"Education, Faculty of"@en . "Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of"@en . "DSpace"@en . "UBCV"@en . "Malo, Dorothy Anne"@en . "2009-07-03T00:00:00"@en . "1999"@en . "Master of Arts - MA"@en . "University of British Columbia"@en . "Recent research in teacher-librarianship focuses on the\r\nnecessity of ensuring that students become Information literate\r\nthrough the skills development programs provided by teacherlibrarians\r\nregardless of the language of classroom instruction.\r\nHence, this study chose to focus on one specific student\r\npopulation: Early French Immersion Primary students and to assist\r\nbilingual teacher-librarians and classroom teachers to overcome\r\nthe difficulties which appeared specific to their programme.\r\nOver a period of a year, students were observed and data were\r\ncollected as students progressed through the stages (note-taking,\r\nsentence/paragraph composition and final product) of three\r\nseparate individual library research projects. Collected data\r\nincluded teacher journals, the students' written products, and\r\naudio cassette recordings and written transcriptions of student\r\nresponses to survey questionnaires. These data were examined in\r\norder to determine the common difficulties that Early French\r\nImmersion Primary students experience during the initial\r\ndevelopment of their information literacy skills, and further, to\r\ndesign teaching practices which may improve student success.\r\nData analysis revealed that the note-taking task was the most\r\ndifficult for the students and that this could be attributed to\r\nthe advanced level of readability of available resource\r\nmaterials."@en . "https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/10029?expand=metadata"@en . "5972664 bytes"@en . "application/pdf"@en . "EARLY FRENCH IMMERSION PRIMARY STUDENTS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION LITERACY SKILLS THROUGH INDIVIDUAL LIBRARY RESEARCH PROJECTS by DOROTHY ANNE MALO B.A., Universite Laval, 1980 Dip. in Fr. Translation, The University of British Columbia, 1982 Professional Development Programme, Simon Fraser University, 19 84 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Department of Language Education) We accept this thesis as conforming to the Required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA April 1999 \u00C2\u00AE D. Anne Malo, 1999 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. 1 further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of I x U f | l Q f l P > &lilCmAOft The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada Da,e / i r ; / K.im DE-6 (2/88) ABSTRACT Recent research in teacher-librarianship focuses on the necessity of ensuring that students become Information literate through the skills development programs provided by teacher-librarians regardless of the language of classroom instruction. Hence, this study chose to focus on one specific student population: Early French Immersion Primary students and to assist bilingual teacher-librarians and classroom teachers to overcome the difficulties which appeared specific to their programme. Over a period of a year, students were observed and data were collected as students progressed through the stages (note-taking, sentence/paragraph composition and final product) of three separate individual library research projects. Collected data included teacher journals, the students' written products, and audio cassette recordings and written transcriptions of student responses to survey questionnaires. These data were examined in order to determine the common difficulties that Early French Immersion Primary students experience during the initial development of their information literacy skills, and further, to design teaching practices which may improve student success. Data analysis revealed that the note-taking task was the most difficult for the students and that this could be attributed to the advanced level of readability of available resource materials. 11 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank all children, teachers and administrators who made this study possible. In addition, I would like to thank Dr. Marlene Asselin from the Department of Language Education, and Dr. Marion Porath, Associate Dean of Education, for their assistance and advice as committee members. I am especially grateful to my advisor, Dr. Jon Shapiro, Dean of Education, for his guidance and encouragement throughout this thesis. I am especially appreciative of the continual support and encouragement offered by my husband and daughter. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii CHAPTER ONE Introduction to the Study 1 Introduction \u00E2\u0080\u00A2. . 1 Background to the Problem 4 Statement of the Problem 6 Purpose of the Study 7 Questions 8 Definition of Terms 9 Introduction to the Design and Sample 11 Limitations of the Study 12 CHAPTER TWO Review of the Literature 14 Introduction . 14 Reading Comprehension and Early French Immersion Students 17 Library Research Skills and Early French Immersion Students .19 Language Acquisition and Early French Immersion Students 22 Teacher-Librarians and Their Roles in French Immersion Schools 24 Summary 2 5 CHAPTER THREE Methodology 2 7 Research Design 2 7 Site and Program 2 9 Subjects 3 0 Data Collection 31 iv CHAPTER THREE Data Analysis 37 (continued) Analysis of Survey Responses 3 9 Analysis of Teacher Journals 4 0 Product Analysis: Note-Taking - . . . .41 Product Analysis: Sentence and Paragraph Composition 42 CHAPTER FOUR Results and Interpretation 43 Introduction .43 Analysis of Teacher Journals 44 Analysis of Library Research Process . . . . . 52 Product Analysis: note-taking 53 Product Analysis: sentence and paragraph composition 58 Product Analysis: final product 61 Analysis of student surveys/interviews . . ... 64 Background to Survey #1 64 Summary of Survey #1 64 Background to Survey #2 7 0 Summary of Survey #2 71 Background to Survey #3 . 75 Summary of Survey #3 75 Summary of Results 7 9 Analysis of Teacher Journals 79 Analysis of the Library Research Process .81 Analysis of Student Surveys/Interviews . .82 CHAPTER FIVE Recommendations 88 Recommendations for Practice 88 Suggestions/Implications for Further Research .90 REFERENCES 94 APPENDIX A Sample Teacher Journal Entry . 99 v APPENDIX B Checklist: note-taking 101 Sample checklist 102 APPENDIX C Checklist: sentence and paragraph-composition 103 Sample checklist 104 APPENDIX D Checklist: final product 105 Sample checklist . .\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 106 APPENDIX E Student Survey Questionnaire #1 107 APPENDIX F Sample Transcription of Survey #1 109 APPENDIX G Student Survey Questionnaire #2/#3 Ill APPENDIX H Sample Transcription of Survey #2 113 APPENDIX I Sample Transcription of Survey #3 . . . . . . 115 APPENDIX J Sample of Student Product: note-taking . . . .117 APPENDIX K Sample of Student Product: sentence/ paragraph composition 119 APPENDIX L Sample of Student Product: final product . . .124 vi CHAPTER ONE Introduction to the Study Introduction The importance of teaching information skills to students from Kindergarten through Grade 12 has become the teacher-librarian's primary focus in recent years. Students are introduced to these skills in early primary grades and are expected to practice, review and improve these skills throughout subsequent years of elementary and secondary schooling. The introductory paragraph to Students' Information Literacy Needs in-' the 21st Century (ATLC/CSLA 1998) is succinct: Students in Canada today need to be able to think rationally and logically. With more and more sources of information, both print and electronic, and the increasing difficulty of ensuring that students can derive meaning from this information, the role of the teacher-librarian becomes central. Teacher-librarians are skilled in accessing and evaluating information regardless of delivery system, book or computer, and providing leadership in the appropriate use of newer information technologies. Expectations for French Immersion students do not differ from this model as all students, regardless of their programme of instruction, \"...must have the opportunity to develop skills they require to reach their fullest potential, to become independent, lifelong learners...\" (Canadian School Library Association, 1988). In addition, the Association for Teacher-Librarianship (ATLC) and the Canadian School Library Association (CSLA) have jointly authored a document which includes a Students' Bill of 1 Information Rights. The authors make reference to information in that it is a \"vital component in the development of critical thought and independent decision-making, and, consequently, access to the ever-increasing body of available information is vital to the development of students' potential\" (1998). Cooperative program planning and teaching is the major strategy for implementing resource-based learning. According to the recent ATLC and CSLA document one of the teacher-librarian competencies is \"to provide leadership in collaborative program planning and teaching to ensure both physical and intellectual access to information .... For example, the teacher-librarian advocates the integration of information skills and strategies in classroom programs through collaborative program planning and team teaching with colleagues\" (1998). It involves the teacher and teacher-librarian in the joint planning and teaching of units of study that integrate information processing skills into meaningful curriculum-related activities (Developing Independent Learners, 1991) . The classroom teacher and teacher-librarian share the teaching load; the classroom teacher focuses on encouraging students to gain knowledge on a particular topic by assigning research projects and the teacher-librarian demonstrates how to locate and access knowledge through a variety of resources and shows the students how to analyze and extract information from these sources and how to record and classify brief notes. Finally, students are shown how to communicate their findings using a variety of written, visual or spoken 2 formats and how to record sources of information in simple bibliographic format (Developing Independent Learners, 1991). Early French Immersion students who may choose or be required to work with English language materials may have an added step in the research process. Learning research skills alone may challenge young students, but certainly, to add translation skills to this process places an additional burden on Early French Immersion students. If professional development activities currently offered to teacher-librarians are any indication, there appears to be a focus on improving the teaching strategies for development of information skills in students' Kindergarten through grade 12 years. Classroom teachers have shown their concern regarding the research projects their students complete and seek ways to improve student performance. Through research it is hoped that we will gain insight into specific problems which confront Primary French Immersion students as they complete independent library research projects. Colleagues also hope that this study will assist in the development of strategies to improve the learning situation of French Immersion students. 3 Background to the Problem Although Primary French Immersion students receive 100% of their instruction in French until the beginning of Grade 3, many of them are obliged to rely on English language resource materials to complete library research projects. Without formal classroom instruction in the English language skills, this may put these students at a disadvantage when faced with completing a research project. The focus of the Early French Immersion programme is to enable students to become functionally bilingual, and able to communicate, either through written or spoken word, effectively in the French language. This programme is not meant to produce classrooms full of mini-translators. The French Immersion programme is billed as an alternate educational programme which provides equivalent instruction and learning in a second language (French). It may well be that the general opinion of French Immersion classroom teachers and teacher-librarians is that equivalent learning is not able to happen during independent student research projects because materials and sources of information are limited for French Immersion students in our dual-track schools. An education program that will prepare students for the twenty-first century must emphasize the information-handling skills that are crucial to the processes of critical thinking and problem-solving (Canadian School Library Association, 1988). Consequently, library information and research skills claim a certain importance in any student's scholastic career. It is 4 beneficial that students receive early instruction in these skills to allow more opportunity to practice and perfect them. It is possible to begin as early as Kindergarten to create an awareness with students as to just how important information and research skills will be to their future, regardless of the path that they may choose to follow. As an adult, one needs to be discriminating about the information which is unleashed every day. We live in an information rich era: some of it accurate, some of it useful, some of it neither. Classroom teachers and teacher-librarians need to offer today's students the best tools with which to construct their knowledge base. These will be their keys to success in the future as students and citizens. During the course of independent library research projects, if language is a barrier to gaining knowledge, how might we help Primary French Immersion students to bridge or surmount this difficulty? Do we give the student more language skills or simplify the source of information? How do we minimize or prevent frustration? Educators concerned about the success of our students must seek to discover answers to these queries. What is the source of student frustration when he/she carries out independent library research projects? How might we work at eliminating the frustration or at least improving the learning situation? 5 Statement of the Problem With the incredibly fast-paced changes occurring in communication technologies, information storage and retrieval, and data processing capabilities comes the importance of teaching students how to locate, evaluate and process information. It is stated succinctly within the rationale statement of a recent British Columbia Ministry of Education document that \"Literacy is no longer simply a matter of learning to read, write, and calculate. It is a matter of knowing how to critically examine and creatively use information.