Sharon Lapkin

University of Toronto | U of T · Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning

Utilisant des procédures d'interprétation critique, les auteures passent en revue des études empiriques qualitatives et quantitatives ( N = 181) publiées entre 2000 et 2017 dans le contexte canadien du français langue seconde (FLS), de la maternelle à la 12 e année. Elles examinent l'orientation thématique des résultats pertinents pour les principa...

This research synthesis aims to investigate the broader trends in K-12 French as a second language (FSL) published research from 2000-2017 (inclusive). We assembled a database of 181 peer-reviewed articles relating to FSL education to examine what we already know about specific issues. We used Nvivo 11 (Pro) to facilitate coding the articles for ke...

L’étude visait à recueillir des renseignements sur les sujets ci- après et à les explorer : • la nature et l’ampleur du problème d’offre et de demande d’enseignants en FLS et d’autres facteurs qui peuvent être liés aux difficultés d’accès à l’éducation en FLS; • les mesures en vigueur et les mesures potentielles que le gouvernement du Canada, de pa...

The study objectives are to document and explore: • the extent and nature of the FSL teacher supply and demand challenge and other factors that may be related to the challenges in accessing FSL education; • current and possible measures that the Government of Canada along with different ministries of education, faculties of education and school boa...

Le présent rapport s’ouvre sur une recension de la recherche menée au cours du millénaire actuel sur l’enseignement et les enseignants de FLS pendant la formation initiale et continue. Selon ce que Mimi Masson, Stephanie Arnott et Sharon Lapkin rapportent, la plupart des études ont été menées dans des contextes d’immersion et portaient sur les poin...

A larger study exploring the dominant trends in 21st century FSL literature* found that of the 166 peer- reviewed articles appearing between 2000-2017: • 49 (30%) involved teachers; • Most were set in urban Ontario contexts; • The majority (55%) focused on French immersion (FI), whereas 24% focused on core French (CF), and 4%, respectively, each fo...

This review of trends in the French as a second language education literature, drawn from a larger study conducted by Stephanie Arnott, Mimi Masson, Sharon Lapkin, and Ibtissen Knouzi (Arnott, S., Masson, M., Lapkin, S., Knouzi, I. (in progress)), found that: • Of 145 peer-reviewed articles that appeared between 2000-2016, 93 focused on students (o...

Une étude plus vaste examinant les tendances dominantes dans la documentation sur le français langue seconde (FLS) au 21e siècle (Arnott, Masson & Lapkin, en cours; Masson, Arnott & Lapkin, 2017) a montré ce qui suit • Sur 145 articles examinés par des pairs qui ont paru entre 2000 et 2016, 93 portaient sur les élèves (les autres groupes incluaient...

The Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), received funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage, Official Languages Support Programs, for a project housed at the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers (CASLT) that began during the summer of 2014. The project had two main goals: (1) to provide an overview of issues in FSL t...

The purpose of our exploratory program of research is to investigate the role of lan-guaging activities implemented with residents of long-term care facilities; we suggest that these activities may enhance aspects of participating residents' cognition and affect. Languaging is the use of language to mediate cognitive and affective processes. In thi...

An enduring issue in immersion education focuses on the appropriate use of the L1 in the one-way or two-way immersion classroom. In this article we discuss several key constructs (mediation, languaging, the cognition/emotion relationship, zone of proximal development) that are central to a Vygotskian sociocultural theory of mind perspective on seco...

In this article we argue that language functions as more than just a form of communication; it functions as a cognitive tool as well. The use of language to mediate complex cognitive functioning such as problem solving, attending, and recalling has been referred to as languaging. We demonstrate that languaging is associated with enhanced cognitive...

Merrill Swain (1944– ) has made multiple scholarly contributions to the field of applied linguistics.

This study investigated the strategic behaviors that test-takers reported using when responding to integrated and independent speaking tasks in an English oral proficiency test [the Speaking Section of the Internet-based Test of English as a Foreign Language (TM) (TOEFL iBT)] and the relationship between test-takers' strategic behaviors and their t...

Vygotsky's writings have established the critical importance of language in the development of higher mental functions, including memory and attention. One of the processes involved in this development is languaging, the activity of mediating cognitively complex ideas using language (Swain, 2006). The present study of an older adult with mild cogni...

Adopting a case study approach, we examined the quality of three measures of change in cognition and affect for older adults. The measures were used in a pre/post-test design to examine the effects of engaging older adults in languaging on their cognitive functioning and affect. Each of two researchers engaged each participant in the production of...

