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Ask-A-Linguist - Message details
Subject: Age of bilingualism
Question:
If a child is in school following a French Immersion program that has started in kindergarten, will that child be bilingual after grade 8? This would mean that the only exposure that the child has in the second language would be during school. The child does not function or hear the second language outside of school. Would the child be able to become bilingual after 9 years of French Immersion at school?

Thank you

Reply:
Hi, I gather you're from Canada...where French immersion is
still highly popular. The answer to your question is: It
depends! It depends on what you mean by 'bilingual'. If by
that term you mean 'perfectly at ease in all aspects of both
languages', the answer would be NO. Even though immersion
is a relatively efficient way of learning a second language, it is
not the ideal way, as some would wish it. If you mean by the
term 'capable of handling basic conversations, reading and
writing elementary texts' then the answer would most
probably be YES. This also depends, of course, on the
specific nature of the immersion programme. For example,
many schools have total immersion during the first two or
three years, which is followed by partial immersion (i.e.
English is taught or used in class during part of the day).
This partial immersion may in fact remain relatively steady for
the next few years or indeed decrease gradually (i.e. more
and more time is spent in English and less and less time is
spent in French during the school day). This type of
immersion definitely has consequences on the level of
competence in French your child will have. As well, the
excellence (or lack of same) of the teachers' French will also
be a factor. In many immersion schools, due to a lack of
highly qualified French immersion teachers, immersion
teachers are not always totally fluent in the language and
culture. This may or may not be a problem in your own
school. But as the saying goes: "Garbage in, garbage out!"
An important caveat here. Even if your child should be
relatively competent and fluent in French after nine years of
immersion, if s/he doesn't keep practicing afterwards, s/he will
soon lose a lot of the competence s/he might have acquired.
Amother saying goes: "Use it or lose it!".
Hope this helps!

Reply From: Robert A Papen    click here to access email
Date: Oct-27-2009
Other Replies:
  1. Re: Age of bilingualism Susan Fischer    (Oct-27-2009)
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