\" (Developing Independent Learners, 1991, p. 3) . Students in today's schools are faced with the formidable task of locating, analyzing, synthesizing, recording, classifying and communicating information from a variety of resource materials. The information processing skills needed to accomplish this are introduced early in their- learning career so they may then be practised, reviewed and improved upon i in subsequent years. Often, Primary French Immersion students must employ these skills using both French and English language resource materials. Yet, Primary French Immersion students must communicate their new knowledge through the means of the French language. This would require the students to read and translate any information they piece together from English resource materials before they can take notes or communicate their findings on a given topic. Are Primary French Immersion students at a disadvantage in these learning situations? Does having to translate English 6 resource materials impede the progress or success of Primary French Immersion students when they are seeking information for independent library research projects? Indeed, should Primary French Immersion students be academically prepared to undertake the added task of translation to complete independent library research projects? What influence will this added task have on Primary French Immersion students? Are Primary French Immersion students able to successfully manipulate their way through this obstacle course? In which direction should educators in the Primary French Immersion programme be looking for solutions to these difficulties? Further research is required to fully understand the connection between these second language learners and the language of resource materials available to them during independent library research projects. Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences that Primary French Immersion students undergo as they read and select information from a variety of English and French language resource materials to complete library research projects. Secondly, it was hoped that solutions or approaches may have been discovered to assist classroom teachers and teacher-librarians improve the students' experiences. 7 Questions The study attempted to answer the following research questions: 1. What do teachers or the teacher-librarian observe as being the major difficulty or frustration facing students as they prepare their individual library research projects? 2. Are the information resources that students use written at a level beyond Primary reading and comprehension skills even in the native language (English)? 3. Which resource materials did students find difficult or awkward to use? 3a. Why did students identify or perceive these resource materials as being difficult or awkward to use? 4. Which resource materials did teachers or the teacher-librarian observe as hampering the students' ability to complete the tasks of the independent library research project? 4a. What reasons did teachers or teacher-librarian attach to their observations? 5. What do students identify as the major difficulty or frustration facing them as they prepare their independent library research projects? 8 Definition of Terms Since many terms used in this research study are unique to the areas of French Immersion and the school library, they are defined below. 1. Primary students: Any students enrolled in Kindergarten, Grades 1,2, or 3. 2. Early French Immersion programme: This refers to an optional instructional programme which begins when a student enters the Kindergarten year. Occasionally, at parental request, students will enter this programme at the Grade 1 level. One hundred percent of instructional time is in French for Kindergarten through Grades 1 and 2 following with eighty percent instructional time in French in Grade 3. In subsequent years, Grades 4 through 7, fifty to seventy percent of instructional time is in French (B.C. French Immersion Assessment, 1987). 3. School Library: \"The instructional centre in the school that coordinates and provides on site and off site access to information, resources, services and programs that integrate information literacy, the intellectual access to information, with teachers, to develop independent learners who are effective users of information and ideas and committed to informed decision-making\" (ATLC/CSLA 1998). 9 Teacher-Librarian: A trained teacher with expertise in library skills and, according to the British Columbia Ministry of Education, in French Immersion or dual-track schools, has the ability to perform these duties in both languages (Developing Independent Learners, 1991). In addition, the teacher-librarian is \"a professional teacher with a minimum of two years of successful classroom experience and additional qualifications in the selection, management and utilization of learning resources, who manages the school library and works with other teachers to design and implement resource-based instructional programs\" (ATLC/CSLA, 1998). Dual-track school: A school which accommodates both a regular English instructional programme and the optional French Immersion instructional programme. Cooperatively planned research unit: A unit of study, jointly planned and taught by the classroom teacher and the teacher-librarian, that integrates information processing skills into meaningful curriculum-related activities. It is developmental in nature (Developing Independent Learners, 1991) . 10 Introduction to the Design and Sample The study examined Grade two and three Primary French Immersion students as they completed typical four to six week long cooperatively planned research units using both French and English school library resource materials. The students were from the same Grade two/three class. During phase one, for purposes of comparison with younger students, fourteen grade five students from a Grade four/five French Immersion class also participated in the interview process following their completion of a cooperatively planned research unit in French. Data collection was divided into three types: teacher/teacher-librarian hand-written observations; teacher/teacher-librarian checklists and accompanying student product samples; and questionnaires administered individually to each participating student. Although the language of instruction during student activities was in French, teacher/teacher-librarian observations were written in English; the student questionnaire was conducted in English and students were expected to respond in English. As well, data collection was divided into two phases. Phase one was during and following the completion of a first term (September-December) cooperatively planned research unit and phase two wassduring and following second term (January-June) cooperatively planned research units. This division was an attempt to limit any differences that potential student progress 11 might have had on the study results. Also, it was to demonstrate that the language of resource materials and not the assignment of completing a library research project was responsible for students' difficulty and frustration. Limitations of the Study 1. The sample size viewed from the standpoint of grade level was relatively small which limits the generalizability of this study. 2. The use of intact groups limits the making of generalizations beyond this study. 3. Varying levels of reading ability among the subjects was another limitation of this study. Due to the difficulty of locating reading tests specific to Early French Immersion students, no test of reading ability in French was administered prior to or during this study. With no random sampling, this factor could not be controlled for in this study. 4. No formal English language training occurs before Grade 3 and for the purpose of this study no English language reading test was administered prior to or during this study. Although English is native to the student participants, the . level of reading ability varies. With no random sampling, this factor could not be controlled for in this study. 12 French Immersion students in this school are not accustomed to conversing with classroom teachers and the teacher-librarian in English. Most student participants stated that they would prefer to be questioned in French and to respond in French. This was an unforseen limitation of the student questionnaire. 13 CHAPTER TWO Review of the Literature Introduction Much of the research in Early French Immersion programmes concentrates on the area of language arts in both French and English. In English, the major concerns appear.to be related to the mechanics of language such as spelling and grammar. The research into French language skills seems to pay particular attention to reading comprehension, listening, and speaking skills. The Early French Immersion programme in British Columbia is still very young at thirty years old and many areas of the programme have yet to be researched extensively. The beginnings of the Early French Immersion programme in Canada, in a suburb of Montreal, date back to 1965 (Rebuffot, 1993) and here in British Columbia, in Coquitlam, to 1968 (Rebuffot, 1993). Contrary to what one might expect at this point in the programme's history, an extensive research base doesn't appear to exist. The early studies of French Immersion programmes tended to concentrate on two details: whether or not students learned the target language, French; and how competent French Immersion students became with French, studying in particular, their'oral language skills. Furthermore, there appears to be an imbalance in the research that has been completed to date in that the majority of it is statistical in 14 nature and concentrates in the area of French Immersion programmes as a \"product\" and how that \"product\" has fared on the \"market\". Some researchers (Boiziau-Waverman, 1991; Lapkin, Swain and Shapson, 1990; Tardif and Weber, 1987) believe that we are not getting a true, representative view of the programmes and of their success or failure to meet objectives. In fact, we seem to be given, to borrow from Boiziau-Waverman, the \"illusion\" of a perfect programme. As with any new programme, it should be open to more questioning and from all angles. Lapkin et al. (1990) go as far as to list which particular areas are in dire need of study and propose that these be the focus of French Immersion research in the 1990s. As well, it is ethnographic research which Lapkin et al. (1990) promote, and their suggestion is that researchers get into classrooms in order to describe, via a qualitative methodology, the context of the current French Immersion learning situation and how French Immersion students acquire their skills in the second language. The three foci these authors suggest are: the product, presumably the student of French Immersion programmes, the variables related to teaching and the learning or in other words the process, and the training and improvement of French Immersion teachers. In essence, in researching the area of Early French Immersion programmes, statistical research as well as ethnographic studies merit pursuit and the scope of these research studies and projects needs to be enhanced and broadened. 15 French Immersion is a scholastic programme which encompasses not only the learning of a second language, but the learning of subject-related skills through the vehicle of the second language. We,need to research not only the learning of language skills, and the learning of other scholastic skills, but we need to also consider if the French Immersion programme is an enhancement or a hindrance to that learning. Researchers in French Immersion need to be more specific in their research, and not merely look at the question of language. Language Arts is but one of several subject areas which 'face students in their journey of learning. Is students' learning in other subject areas in the French Immersion programme affected by the fact that all is administered through French? Rebuffot (1993) underlines the fact that teachers in French Immersion programmes do not teach language in exclusion, that they use the second language, French, to teach most, if not all, subject areas. He emphasizes that the French Immersion teachers follow the same curricula as regular programme teachers (with the addition of French language arts) and often must design their own student materials to meet curricula requirements. Merrill Swain (1996) reiterates the point in stating, \"If immersion pedagogy is as we claim it to be - both content teaching and language teaching, and if second language learning is more successful when learned in meaningful context, ... we need to be doing a lot more fundamental planning about how to integrate language and content teaching. It would appear that both Rebuffot (1993) and Swain (1996) support and 16 encourage those researchers who believe that French Immersion programmes continue to warrant extensive study beyond the bounds of French language acquisition. Reading Comprehension and Early French Immersion Students Some research about reading comprehension focuses on findings based on results from standardized tests. Although Hammerly (1989) does not find standardized tests totally reliable as measures, he refers to the findings of standardized tests to point out that Early French Immersion students certainly can learn other subjects in French, but that French Immersion students' comprehension in French is far lower than regular students' comprehension in English, particularly during the first few years that a child is enrolled in the programme. He goes on to state, \"Most subjects have to be taught at a lower level of sophistication in French Immersion classes than in classes taught in English\". Hammerly's assumptions merit attention as do those of Rebuffot who creates even greater doubt as to the ability of French Immersion students to read at a comparable level to the native French-speaking peers. Rebuffot (1993) recalls being forced to rewrite whole sections of texts that were originally written for native French-speaking students in order to facilitate the reading for the students in his French Immersion class. 17 Still others, such as Sturgeon (1993), believe that it is largely the students' perception that reading French is more difficult that reading English, although she goes on to write that the teacher's role is to \"recognize that reading skills differ greatly from student to student and provide a variety of reading levels...