Directions in immersion research

Academic Outcome, Anxiety and Attitudes in Early and Late Immersion in Ireland

“…The better C-test results of the early immersion fourthyear pupils appear to support Dicks' (1994) finding that early immersion pupils maintained an advantage in their command of French over the late immersion group tested. Harley's (1991) review of early/late comparisons concluded that there was a tendency for late immersion pupils to catch up in reading and writing skills, while early immersion pupils maintain their advantage in listening and speaking French. This appears to be supported by these results showing that, in the absence of an oral component in the Junior Certificate, the late immersion pupils reach similar standards as the early immersion pupils in the Junior Certificate examination which tests their writing and reading comprehension skills.…”

Multilingualism and bilingual education in Brunei Darussalam

“…Some clarification of this description is necessary as the term can be interpreted in a number of ways. In a recent article on the subject, Harley (1991), working in Canada, described immersion education as occurring when 50% of the day's schooling takes place in the second language. In Brunei, English is introduced in stages, assuming greater importance at the secondary school stage.…”

Form-Focused Instruction in Communicative Language Teaching: Implications for Grammar Textbooks

“…Research in several CLT programs has, however, continually uncovered serious limitations in the exclusive CLT model. Studies done in the 1980s and 1990s showed that French immersion in Canada, one of the best examples of true CLT as it exists today (Krashen, 1985), consistently produced students who did not develop native-like abilities in written or oral production or sociolinguistic skills even after six or seven years of instruction (Genesse, 1987;Harley, 1991;Harley & Swain, 1984;Lapkin, Swain, & Cummins, 1983;Lyster, 1994;Swain, 1985;Swain & Lapkin, 1982). Similarly, research in CLT-based intensive ESL programs in Quebec (Spada & Lightbown, 1989) and New Brunswick (Lightbown, 1992) has also found that although the fluency of students in the CLT programs differs significantly from that of their counterparts in more traditional programs, there is often a lack of grammatical accuracy (Lightbown, 1991(Lightbown, , 1992Lightbown & Spada, 1990).…”