RÉSUMÉ “Cet article traite de la question: Quel est le rôle du (la mise en mots) – l’élaboration et l’organisation des processus mentaux supérieures par la langue – dans les zones émergents de développement proximales (ZDPs) co-crée par deux adultes ? » Les deux adultes sont Mike, un résident dans un établissement de soins de longue durée, et un ch...

In this study, framed within a sociocultural theory of mind, we explore the role of languaging in mediating between students’ understanding of a grammatical concept and their written production of the forms related to that concept. The development of scientific concepts, in this case of the concept of voice in French, involves the use of language t...

The growing literature about the positive effect of languaging or self-explaining has so far failed to determine why some learners benefit from languaging more than others. We attempt to address this gap through a microgenetic analysis of the languaging behaviour of two university students learning French as a second language, whom we identify as a...

This study responds to the Test of English as a Foreign Language™ (TOEFL ® ) research agenda concerning the need to understand the processes and knowledge that test‐takers utilize. Specifically, it investigates the strategic behaviors test‐takers reported using when taking the Speaking section of the TOEFL iBT™ (SSTiBT). It also investigates how th...

AbstractThis article reviews the research literature on core French in three main areas: student diversity, delivery models for the core French program, and instructional approaches. These topics are put into context through a discussion of studies on community attitudes to French as a second language (FSL), dissatisfaction with core French outcome...

This mixed-method study examines the proficiency in and perceptions of French language learning of Grade 8 students who were exposed to an instructional approach called the Accelerative Integrated Method (AIM Six AIM classes (n = 125) and six non-AIM classes (n = 135) were observed and their students tested using a four-skills French as a second la...

In this article we explore the process and product of languaging as it concerns the learning of the grammatical concept of voice (active, passive, and middle) in French. We examine and analyze the amount and type of languaging produced by a small sample of university students as they struggle to understand the concept of voice. Students who are hig...

This study responds to the Test of English as a Foreign Language[TM] (TOEFL[R]) research agenda concerning the need to understand the processes and knowledge that test-takers utilize. Specifically, it investigates the strategic behaviors test-takers reported using when taking the Speaking section of the TOEFL iBT[TM] (SSTiBT). It also investigates...

ABSTRACT This paper examines the diaries that were kept by 18 anglophone high-school students of French while they spent three months in Quebec as part of an exchange program. The four main research issues deal with: 1) insights into the language learning process provided by the student diarists; 2) affective factors in language learning; 3) extral...

This mixed-method study examines the proficiency in and perceptions of French language learning of Grade 8 students who were exposed to an instructional approach called the Accelerative Integrated Method (AIM). Six AIM classes (n = 125) and six non-AIM classes (n = 135) were observed and their students tested using a four-skills French as a second...

In this article we explore the process and product of languaging as it concerns the learning of the grammatical concept of voice (active, passive, and middle) in French. We examine and analyze the amount and type of languaging produced by a small sample of university students as they struggle to understand the concept of voice. Students who are hig...

This paper presents empirical data concerning the use of cloze tests to measure children's language proficiency in a bilingual education program. Grade five students in their sixth year of a primary French immersion program were tested using both English and French cloze tests. Correlations between the cloze test and other language achievement meas...

In 1997 Swain and Johnson defined immersion as one category within bilingual education, providing examples and discussion from multiple international perspectives. In this article, we review the core features of immersion program design identified by Swain and Johnson and discuss how current sociopolitical realities and new research on second langu...

The Canadian Modern Language Review / La revue canadienne des langues vivantes 61.4 (2005) 587-589 This report follows up on the federal government's The Next Act: New Momentum for Canada's Linguistic Duality (2003), which identified its chief goal as doubling the proportion of graduates from Canadian high schools with a functional knowledge of the...

One of the advantages of having students work in pairs on language-related tasks is that teachers and researchers can listen to what the students say as they carry out their assigned tasks. What they say offers insights into the students' beliefs about the target language they are learning and using, and reflects the cognitive processes they use to...

We analyzed data from Ontario's provincial testing program to ascertain if the reading, writing, and mathematics skills of grade 6 immersion students were comparable to those of regular English program students. Various immersion program designs were taken into account. The analysis confirms the results of earlier program evaluations that any lags...

This article documents the importance of collaborative dialogue as part of the process of second language learning. The stimulus for the dialogue we discuss in this article was a reformulation of a story written collaboratively in French by Nina and Dara, two adolescent French immersion students. A sociocultural theoretical perspective informs the...

In this article, we examine a subset of collaborative dialogues that occurred in a multistage task where 8 Canadian grade 7 French immersion students worked together in pairs. Each pair wrote a story, noticed differences between their text and a reformulator's revision of that text, and reflected on their noticing. We analyze the transcripts of the...