\" (p.9). It has been suggested that \"the second-language reader comes to recognize that there is more than one means of obtaining information from print; in other words, successful reading cannot be exclusively a word-for-word process\" (Sacco and Marckel, 1983). This remains a point to ponder as we study the ways in which Primary Early French Immersion students use English and French language resources to complete research projects. Is it a factor that students are relying word-for-word on English materials and is this reflected in their ability or non-ability to extract the information they need from their resources? In his research David Nunan quotes Aslanian (1985) : Whether one has understood the text or not depends very much on text variables such as sentence structure and length, vocabulary intensity, number or new concepts introduced, the difficulty and novelty of the subject matter, etc.... These variables are worthy of consideration as we embark upon a study which is influenced by the English reading comprehension of students who chose to use English language resources during the note-taking process of their library research projects. The question goes beyond the simple recognition that these resources are English and the students' reading skills are formally taught 18 and learned in French. \"The evaluation of materials can only be done in relation to real learners in real classrooms\" (Nunan, 1991) . Worthy of consideration as well is Loertscher and Woolls' (1997) argument \"Because students do much of their reading of content in expository text, teachers of reading have been concerned that even when a reader might read fiction smoothly and with comprehension, that skill does not often translate to expository text.\" The research needs to ascertain whether the level of French language is the sole handicap to French Immersion students' frustration with the readability of resource materials or if text style is also a factor. Library Research Skills and Early French Immersion Students In a recent journal article which discusses \"Les etudes en sciences a travers les projets de recherche\"1 Benesh's (1993) concluding remarks are pertinent to the proposed research study. II faut eviter de faire les recherches en anglais et de traduire de 1'anglais au frangais. Je trouve que ceci prends trop de temps, le sens de ce que l'eleve essaie d'exprimer est souvent perdu et c'est contre nos attentes linguistiques en immersion.2 'Translation of the article title - Science study through research projects. translation of the author's statement - One must avoid asking students to do research in English and then translate from English into French. I find that this takes too long, that the meaning the student wishes to express is often lost and that it goes against our linguistic expectations in the immersion programme. 19 Benesh has been developing science units through research for the last ten years and her experience has been with Early French Immersion students from grades two to five. Each time that the teacher-librarian and classroom teacher design a cooperative research unit, they strive to fulfill several learning outcomes for their students. These individual library research projects include a variety of activities which aim to meet the learning outcomes as detailed in the Language Arts (1996), Social Studies (1997), Science (1995), and Information Technology (1996) subject specific British Columbia Ministry of Education Integrated Resource Packages (IRP) and as outlined in the Coquitlam (#43) School District's Learning Outcomes for Information Literacy K-12 (1999) document. Beginning in the Primary grades it is expected that teachers and teacher-librarians in our schools will introduce students to four principal learning outcomes as per the following descriptions from Learning Outcomes for Information Literacy K-12 (1999). -A) Locate and select information - It is expected that students will develop critical thinking skills to enable them to use search strategies to. locate and select a variety of relevant resources on a specific topic. B) Analyze, Evaluate, and Interpret Information - It is expected that students will develop critical thinking skills to enable them to analyze, evaluate, and interpret information from a variety of relevant resources (a fine tuning of the selection process). C) Record, Classify, and Organize Information - It is expected that students will develop critical thinking skills to enable them to record, classify, organize, and evaluate acquired information. 20 D) Communicate and Present Information - It is expected that students will develop critical thinking skills to enable them to present information in written, oral, electronic and multi-media formats. Not only do our local and provincial education documents view these as valuable skills, the national document: Students' Information Literacy Needs in the 21st Century (ATLC and CSLA, 1998) makes parallel statements: \"All students should have the opportunity to: 1) utilize data and information to expand their own knowledge base; 2) explore the creative use of information; 3) think critically, and make decisions based on personal needs and values as well as upon factual evidence; 4) actively participate in decisions about their own learning. As students gain additional experience through practice of these skills, it is expected that their projects may become more sophisticated. Jay and Jay (1994) describe these stages in the development of information literacy skills as follows, \"By repeated exposure to locating and organizing information, students begin to internalize the process. Having a series of successful experiences ... helps develop the confidence needed to undertake a more complex assignment later.\" For those of us who teach in Early French Immersion programmes, it has become our professional responsibility to advocate on behalf of our students and to ensure that they have the opportunity to learn, practice and improve these skills without the barriers of unsuitable resource materials. Kiihne' s 21 (1996) opinion is \"In order to individualize education for as many students as possible, it is necessary to have material adjusted to students who can read poorly and to those who read well.\" Subscribing to our beliefs and hers, it is imperative that we work towards providing appropriate resource materials at student readability levels in French, their target language. This task calls on us to continue with an introspective view of our teaching practice and to make improvements where necessary to ensure that we are providing the guidance and tools specific to second language learners. Their learning situation is unique, different from the \"regular\" programme in so many ways and we must continue to acknowledge this. Language Acquisition and Early French Immersion Students Another important consideration when studying Early French Immersion students is their tendency to speak what both Hammerly (1987) and Lyster (1987) refer to as an \"interlangue\". It really isn't French or English. These students appear to speak \"immersion\" (Lyster, 1987). It is essential for the Early French Immersion programme that researchers and teacher-researchers begin to question our teaching practice to revise current teaching strategies and to invent new ones. Being aware of this unique \"interlangue\" of Early French Immersion students places the teacher-librarian in a challenging position when it comes to 22 the selection and purchase of new materials for the school library collection. It is understandable that, given the context of the Early French Immersion programme in British Columbia public schools, students do not reach a native-like fluency in the second language. Cummins and Swain (1986) state that only after six or seven years, do elementary French Immersion students reach an \"acceptable\" level of mastery of the French language. Hammerly (1989) takes the argument one step further declaring that upon graduating and having been exposed to French for approximately seven thousand hours, students have reached a \"good\" level but that by no means does this approach a level comparable to francophone students. Keeping this in mind, it is no wonder that Primary Early French Immersion students demonstrate difficulty reading and taking research notes from books that were written for francophone students of similar grade or age levels. As far back as 1972, Lambert and Tucker had already completed a study of Kindergarten and \"Grade One students enrolled in Early French Immersion programmes to compare their written English skills with those students enrolled in a regular English programme. They were not surprised by their findings which demonstrate that the Early French Immersion students score lower than their counterparts in completing written questions or reading exercises. 23 Teacher-Librarians and Their Roles in French Immersion Schools Aside from questions regarding the materials used to complete library research projects in the Early French Immersion programmes, one also needs to question who is choosing those materials and what kind of expertise this person brings to the task at hand. ATLC and CSLA, 1998 state that the teacher-librarian \"selects the best books, journals, nonprint and electronic resources for specific curriculum areas and specific learning outcomes using authoritative evaluation sources and selection tools\". The role of the teacher-librarian cannot escape scrutiny. Administrators, classroom teachers and parents of Early French Immersion students should demand that teacher-librarians in French Immersion schools be bilingual or at least demonstrate an \"acceptable\" level of competency in French. It must be argued that a non-bilingual teacher-librarian is not able to perform all duties in the area of selection of materials. English language reviewing journals such as Resource Links or Teacher-Librarian devote little or no space to French Immersion material. Lurelu, a Canadian French language reviewing journal is written entirely in French so is basically inaccessible to a non-bilingual teacher-librarian. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons in each school district, recruitment practices which could provide a bilingual teacher-librarian are not always possible to implement. However, the result can be devastating to the Early French Immersion programme: an excellent teacher-librarian with excellent teaching 24 and selection skills does not make up for a lack of expertise or fluency with the French language. The British Columbia Ministry of Education (1991) document, Developing Independent Learners: The Role of the School Library Resource Centre, states that the teacher-librarian in a French Immersion school be able to perform tasks such as cooperative program planning and teaching and locating adequate resources in two languages, French and English. We dare not procrastinate any longer, it is time to question, and subsequently revise, if necessary, our teaching tactics and expectations for students in the Early French Immersion programme. The programme is young at thirty years of age, but old enough to submit to testing and prodding. We needn't be afraid of change, but rather of our ignorance. Summary The majority of studies of French Immersion programmes completed to date concentrate on Language Arts. The earliest studies focussed on how successful students were in their learning of the target language, French, with particular attention paid to oral language skills. To reiterate Lapkin et al. (1990) research of French Immersion programmes should examine three foci: the student or \"product\", the process of teaching and learning, and teacher training. Language acquisition and the reading comprehension abilities of Early French Immersion students are closely linked. Cummins and Swain (1986) are convinced by their research that Early 25 French Immersion students only reach an \"acceptable\" level of French language aptitude after six to seven years in the programme. When comparisons were made between native francophone students and Early French Immersion students, several researchers found that Early French Immersion students read in French at a lower level. Given these conclusions, it would appear doubtful that Early French Immersion could read trade books written for a francophone audience, yet these are the French language resources available to French Immersion school libraries. Therefore, it would appear that French Immersion students are at a disadvantage when attempting to complete library research projects with.the limited resources available to them. Finally, in the overall context of student library research projects it is primordial to consider not only the textual resources available to students and classroom teachers, but the personnel resources as well. To ensure the success of information literacy models of learning and teaching in French Immersion schools, it is imperative that bilingual teacher-librarians are appointed. Barring this, the research suggests that at the very least, the teacher-librarian in French Immersion needs to demonstrate an \"acceptable\" level of French language competency. 