The Development of Mother Tongue and Second Language Reading in Two Bilingual Education Contexts

The author investigates the development of mother tongue and second language reading in two bilingual education contexts, and assess the effects of the language of initial formal reading instruction upon this development. Her study examines children's reading within the home, classroom and community environments. The author's research involved two Grade 1 classes mainly comparing the language of initial formal reading instruction. One site was a French immersion school offering a 50% English/50% French program in which initial formal reading instruction was in English. The second site was a French school, with a majority of Anglophone students and initial formal reading instruction was in French. The participants in this study were 12 children from each class, their parents, and the classroom teachers. The author's analysis revealed that regardless of the language of initial formal reading instruction, the children's reading abilities developed in both languages. Children tended to feel more comfortable reading in the language in which they had been formally instructed, but despite this, the author explains, meaning-construction was more effective in the mother tongue. Differences in reading abilities for both groups could be accounted for by limitations in knowledge of the second language rather than by language of initial instruction. Finally, the author found that children with initial formal reading instruction in the second language easily applied their reading abilities to reading in their mother tongue. The conclusions the author drawns from her inquiry are that having supportive home and community environments, exemplary teachers and constructive classroom environments enables children to use their creative abilities and language resources to make sense of reading in two languages. It is the continuities and connections between these elements which enables children to transcend any difficulties arising from the fact that reading is being encountered in two languages.

PhD dissertation

McGill University

Montreal

2000

xiii-311p.

en