The importance of noticing as a cognitive process in second language (L2) acquisition has been increasingly recognized by applied linguistics researchers. However, issues concerning how noticing is related to composing and subsequent feedback processing, and what impact such noticing has on L2 writing improvement, need to be addressed. We conducted...

In 1996, the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO)(1) introduced a provincial testing program for all students at Grades 3 and 6 in Ontario. This created a unique opportunity to investigate French immersion students' performance on tests of English reading and writing and mathematics some 25 years after many of the large-scale evaluati...

Grade eight French immersion students worked in pairs to complete one of two tasks (jigsaw or dictogloss) based on the same story, both involving the production of a written narrative. Before completing one of these tasks requiring them to reconstruct and write a story, either from visual (jigsaw task) or from auditory (dictogloss task) stimuli, tw...

The present article focuses on the uses of the first language (L1) made by 22 pairs of grade 8 French immersion students as they complete one of two different tasks: a dictogloss and a jigsaw. The outcome of each task is a story written by each student pair. We propose a coding scheme for the uses made of the L1, exemplify them, and report on explo...

This article provides support for a theoretical orientation toward viewing dialogue as both a means of communication and a cognitive tool. Data to support this position come from an analysis of the language‐related episodes isolated in the dialogue of two grade 8 French immersion students as they carry out a jigsaw task. During the task, the studen...

There have been few descriptive studies of vocabulary teaching in second language classrooms, and only two in a French immersion setting (Swain & Carroll, 1987; Wright, 1993). Both involved descriptions of vocabulary teaching at a single grade level in multiple classrooms in an attempt to provide an overview of lexical instruction. In this paper we...

An annotated bibliography lists French language tests designed for core French, French immersion, or French native language instruction at the elementary and secondary levels. Citations include basic bibliographic information, intended population, grade or difficulty levels, brief descriptions of test sections or format, and approximate test durati...

A discussion of past and future research on immersion instruction focuses on the following areas: product variables, teaching and learning processes, and teacher education. It is found that the "product" emphasis of research in the 1980s has shifted to encompass administrative, instructional, testing, and program design issues. (91 references) (Aut...

This paper examines the effect of mother tongue literacy on third language learning in an English/French bilingual programme in Toronto. Subjects were eighth grade students who had acquired a Heritage Language at home and who had enrolled in an English‐medium programme up to grade 4. All were literate in English on entry to the bilingual programme...

The ways in which Canada has been encouraging bilingualism through the higher education system is viewed both from the perspective of second-language instruction itself and more general education in a second-language medium. The rise in support for bilingualism in Canada as a whole is considered. Changes are recommended. (MSE)

In this study, the development of first language (L1) skills among native English-speaking students enrolled in early French immersion programs in Canadian schools is explored. It is hypothesized that the early bilingual schooling received by those majority children will serve to enhance their performance on various kinds of L1 tasks. Some prelimin...

A review of the evolution of second-language immersion program testing reveals that the focus has shifted from listening and reading comprehension to productive skills of speaking and writing. Immersion students learn to speak and write well enough for communication but not well enough to be indistinguishable from native speakers. (MSE)

The English language writing skills of grade five students in a French immersion program were compared with those of students in the regular program and found to be no different either in overall quality or specific aspects. (Author/MSE)

This book challenges the popular assumption that scholarly research is generally inaccessible to the lay reader. Evaluating Bilingual Education: A Canadian Case Study was written as a synthesis and overview of a number of evaluations of French immersion programs in Canada. It is a non-technical yet thorough description of Canadian research in this...

This paper summarizes the results of the annual evaluations of an Early French Immersion program in the Carleton Board of Education and the Ottawa Board of Education. In Early French Immersion programs, unilingual English‐speaking children are initially instructed entirely in French. After several years of instruction in French, French and English...

Now that the early French-immersion program is a well-established educational alternative for English-speaking students in the Carleton Board of Education in Ontario, it has become important to examine factors which may influence the achievement of immersion students. In this study two different school settings for the program are compared: immersi...

The data presented in this paper were gathered using a French cloze test in the context of a longitudinal evaluation of a number of French immersion programs in Ontario conducted by the Bilingual Education Project of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (see, for example, Barik and Swain 1978(a), 1978(b); Swain and Barik 1976; Swain and L...

The impact of the immersion phenomenon in Ontario has been striking and complex. This brief review of research on bilingual education and its relationship to a variety of language teaching settings has shown that the immersion experiment has produced several constructive side effects. First, it has caused the re-examination of first language teachi...

This annotated inventory of materials is a result of a survey conducted in response to a number of requests for information about curriculum materials appropriate for use in French immersion programs at the early grade levels. In addition to making available to teachers, consultants, and educators an annotated list of materials used at each grade l...