26 CHAPTER THREE Methodology Research Design This study was conducted to examine the experiences that Primary French Immersion students undergo as they read and select information from a variety of English and French language resource materials to complete library research projects. Recommendations for further inquiry were results of this study. This study consisted of two phases. During the' first phase of this study the researcher set out to observe students at both the Primary and Intermediate levels as they completed independent library research projects. This enabled the researcher to narrow the study, to focus on the difficulties which were experienced by Primary French Immersion students. The inclusion of an Intermediate group in this study was for the purpose of comparison, to ascertain that the problems upon which the researcher focused with regards to the students' experiences were unique to the Primary French Immersion students and not experiences that were common among all Early Immersion students regardless of level. The students' experiences were examined using two important strategies of action research: participant observation and interviewing. Collaborative sharing and interviewing were strategies employed to examine classroom teachers' experiences. The data analysis was ongoing and served 27 as a guide to further data collection. Action research is a means by which the researcher and her colleagues were able to reflect upon and, as a result, make positive changes in their teaching practice to improve the learning situation of their students. This reflection is not limited to the current study of student library research projects, but rather is a style of teaching that the participating classroom teachers and researcher practice in all aspects of their teaching. During the second phase of this study the researcher observed students at the Primary level only. The student survey was amended following the first phase of the study in an attempt to focus the student responses on experiences unique to the library research project and not general experience as a French Immersion student. As in phase one, participant observation and interviewing were employed to examine students' experiences. Interviewing and collaborative sharing were employed to gain insight from classroom teachers' experiences during this study. As an observing participant, the researcher collected data from a variety of sources which occurred naturally in the school library setting. Throughout the year of this study, informal and formal interviews were conducted with each student. As well, informal interviews were conducted with the participating classroom teachers. The data collected included written observations of student talk and behaviour as they worked on their library research projects, audio cassette recordings of formal interviews, and written entries from the researcher's 28 project journal for each group that participated. All data were collected and examined on an on-going basis over a specific period of time: one scholastic school year (September - June). Throughout both phases of the study, data were collected and results were categorized into three types: written entries from the researcher's project journal which included notes'from a informal interviews with both students and classroom teachers as well as teacher-librarian observations; transcriptions of the formal interviews conducted using a questionnaire format; and students' products. From these three distinct categories, results were organized and evaluated according to the five questions this study attempted to answer. Site and Program The project site was a public elementary school in Coquitlam, British Columbia. This school was a dual track school offering a choice of either a regular English instruction programme or the Early French Immersion programme to students. The research for the purposes of this study was carried out in the school library. In phase one, students from a grade two/three class and from a grade four/five class participated; students from the grade two/three class only participated during phase two of the study. Each class had their classroom teacher teach cooperatively with the teacher-librarian during the student library research project. Each one of these groups was 29 heterogeneously formed and diversity in academic achievement was in evidence with each group. The library research programme involved three planned sessions a week in the school library. These sessions were forty minutes in duration and occurred at various times of the day so as to coincide with the regular classroom agenda or timetable. Subjects The subjects during both phases of the study were enrolled in classes from the Early French Immersion programme. Twenty-four students in grades two and three, and fourteen grade five students from a grade four-five class participated in phase one of the study. At grade two there were nine females and six males and at grade three there were five females and four males. There-were six females and eight males in grade five. In phase one of the study, thirty-one students spoke only English and French, with French being the language of conversation in the classroom. Seven students spoke a third language at home. The socio-economic status of their families varied from lower middle class to upper middle class with students living in either two-parent, single parent or extended family homes. Phase two of the study incorporated studies of the students in the grade two/three class only. Their classroom teacher participated in both phases of the study. Of this group twenty-one students spoke only English and French, and three students 30 also spoke a third language at home. Data Collection Data collection took place in both phases of the study and was descriptive, holistic data which included observations of the students' talk, products, and behaviour; and transcriptions of formal interviews with students. In phase one, from September to December, data collection occurred three times per week for a six to ten week period for each of the classes. In phase two, data collection occurred three times per week for two separate six to ten week periods: from January to March and from March to May. During the comparison phase, phase one, all grade two, grade three and grade five students were observed during library research periods. The library research projects involved various tasks to be completed in sequential order: 1. To seek resource materials with specific information relating to topic. At the \"primary level, students are provided with a variety of topic specific library materials such as illustrated books, magazines, filmstrips and posters from which to choose for information gathering; intermediate students choose a variety of library materials after consulting the school library database (electronic card catalogue). 31 2. To take notes. The basic concept of plagiarism is presented and students at all levels are encouraged to note only vital or important words. Various note-taking formats are employed: grid sheets, webbing or bullets/point form. 3. To complete a simple bibliography. Students at the primary level are expected to include author, title and copyright year; and intermediate students are expected to include place and publisher as well. 4. To compose sentences from notes. Students at both intermediate and primary levels are expected to draft sentences from their notes. 5. To organize sentences into paragraphs. Primary students are given paragraph headings to help focus their sentence organization and intermediate students choose their own paragraph headings. 6. To self-edit and to peer-edit. Both Primary and Intermediate students are required to edit draft copies for appropriate letter case, appropriate punctuation and organization of sentences according to paragraph headings. 32 7. To submit draft copy for teacher editing. Teacher reviews draft copy with student and edits according to predetermined criteria (i.e. verb conjugation, verb or adjective accords). 8. To prepare a final product which includes visuals with written text. Students follow the model presented by the classroom teacher and teacher-librarian. 9. To present the final product to a small group or the whole group. All students were required to present their findings to an audience, small or large, according to their personal comfort level. Students were closely observed at all nine stages of their projects which involved language skills as well as research skills. Two procedures were used to gather the information. As a means of obtaining data about the general class experience during this study, the researcher employed an aggregation of teacher and teacher-librarian written observations recorded during informal interviews of students and following visual checks of student products. To obtain data about the subjects' personal experiences during the library research project, students were recorded on audio cassette responding to survey/interview questions. For example, students were asked whether or not they preferred French or English language resource materials and why 33 they had a preference for one or the other. As well, the survey questions asked students to rate the difficulty or facility with which they were able to complete particular research tasks such as reading to understand, note-taking, sentence composition and presentation of a.final product. Between five and eight minutes per student were recorded on audio cassette for each of the three survey questionnaires administered meaning approximately fifteen to twenty-four minutes for each of the grade two/three students. Transcriptions of these interviews on audio cassette were made to facilitate data collection. During the research phase, phase two, the data collection was to confirm findings of phase one. The purpose of this phase was to collect further data on the Primary level group and to compare these data with that of the same group which participated in phase one. The only alterations were the general age of the group and the library research topic. All other factors remained stable: same classroom teacher, same approach, same type of library research project assigned to students, same anticipated student products. Again in phase two the data collection included informal conversations with students and with the classroom teacher, handwritten observational notes submitted by both the classroom teacher and teacher-librarian, surveys recorded on audio cassette which were then transcribed, and individual interviews. As well, samples of individual student work were gathered. 34 Spontaneous talk - During each library session and as time permitted, the classroom teacher and teacher-librarian spent some time eavesdropping on conversations between student peers regarding their library research projects. The classroom teacher and teacher-librarian circulated freely among groups of students and did not aim to eavesdrop on each student or group a given number of times, thus creating a random sampling of student comments. Students were not assigned to work with a particular group of peers which encouraged a variety of peer-to-peer \"sharing\" as students progressed through the stages of their individual library research projects. This data collection was ongoing during each six to ten week project period. Interventions - At certain times during the course of the library research project, the teacher-librarian (researcher) or classroom teacher felt compelled to intervene with questions to particular students. An attempt was made to limit such interventions in order to minimize the influence such conversation might have on students' products. Occasionally, clarification of a student's products (notes, draft sentences and paragraphs and final products) required the posing of questions. The nature of these questions depended upon 35 the particular activity being observed. For example, as the students were observing visuals (photos, graphs, illustrations and posters) or reading text from which to make notes, the researcher asked from where thoughts for notes originated. C) Observational notes - As the students examined various pictorial resources and read from a variety of written materials from which to gather notes, the researcher recorded observations of student behaviours and student comments. D) Written products - The students note-taking sheets were gathered, photocopied and returned to them. The photocopies were examined as part of the data analysis. As well, students' draft copies and final products were collected and examined as part of the data analysis. Student work was promptly returned after teacher and teacher-librarian observations were recorded for data analysis. E) Journals - The researcher and classroom teachers each made regular entries in their journals as a follow-up to each library session. These entries dealt with the general and individual trends observed in students' note production as well as students' level of facility 36 in regards to the completion of both the draft and final product. Comments were written referring to both whole class tendencies and individual students1 behaviour. The researcher made additional entries following each library session and the subsequent discussion held with the classroom teacher about behaviours and activities which the classroom teacher had observed and recorded. Data Analysis During phase one the data gathered were examined in order to determine the common difficulties demonstrated by the groups who were studied. Written observations, completed student work (notes, draft sentences and paragraphs and final products), and audiotapes were examined by the researcher to note similarities and differences. The pattern of behaviour which appeared to be unique to the Primary level students was highlighted as the area of focus for phase two of the study. The two teacher associates, experienced Early French Immersion teachers, whose classes participated during phase one of the study, collaborated with the researcher by sharing their journal entries and general observations. They also listened to audio cassette recordings of student surveys and gave feedback to the researcher. After the two library research projects were 37 completed and studied in phase one, these two colleagues were able to offer suggestions to be implemented in an effort to improve our teaching practice. During phase two, the data gathering continued. Journal entries, transcribed talk and student written products were examined at the completion of each of the library research projects in the aim of determining a possible direction for future data collection as well as possible categories for classifying data. To organize these data, inductive analysis procedures were used. Inductive analysis procedures involve, first of all, segmenting student's behaviour into units; second, comparing like units; and third, composing descriptors to specify how those units vary. Both the students' verbal and nonverbal behaviours during library research periods were of interest. Therefore, the categories identified referred to both the note-taking and writing process, and to the topics of peer-to-peer talk in particular. The students' views about research skills and the written products themselves were examined. These categories were constantly modified. Findings from previous studies informed but did not dictate the current data analysis. The data analysis was also guided by the research questions which were further refined as the data gathering and analysis proceeded. The goal of this qualitative analysis was not exact measurement and coding of variables to be statistically related. Rather, the aim of this analysis was to develop categories and 38 patterns of behaviours that would allow the comprehensive description and interpretation of observed behaviours. The first task was to organize the data into units upon which to base the analysis. The