where the majority of the students were English-dominant speakers
• Teacher and researcher worked together to design translanguaging spaces within and across 3 content areas: Chinese Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies

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Translanguaging

Tian, Z. (2022).

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• It was a balancing act to create translanguaging spaces while maintaining the language-minoritized space and privileging students’ use of Mandarin.
• Translanguaging spaces took many shapes based on contextual factors such as different learning objectives and curricular demands of each content area.

E.g., cross-linguistic analysis in language arts; some English picture books and videos in science

• Students were able to
• demonstrate a fuller picture of their academic performance
• develop deeper content understandings
• build cross-linguistic connections
• become more aware of their multilingual and multicultural identities.

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Goals of DLI education (Cervantes-Soon et al., 2017; Christian, 2016)

1. Bilingualism & Biliteracy
2. Academic achievement
3. Cross-cultural competence: ability to display a sense of both themselves and of others within a socially and culturally diverse environment such as the DL classroom
4. Critical/Sociopolitical consciousness → consciousness of power issues related to language, race, class, immigration status, and gender

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Gentrification

Issues of power: Gentrification

Chaparro, S. E. (2021). Creating fertile grounds for two-way immersion: Gentrification, immigration, & neoliberal school reforms. Language Policy, 20(3), 435-461.

• DLI programs increasingly popular, especially amongst white, non-Hispanic, middle-class English speaking-parents
• 18-month ethnographic study
• 8 stakeholders who helped create a new Spanish-English TWI program in Philadelphia

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Issues of power: Gentrification

• Many perceived the host school as having a higher status, thus contributing to the DLBE gentrification phenomenon by increasing enrollment and ultimately giving White parents the strongest voice at the school
• Despite various unsuccessful efforts to include Latinx families and to reduce and avoid DLBE gentrification, the underlying logic that White middle- and upper-middle-class parents would bring more resources to the school was persistent.

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Research on French DLI in the US

Where do you want to go from there?

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Research on French DLI in the US

Where do you want to go from there?

Discuss with your neighbors and write down your suggestions on the jamboard.

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MERCI !!

eryan9@alaska.edu