Language Development in Immersion Education
In immersion programmes, the second language is the main medium of instruction. However the child’s first language is used as a means of communication in some situations.
For the first four years of early total immersion (starting in Year One), students tend not to progress in the first language as do monolingual students in mainstream classes. Reading, spelling and punctuation, for example, are not so developed. Since such children are usually not given first language instruction for one, two or three years after starting school, these results are to be expected. However, the initial pattern does not last. After approximately six years of schooling, early total immersion children have caught up with their monolingual peers in first language skills. By the end of elementary schooling, the early total immersion experience has not affected first language speaking and writing development. Bilingualism has been achieved at no cost to first language development.
When differences in achievement between immersion and mainstream children have been identified by research, it is often in favour of immersion students. These findings usually correspond with the cognitive advantages arising from bilingualism. If bilingualism permits increased linguistic awareness and greater flexibility in terms of thought processes, such advantages may help to explain the favourable progress of early immersion students in the curriculum. Generally international research shows the value addedness in achievement in the curriculum from immersion schooling.
Evidence also suggests that immersion children learn a second language at no cost to their first language. Rather than acting like a weighing balance, early total immersion, in particular, seems more analogous to cooking. The ingredients, when mixed and baked, react together in additive ways. The product becomes more than the sum of its parts.