basic organizational units in this study were the note-taking and composing events as well as the student presentation of the final product. The note-taking event refers to all the behaviours involved in the production of notes for the chosen library research topic and the composing event refers to all the behaviours involved in the production of the draft and final written products. The student presentation refers to the students' talking and writing behaviours in the production and presentation of a visual and textual model which demonstrated their knowledge of the topic studied. Analysis of Survey Responses The students' responses to the structured survey questions were transcribed from audio cassette recordings, categorized and then examined to note possible similarities and/or differences between each group's view of the library research project and the processes involved in completing it. These responses were also examined to note possible similarities and/or differences among students within each of the given groups. The survey questions were formulated to reflect the focus of this study and were directly related to the five study questions. The survey questionnaire for phase one included twelve questions. Refer to appendix E for a copy of this survey questionnaire. The first 39 four questions focused on the types of resources students had consulted. Question five queried students about their language of preference for resource materials. The following five questions sought student responses regarding the ease or difficulty each of them encountered when trying to read and understand resources in either French or English. The eleventh question asked the students to identify which task or tasks of the individual library research project that they found particularly difficult. The final question was open-ended and offered the students an opportunity to add their own comments about the process and project which they had just completed. The survey questions for phase two differed only in that there was an additional question regarding the ease or difficulty with which they were able to read and understand the available resource materials. A copy of the phase two survey questionnaire is found at appendix G. Analysis of Teacher Journals Both the journals of the participating classroom teachers and the teacher-librarian as researcher were examined to note possible similarities and/or differences in each group's view of the library research project and of the processes involved in completing it. 40 Product Analysis: Note-taking All of the products collected were analyzed in order to determine what quantity of notes students were able to produce from the English and French language resources available to them; to discover the quality of the written French employed; to assess whether or not these notes contained evidence of individual or group frustration with the resource materials available; and determine if students were hindered by English language resources. A. What quantity of notes students were able to produce: The researcher observes that note-taking may rely on a particular reading ability. Through the analysis of students' notes, the researcher attempts to discover how much information students are able to glean from pictorial and textual resource materials. B. How the quality of written French employed is influenced by the language of resource materials. Students at these grade levels are expected to have a particular writing ability. The researcher sought to establish if their ability to perform as expected was influenced by the language of the text. Students' written work was analyzed to determine if it was riddled with anglicisms and English vocabulary for which the students did not know French equivalents. Were there indications of student efforts to translate from English to French? C. Evidence of individual or group frustration. Upon scrutiny of student notes and further discussion with particular students, the researcher determined that fragmentary notes were 41 evidence of individual frustration. Group frustration was implied when the majority of students in a class group demonstrated individual frustration with note-taking from English language resources. D. Evidence of students being hindered by English language resources. Upon perusal of student notes and with verification from particular students, the researcher was able to determine that incomplete notes were an indication by these students that English language resources hindered, and in some cases halted, their progress on the library research project. Product Analysis: Sentence and Paragraph Composition All of the products collected were analyzed in order to discover if students successfully employed their notes to compose sentences and paragraphs. A. How sentence composition relies on adequate note-taking. The researcher is able to determine a level of understanding of the resource materials through examination of students' sentence composition. B. How paragraph composition relies on well-organized notes. A review of students' completed paragraphs reveals whether or not students were able to meet the criteria presented by the teachers, in other words, whether students were able to produce informative reports from their notes. 42 CHAPTER FOUR Results and Interpretation Introduction Results are organized for presentation into three main sections : Analysis of Teacher Journals; Analysis of the Library Research Process; and Analysis of Student Surveys/Interviews. Within each section, data from both phases one and two are discussed. As well, interpretations of these results are presented as an integral part of each of these sections. The first section presents the findings from the examination of the teacher and teacher-librarian journals. These include written observations recorded during informal interviews with students as well as written observations made following visual checks of student products. In addition, during and following each library research session, the teacher and teacher-librarian each wrote personal observations and thoughts about student behaviour gleaned from spontaneous talk with students and general surveillance of the group. These entries pertain to both individual and general trends observed in students' behaviour and actual written products. The teacher-librarian as researcher also made entries following conversations with the classroom teachers about student behaviours and activities which they had observed during the library research project sessions. 43 The second section presents those findings pertaining to the analysis of the library research process. Product analysis of the students' notes, of the students' sentence composition as well as of the students' final products are reported. Findings gathered through the surveys and interviews are presented in the third section. This includes three tables representing the tabulation of results from each of the student survey questionnaires as well as summary comments regarding these surveys. Analysis of Teacher Journals Perusal of the teacher journals maintained by both of the classroom teachers and by the teacher-librarian offered insight into students' beliefs and opinions that were not necessarily self-evident in the student survey/interview responses. Samples of entries from a teacher journal are found at appendix A. The nature of the teachers' role, acting as guides on a journey to knowledge rather than the fountain of knowledge, allowed teachers the' freedom to observe students from a distance, and eavesdrop on conversations between student peers regarding their library research projects. Such unsolicited comments from students were often enlightening, offering statements that individual students did not share later during individual recorded interviews between the students and researcher. 44 The teacher journals included observations linked to this eavesdropping activity as well as general written observations about the group. It is understood that these personal observations represent information affected by the bias of each teacher involved. However, the researcher searched for commonalities among the observations. What was it about the students' comments or statements of opinions that was reiterated by each of us when we pooled our notes? During phase one the Intermediate students expressed frustration with both French language and English language resources for separate reasons. The consensus among the grade five students appeared to be that the English language texts were easy to read and thus to find notes, but once that task was complete, the extra task of translating those notes to French seemed formidable to the majority of the students. Many were convinced that the additional task was unfair. Typical remarks were \"These English books were so easy to read compared to the French [ones] and I was able to find way more notes, but now I have to translate it all. Yuck!\" or \"I've got tons of notes in English, do I have to translate all of it? Why can't I just write these sentences and paragraphs in English? It will be way too hard to translate all of this into French!\" When the teachers suggested that students paraphrase in French or that \"rough\" or mental translation be done between the reading and writing of facts as opposed to literal translation with a dictionary at hand, the students were hesitant, and demonstrated 45 a lack of confidence in their own skills. The frustration with French language materials was limited to a few resources only, namely the encyclopedia sets, where both the teachers and all fourteen students agreed that the level of written French was too academic. In one teacher's journal the researcher found the following entry to be of interest: Spent today's forty minute period moving back and forth between two tables where the students were using the encyclopedie Grolier. Students complain that the text is complex, far too academic for them. I suggest to them that they scan for key words and even that proves beyond their capabilities from my observation. There's got to be something better that we can offer to our immersion students. It's just too much of a challenge! We all end up frustrated - my learning goals appear unattainable to students. I want them to meet challenges, not be beaten by them! I felt that I wasted time being a translator and they wasted time not being able to access information without my assistance. In the margin from the page of this entry the teacher had also written: Must ask T-L if we can get something more appropriate to reading competencies at this grade level. This was not a terribly productive lesson!! Five of the fourteen students did not express any difficulty with the French language trade books provided and four others admitted experiencing only minimal difficulty with the trade books. One of these students made the comment: \"Madame, we should just get more books like these. They give way easier information than those blue (encyclopedie Grolier) encyclopedias. They have lots of great pictures too.\" Another grade five student expressed this opinion: \"Au debut j'ai eu un peu de difficulty en trouvant les renseignements alors j'ai consulte 46 Madame. Elle m'a rappelle qu'il faut se servir de 1'indexe et de la table de matieres et aussi de demander l'aide de mes copains de classe ou du professeur. Apres j'ai decide que les livres etaient bien organises et j'ai pu trouve mes notes facilement.\"3 \"The experience at the Primary level during phase one was not as positive as teachers and the teacher-librarian had hoped. According to our observations, all twenty-four students expressed frustration in regards to the textual resources at some point during the library project. For example, students were overheard' making comments such as: \"Je ne peux pas lire les phrases. Elles sont trop difficiles\" or \"Je ne sais pas quoi ecrire car je ne trouve rien dans ces livres.\"4 Unlike their grade five peers, the grade twos and threes did not demonstrate any preference for one language or the other: trade books of either language met with resistance. Entries in the teacher and teacher-librarian's journals point to a general lack of confidence in reading which prevailed among Primary student participants. The teacher-3translation: At first I had some trouble finding information so I asked Madame (teacher). She reminded me that I should use the index and table of contents in the books and that I could also ask fellow students or the teacher and teacher-librarian for assistance. After that, the books seemed to be organized and I easily found notes. translation: I can't read the sentences. They are too difficult. I don't know what to write because I can't find anything in these books. 47 librarian's journal entries for this day included the following observations: During the grade two/three class today, both the teacher and I reminded several students that they might have more success if they concentrated on the illustrations and photos in their books and pulled their information from these. We noticed as we perused note-taking sheets at the end of the class that this had proven helpful to most of the students with whom we had worked today. It is reassuring that we were able to redirect these students' negative outlook and that they experienced some success. Perhaps we should focus some of our practice note-taking lessons on graphic resources only? To reaffirm the above teacher journal entry, a typical student declaration was: \"I can't do this, it's too hard!\" and at this point, a common teacher \"intervention\" was to remind the student that books had more than textual information, that the illustrations and photographs were useful as well in the search for facts. In response to the teacher and teacher-librarian observations made during phase one in regard to the Primary students' frustration with text materials, additional instruction in the area of note-taking was planned and delivered prior to the first individual library research project of phase two. This included a demonstration lesson and two follow-up practice sessions on how to retrieve information for note-taking purposes from the illustrations, graphs and photographs found in books where perhaps the main body of textual information was beyond the average Primary student's reading level. In addition, a lesson highlighting posters as a possible source of note-taking information was designed and taught by the teacher-librarian. 48 Phase two served to confirm that Primary French Immersion students struggled with the French trade books offered to them. The entries in the teacher journals made repeated reference to individual students' statements of frustration and to teacher observations regarding the general state of frustration the class was experiencing: Une jeune eleve m'a pose la question: \"Est-ce qu'il n'y a pas des livres plus faciles?\" et un autre m'a declare: \"J'aimerais changer mon sujet. C'est trop difficile de trouver les informations!\" Ces deux commentaires me fait comprendre combien nos eleves vivent avec la frustration. Mon but dans les prochaines periodes de recherche a la bibliotheque serait de reduire ce sentiment chez le plus d'eleves possible. Je compte travailler plus avec les petits de deuxieme annee qui ont moins d'experience en lecture et avec un projet de recherche de ce nature.5 Although the students had gained reading abilities and were now experienced with the task of collecting facts from both textual and pictorial resource materials, and that only the topic was new, there prevailed a sense of struggle, that each student was fighting a battle. The teacher and teacher-librarian each made regular entries with suggestions on how they might improve the translation: One of the younger students asked me: \"Are there any easier books?\" and another student stated: \"I want to change my topic. It's too difficult to find information.\" These two comments let me understand just how much frustration the students are experiencing. My goal for the next few research blocks at the library will be to reduce this feeling with as many students as possible. I know that I need to work more with the little grade twos who have less reading experience and with this type of research project. 49 students' learning experience. For example, following lesson three, the teacher made this entry in her journal: Although we did two practice sessions with the T-L, , perhaps I should free up more class time so that the. students, the teacher-librarian and I can do a library research project together. We could all do the same topic, all using the same resources, (use overheads maybe?) As I observed my students in the library today I noticed that many were unable to complete the note-taking task independently. There was lots of frustration. I finally partnered up some students. Wow. Are we in over our heads?! After reading the teacher's journal, the teacher-librarian had made the following entry in her journal: I assured the classroom teacher that this research process has worked remarkably well with English programme Primary students. I reminded the teacher that we are in a process ourselves, that we are working at finding which methods function the best for our Early Immersion Primary students. Several weeks later, the following entry appeared in the classroom teacher's journal: It's do-able! Some students are being successful with the library research project and doing it independently. Wow. I told the T-L today that we must be on the right track. I'm picking up on her optimism and enthusiasm - we will pull this off. What a struggle it has been for the kids though. Before embarking on the final individual library research project of phase two, the teacher and teacher-librarian agreed to proceed with a mini research project which served as a demonstration model for students. This project saw the teacher and teacher-librarian as role models, performing the note-taking and sentence/paragraph composition stages and shared their notes 50 and sentences with students. Examples of note-taking from the French language text of trade books and magazines were presented as well as demonstrations given of how to use photos and illustrations from which to glean information. The same web-sheet that students used for note-taking was employed by the teachers during this mini research project. The research topic for the group was flamingoes, chosen as an appropriate example prior to the final individual library research project of phase two where each student researched an animal or insect of their choice. Both students and the teacher/teacher-librarian found the experience offered by the mini group research project beneficial. Students were-able to draw upon newly acquired strategies and demonstrated some improvement in the area of note-taking. However, for students, note-taking remained the most frustrating and difficult task of the project according to their responses to survey questionnaire #3. The researcher attributes the continued sense of frustration in regard to the note-taking task to a lack of experience and practice. From the improvements demonstrated by students during the year of this study, the researcher projects that with continued practice, additional instruction and experience, the students would find the note-taking task less arduous. 51 One of the final teacher-librarian journal entries for this phase was cautious, yet optimistic: I hope that I'm not leading the French Immersion teachers astray. I've experienced how well this kind of project worked with Primary students from the English groups. It has been so successful there! We're in a learning process along with the kids here. We'll have to keep refining our practice until we get it to work to everyone's benefit and satisfaction. Students need to walk away at the end feeling that this was worthwhile, that they were personally successful. Teachers need to walk away feeling that it was worth the library time invested, that it connected with their classroom curriculum, that the whole project is worth repeating, that it has redeeming points. In the end we need to remember that kids need instruction and practice at skills before they can improve. Analysis of the Library Research Process As stated in Chapter Three, the library research process with which these students are familiar involved nine sequential tasks that provided three student products to be included in the data analysis. Each student produced notes, sentences/paragraphs and a final product for presentation. During phase one, the grade two/three class research topic was Nutrition and the grade five topic was Explorers. During phase two the research topic for the Primary class was Canadian Provinces and Territories followed by students' choice of an Insect or Animal for their second project. During each of these co-operatively taught units, student products were collected and 52 analyzed by both the teacher-librarian and the classroom teacher and promptly returned to students. With student permission, copies were made of their products (note-taking, sentence/paragraph composition, and final product) which had been completed during these units. This provides the student work samples for this study which appear in Appendices J through L. b Product analysis: note-taking A simple checklist was designed by the researcher to compile information gleaned from perusal of the students' note-taking products. A copy and a sample of this checklist appear in appendix B. This checklist identified students as male or female so that any outcomes where gender appeared to be a factor would be readily apparent. As well, the quantity of notes viewed was assessed through these two questions: 1. How many sub-topics were addressed? 2. How many notes (bullets) per sub-topic? and the quality of notes viewed was assessed through the following two questions: 1. Are the notes coherent (make sense to reader) or incoherent? 2. Do the notes appear in full sentences (plagiarism?) or has the student written only key phrases or vocabulary? 53 As bilingual (French and English) and unilingual (French or English) notes might be a factor in students' success, this was also addressed by a question on the checklist. Although subjective in nature, the checklist included a question regarding the assumed reading competency of each particular student (below grade level, at grade level, or above grade level) as well. To provide balance and to avoid bias in the data collection, this checklist was completed for each student by both the classroom teacher and the teacher-librarian. On the few rare occasions where the information collected was contradictory, these differences were discussed and from this discussion a third checklist was completed in tandem to use for the purposes of data collection. Perusal of student notes collected from both the Primary and Intermediate groups during phase one revealed several general trends. In general, the Primary students' notes were unilingual and restricted to French. The volume of their notes ranged from ten to forty facts. In comparison, the grade five students wrote bilingual notes, both French and English, and the quantity ranged from twenty-five to seventy-five facts. The researcher attributes the difference in the quantity of facts produced to the older students' expertise in reading and writing. It should be noted that teachers also expected a minimum(number of notes for each grade level. All Intermediate students who submitted notes which included sections written in English were questioned about how they would eventually complete their assignments in 54 French. Each student expressed the intention to use a dictionary -to translate or failing that, to ask the teacher or teacher-librarian for assistance with the equivalent French vocabulary. In phase one, the teachers and teacher-librarian also observed individual differences amongst students at each of the three grade levels. As one might expect in a homogenous grouping, student abilities ranged and student output varied accordingly. The quality of student work at all grade levels was satisfactory, with some students excelling beyond teacher expectations. Being male or female did not appear to have any significant influence on the quality; defined as the coherence and level of French employed in the notes or on the quantity of the students' products as submitted for teacher or teacher-librarian perusal. Quality and quantity of students1 products mirrored current classroom performance of individual students. There was evidence of individual frustration at all grade levels during phase one. At the Primary level, seventeen of the students, or seventy-one percent, submitted notes that were fragmentary to some degree in that they were incoherent to the adult reader, thus demonstrating a certain frustration with the task and resource materials. Students who were asked for clarification of their notes were also unable to decipher the meaning of what they had written. For the fourteen grade five students who participated in phase one of the study, only two of the students, or fourteen percent, submitted notes that were fragmentary. 55 Although for the purposes of this study no standardized test was administered to assess reading ability, it is acknowledged that such ability, or lack of, influenced each student's performance when completing the note-taking tasks. It was consistently noted by both the teacher and teacher-librarian that the volume of notes that a student was able to produce appeared to be in direct relation to his or her current reading ability. Competent readers produced the largest volume of notes ranging from thirty to forty entries or facts and struggling readers produced the smallest volume of notes ranging from ten to fifteen entries. The student notes collected from the Primary group and reviewed during the phase two confirmed the trends that were identified in phase one. Once again, students' notes were unilingual, written in French, with the exception of the three students who chose to use some English language resources. Their notes were written primarily in French but included a limited number of English facts. Unlike their Intermediate counterparts, these three Primary students were challenged by prospect of translating these few notes into French before they could begin the sentence composition stage of the project. One of the three students questioned the teacher about how to translate his notes: \"Madame, most of my notes are in English and I don't know the French words. How am I going to write my sentences in French?\" Neither of the other two students had a solution to their predicament. Then one of them suggested, \"Madame, could you 56 please write our notes into French for us. We don't know how.\" The English notes created an additional task for these students as well as a delay in their progress during the sentence composition stage. These three students also required additional teacher and teacher-librarian assistance to accomplish the translation of English notes. For example, it' had been noted in a teacher journal that she had spent most of the forty minute block working with two students as they struggled to complete their notes in French in preparation for the sentence composition stage of their research projects. It was noted that in comparison with phase one, the volume of notes produced by the Primary students during phase two remained stable ranging from ten to forty entries or facts. As one might suspect, several students demonstrated personal growth in their note-taking skills and their note-taking improved from one project to the next. However, the general performance of the group was stable through both phases with no marked differences in outcomes when student note-taking products were compared. Perusal of the note-taking student products from both of the library research projects during phase two did not reveal differences of performance that could be related to gender. In general, differences of performance were related to personal scholastic ability which varied from student to student in the homogenous grouping used in this study. 57 Product analysis: sentence and paragraph composition This product analysis was completed with the assistance of a checklist created by the researcher. A copy and a sample of this checklist appear in appendix C. The checklist included four questions: What was the number of sentences per sub-topic? Was this number a reflection of the number of notes taken at stage one? Are sentence structure and punctuation below, at, or above, grade level expectations? Is there evidence of translation from English - i.e. anglicisms? This checklist was used in conjunction with the checklist for product analysis at the note-taking stage of the project. In an effort to maintain balance, avoid bias and to parallel the note-taking checklist, the sentence and paragraph composition checklist was completed by both the teacher-librarian and classroom teacher for each student. For the exceptional cases where the information collected by each of the teachers was contradictory, the differences were examined and discussed. As the two teachers conferred, a third checklist was prepared to submit for the data collection. Analysis of the student products from all three grade levels represented at the sentence and paragraph composition stage of the library research projects completed during phase one revealed that note-taking products did not directly influence the quality of sentence composition; however, the quantity of written work produced by each student was contingent upon the volume of facts that he or she was able to locate and then use to record notes. 58 For example, students at the Primary or Intermediate level who were able to locate more facts, thirty to seventy-five facts, were in a position to create a larger body of text at the composition stage. All students were capable of producing sentences and paragraphs of a quality relative to their personal writing abilities and not dependent on their note-taking skills and it is understood that the students from each homogeneous group performed writing skills within a range that met grade level expectations. Therefore, students who experienced more success with their reading skills and were able to locate the highest number of facts gained an advantage over their peers at the composition stage. Examination of the students' products corroborated that readability influenced not only the fact-finding or note-taking stage of the individual library research project, but also affected the students' success at the sentence and paragraph composition stage. Therefore the note-taking task of the individual library research project was not an isolated difficulty, but influenced the students' ability to perform successfully at the sentence/paragraph stage as well. In general, those students who chose to use English language resources and to write their notes in English did not follow through on their intentions to seek assistance in the translation of these notes. As a consequence, the quality of French was poor and in some instances, the sentences were written in \"franglais\" or riddled with anglicisms. The student product was below grade level expectations in most cases where English language resources 59 had been consulted during the note-taking process. In learning from this experience, it is recommended that apart from using the illustrations, graphs and photos, Primary Early French Immersion students should be discouraged from using English language resources for French language research projects. As expected, scrutiny of the Primary students' products following each of the independent library research projects in phase two confirmed the findings of phase one. Those students who demonstrated good to excellent in-class reading skills, and had collected and written the largest volume of notes were able to produce a greater quantity of sentences and more thorough paragraphs. The quality of written work including correct sentence structure and appropriate punctuation, however, was once again contingent on each student's personal writing or composition abilities. Each student's text was informational and complete to the same extent as their notes had been for the note-taking stage. In other words, if a student had a wide range of facts, regardless of their number, their sentences and paragraphs reflected their interest in the topic. Paragraphs ranged from two or three sentences to seven or eight depending on the volume of notes from which the student was working. Those few students who chose to work with some English language resources did not demonstrate any marked improvement from the phase one project to the phase two projects. They continued to experience difficulty and frustration once they reached the sentence composition stage when the English notes 60 were required to be written into French language text for their paragraphs. The students who consulted French resources only, in general, experienced greater success with the sentence composition activities. This group of students as individuals were able to record a greater quantity of notes in the target language, French, and they did not have the extra burden of translation before sentence composition could begin. Product analysis: final product This product was dependent on the outcome of the products from the note-taking and sentence/paragraph composition stages of the library research project. There is a direct relationship between the first two tasks and the final product in that students who were successful at the note-taking and sentence/paragraph composition stages were able to produce satisfactory final products. Students who expressed and demonstrated difficulty at the note-taking stage and subsequently with the sentence/paragraph composition task, found completion of the final product to be arduous. As with the note-taking and sentence/paragraph composition stages, a teacher checklist was created for this stage as well. Refer to appendix D for a copy and sample. This checklist helped teachers to identify particular characteristics of each student's final product and included the following questions: Was the product aesthetically appealing in that the information is well-organized and easy to follow? Were all paragraphs from the draft 61 copy included? Are accompanying illustrations appropriate and accurate? Apart from that, the artwork was not judged in that it was not a criterion of these library research projects. Finally, was the information in paragraphs superficial or did it provide in-depth coverage of the student's chosen topic? Also included on this checklist was an identification mark to indicate whether a student was male or female so that if there were any differences in performance which appeared to relate to gender, they would be duly noted. Beginning with phase one, the final product stage also included a presentation to peers, in small or large group settings depending on each student's comfort level with oral speaking. At least one teacher was an audience member for each student presentation and noted such traits as: Did the individual student appear to have an understanding of their topic? What new information had the student absorbed through this project? Through the student presentations and the answering of peer questions, the participating teachers were able to acknowledge what general understanding each student had of their topic, in other words, what had become part of the student's general knowledge base? In phase two, the teachers used the same checklist for the final product and took notes in the same way during student . presentations. All participating teachers agreed that there was a general improvement in the performance of all students at this stage. Some of this is attributed to the students' experience 62 gained during phase one as well as general overall improvement in all students' scholastic ability as the school year progressed. For both phases one and two, teacher perusal of the final products of students served to confirm findings at the note-taking and sentence/paragraph stages of the individual library research projects. All students were able to produce final products the quality of which was relative to their personal success at the previous two stages of the library research project, during note-taking and sentence/paragraph composition. Success in the written components of the final product were directly related to each student's personal reading and writing skills. Each student's success at their presentation was directly related to their personal comfort level as a presenter as well as the quality of the written work that they presented. It should be noted that no differences could be attributed to gender at this stage of the library research project. No new information in regards to the study was acquired from this stage of independent library research projects. It served as reinforcement of the information, about each student and about the groups in general, which was gleaned from the note-taking and sentence/paragraph stages of the library research projects during both phases one and two of this study. 63 Analysis of student surveys/interviews Background to Survey #1 Student survey questionnaire #1 (see appendix E), was administered in early December. It included twelve questions pertaining to students' opinions of their library research skills. The questionnaire was a follow-up to a six-to-ten week individual library research project. It was delivered to the twenty-four students of the grade two/three class and only to the fourteen grade fives from the grade four/five class. Given the ages of these students, seven to nine years, and the limited reading abilities of the students at the Primary level, the researcher made the decision to administer the questionnaire orally to each student in both groups. Audio cassette recordings were made for each student responding to the student survey questionnaire #1. These audio cassette recordings were then transcribed. Refer to appendix F for a sample transcript of student survey questionnaire #1. Summary of Survey questionnaire #1 The number of resources individual students used ranged from one to five with the majority of Primary students using two resources and the majority of Intermediate students choosing to use three or four resources. Virtually all of the students involved in phase one of the study responded affirmatively to the question regarding the use of trade books and encyclopedias as 64 information sources during their library research projects. Although the majority of students did not choose to use magazines, several students chose other non-book information resources: fifteen of the thirty-eight students watched video footage; three students used CD-ROM computer programs independently at home; and one student approached her peers for discussion and gleaned further notes from this \"sharing\" situation. The researcher found it curious that students did not use magazines as these were readily available and had been shown along with other library resources at the beginning of the individual library research project. It is believed that it was simply a question of unfamiliarity which was addressed by a change in teaching practice between phases one and two of the study. It was recommended that the teachers and teacher-librarian do some demonstration lessons and practice with students to familiarize them with magazines as an information resource prior to the commencement of the phase two projects. In response to question five which asked about students' preferences for English or French language resources, the Primary students reacted very differently from the Intermediate students. An overwhelming group of Primary students agreed that French language resources were their preference. This was attributed to the students' lack of English reading skills. English is not formally taught to grade two students in the Early French Immersion programme and the grade three students would only have minimal experience with formal English instruction to this point 65 in the school year, approximately forty-five hours only. Among the Intermediate group members there was a split of opinion with approximately two thirds of the group preferring English language materials to French. These Intermediate students would have been receiving approximately forty percent of their total classroom instruction in English as well as having two years more lifetime experience with English language instruction than the Primary students. In general, the comments of the Primary students expressed the belief that their French language skills were stronger than were their English language skills, that they were more proficient at gleaning information from French language resource materials. A typical Primary student response was \" ...because I know French more [sic], and like, it's a lot easier.\" Only three of the Primary students responded to questions six, seven, and eight which sought opinions about English language resources. These questions were not applicable to the remaining members of their class for they did not consult English language resources during this research project. Responses from these three students paraphrased one another to state as one of them did that \"English is my first language and so it would just be easy.\" It is interesting to note that in reality the students' conception of what would be easy and what they actually experienced differed greatly. All three of these students had difficulty taking facts from English language resources and transcribing their ideas or facts to French for their note-taking 66 pages. However, the Intermediate students' reaction or response was very different as virtually all of them employed at least one English language resource. Ten of the Intermediate students found English language materials very easy or easy to use for note-taking and made similar statements such as \"I understand English better than French sometimes,\" or \"...because I know how to translate.\" Although the majority of Intermediate students professed that the translation task would be very easy or easy, their reality paralleled that of the three Primary students. All of the Intermediate students required the- assistance of bilingual dictionaries and of their bilingual teachers and teacher-librarian to assist in the transcribing of their unilingual English notes. Question nine concentrates on students' perceptions of the facility with which they read French language resources. The entire study group, at all grade levels, used some French language resource materials so all participants were asked to respond. At the Primary level, the use of French language resources was almost exclusive; however at the Intermediate level, all students used materials written in both languages. Eighteen of the Primary students found the reading task easy and six of them found it to be difficult. Those who found the task easy stated various reasons, but the essence of their statements was that they knew how to read French, that they knew most of the \"sounds\" (one is to presume phonetics), and that they were good at reading French. For the group who experienced some 67 difficulty, their responses were consistent; being that \"some of the words were hard, some words I didn't understand.\" The Intermediate students' responses ranged from very easy and easy to difficult. The majority of grade fives found that reading French materials was easy. The group in general professed to have a certain facility with the language at this stage of their-scholastic careers. For those three students who found it a difficult task, each of them confessed to a lack of practice in reading French, that is, they did not choose to read in French for their own leisure reading. The following two survey questions, numbers ten and eleven, were closely related and as a consequence the student responses had a tendency to be repetitive. At the Primary level, fifteen students found the note-taking task to be arduous. Typical complaints in response to these questions were \"I can't know what the words are; some words I can't understand; ...because it was so hard looking and looking and finding the page.\" The Primary students' comments and responses appear to concentrate on two reasons as being the root of any difficulties in note-taking tasks: a lack of reading skills, or for confident readers, a frustration with text that was challenging. Primary students seem concerned primarily with the mechanics of note-taking. For students at the Intermediate level, however, the note-taking task appears to be difficult at a different level. Their difficulties arose at the decision-making level: how to decide what was worthy of being jotted down as a note and what could be overlooked. 68 This is a library research skill which may be taught during upcoming independent library research projects and not a French language skill. The responses to questions ten and eleven were helpful in providing information which was used to limit phase two of the study, to enable a focus on the difficulties experienced especially by the Primary Early French Immersion students. The final question of the survey, number twelve, gave students an opportunity to offer comments or suggestions in regard to individual library research projects. None of the Primary students responded and only three of the Intermediate students chose to respond. One student made suggestions of two specific titles of French language and grammar resources that would be helpful with the sentence and paragraph composition stage of the library research project. Each of the other two students made comments which reflected their impressions that the school library was helpful and that particular titles (of resources they chose) were useful. An assumption made by those teachers involved in the action research that the students would feel more at ease being able to express their opinions .in their native language, English, was proven erroneous. Contrary to the teachers1 assumption that the students would be more at ease completing the survey questionnaire in their native or maternal language, many of the Primary students remarked at some point during their interview, which employed the survey questionnaire, that they thought it was 69 weird that the questions were delivered in English and that the interviewer was speaking in English. The teachers participating in this study were astonished by this revelation and spent many hours debating whether this was a false presumption on the part of students or if indeed a survey delivered in French would have provided more conversation from the students and more student responses to. analyze. A decision was made following phase one of the study to continue to deliver the survey in English so as not to contribute yet another variable to the study. Background to Survey #2 The second student survey questionnaire was administered the following April. The format was similar to the first student survey questionnaire, but this one included thirteen questions pertaining to students' opinions of their library research skills. This second questionnaire was the follow-up to a second six-week independent library research project. It was delivered to the students of the grade two/three class only. For reference a copy of student questionnaire #2 is found at appendix G. Initially, audio cassette recordings were made for each student responding to the student survey. These audio cassettes were then transcribed. Refer to appendix H for a sample transcript of student survey #2. 70 Summary of Survey questionnaire #2 During phase two the grade two/three class made up the study-group. Individual students in this group reported using a number of resources ranging from one to five. Students at this grade level and during this second term of the school year were encouraged to use a minimum of two resources to provide some means of comparison within their personal library research project. However, one student was not able to fulfill this teacher request. In general, this survey demonstrates that the Primary group had increased their use of resource materials since the previous project and survey. As found in the first survey, all students of the study group used both trade books and/or encyclopedia to complete the note-taking task of this library research project. Unlike the first project of the school year, several students discovered the wealth of information that some magazines were able to offer on their topic of interest and included these as resources. This is attributed to a change in teaching practice where the teacher and teacher-librarian recognized a need to formally introduce magazines as a valid information resource. In phase one, an assumption was made that students were aware of and would use magazines. When the survey results did not support this assumption it was decided that phase two should include a lesson on magazines as research project information resources. Teaching practice emphasized student use of magazines for note-taking purposes. Apart from using magazines, six of the twenty-four students remembered taking 71 notes during a video shown in the library and one student mastered the use of CD-ROM at home and took notes related to his own topic. Question five produced exactly the same results for the second survey questionnaire as it did for survey number one. The Early French Immersion Primary students all agreed that it was their preference to use French language resources to complete the note-taking tasks of the library research project. Although the grade three students in this study group would have had approximately eighty hours of English language arts instruction by this point in the school year, they still did not appear at ease with English language skills, particularly with reading. Their responses reinforced the comments they made at the first survey in December: \"Because I'm good at French, or because I understand more.\" Given the reactions of these grade three students, it was not surprising then that the grade two students who did not have any formal English language instruction continued to profess a preference for French language resource materials for this phase two survey. As in the previous survey, only three students, the same ones, responded to questions six, seven, and eight which sought student opinions of the English language resources which they used for research. Once again, these questions were not applicable for the remaining twenty-one students of the study group as they did not consult English language resources during this research project either. These three students continued to 72 demonstrate a facility with English that was beyond that of their classmates. Unlike their Intermediate counterparts of the first study group, these students did not demonstrate any facility with translation, but rather a facility to read in English. Question nine and ten separated understanding from reading skills as students may be competent readers and not fully understand what they are reading, that is to say that reading comprehension is not necessarily achieved through fluent reading. For the purposes of this survey, nineteen students professed to find reading French text easy or very easy, whereas only sixteen students found understanding French text easy or very easy. In fact, eight students found understanding French text difficult. At the Primary level use of French language resources was almost exclusive. It would be reasonable to suggest that the slight deviation in the results of question nine as compared to the results of question ten is in direct relation to the aforementioned theory that reading fluency does not guarantee understanding. When the students were questioned about the note-taking task they responded as follows: six students replied that the task was not difficult; sixteen students stated that it was difficult; and two found it very difficult. The study group appears to be split on this question, however, individual comments highlighted the difficulties rather than the ease with which some students performed. Some students demonstrated specific language difficulties such as \"I just couldn't find the important words 73 for my notes\" or \"The books were just too hard to read by myself!\" Other students found the mechanics of note-taking to be the area of personal difficulty: \"For lots of pages I just couldn't decide what to write down\" or \"It was easier to collect facts from pictures and photos than from sentences.\" Fact collecting from illustrations, graphs, photos, and maps was strongly encouraged by the teacher-librarian and classroom teacher, particularly for students who demonstrated frustration with their personal reading skills. Question twelve was worded specifically to focus students' responses on the task or tasks which they found truly difficult or very difficult. This being part of the focus of the study, to attempt to identify the specific difficulties which Early French Immersion Primary students face when asked to complete an independent library research project, their answers were given greater attention. For example, one student replied that \"trying to make notes from what I was reading was too hard. I had to read it over and over and ask the teachers for help. It was a lot easier to write my sentences.\" The results for the final question replicated the previous survey with the Primary students again, ill at ease discussing the project in English. Only two students offered comments: \"I know I can do a research project all by myself now\" and \"That was fun, can we do it again soon?\" which both demonstrate a certain amount of self-confidence had been gained by these two students. 74 Background to Survey #3 The final student survey questionnaire was administered at the beginning of June and duplicated the format of student survey questionnaire #2 including the same thirteen questions. It was delivered following the final six-to-ten week individual library research project that the study group completed during the school year. For reference purposes, a copy of the student survey questionnaire is found at appendix G. Audio cassette recordings were made of these individual student interviews as had been done for the first two surveys. The audio cassettes were then transcribed for ease of tabulating results. Refer to appendix I for a sample transcript of student survey #3. Summary of Survey questionnaire #3 The third survey questionnaire was administered to the same study group, the grade two/three class, following their third independent library research project of the school year. Some individual progress was observed, but generally the students continued to face the same obstacles which they had identified following their first library research project during the fall term and in March upon completion of their second project. The number of resources individual students consulted ranged from two to five with the greatest number of students taking notes from three different resources. All members of the study group used both trade books and encyclopedia with the majority of 75 students limiting their resources to such materials. Nearly half of the group also included at least one magazine in their bibliography. On separate occasions, three videos were shown during library research sessions and five students recalled taking notes on their topic as they viewed these programs. Three students took advantage of access to encyclopedia and dictionary CD-ROM programs on at-home computers and included notes from these resources for their individual projects. When questioned as to their preference for English or French language resource materials, twenty of the twenty-four students replied that French resource materials were preferable to English. The four students who indicated a preference for English language resources were required to respond to the next three questions regarding the use of these particular materials. Their answers are of interest to the researcher who notes that although these students professed a preference for English language resources, they did not express less difficulty with understanding and reading the text than they did with French language materials. As well, these students did not appear to have 'any more facility in completing the note-taking task than the remainder of the study group. In fact, regardless of the language of resource materials, the study group results demonstrate that the note-taking task was the most difficult of all tasks included in the library research project. In response to question twelve, it is interesting to note that although this was the third research experience of the 76 school year, there did not seem to be significant changes in the ability of most students as they completed the note-taking task. The researcher attributes the continued difficulty with the note-taking task as an indication that a change in teaching practice is warranted in order to enable students to experience more success at this stage of the individual library research projects. As practitioners we need to strive to teach in ways which promote student success and self-confidence. As well, we need to recognize and allow for the possibility that many of the students involved in this study had reached a learning plateau at this stage of their scholastic journey. Earlier in\"this chapter it was noted in the Analysis of Teacher Journals that students were given additional instruction on note-taking strategies and several practice sessions were provided between each of the three individual library research projects of the school year. Consequently, significant drops in student frustration levels and significant gains in student facility with the note-taking task were expected as the year progressed. As this current study did not find such gains in student performance to exist, further research into improving the instructional practices related to the note-taking task needs to be pursued. In addition, teachers advised that a critical examination of resource materials available for Primary Early French Immersion students was warranted at this time. Teachers had found that many of the resource materials available from the 77 school library collection did not meet the needs of their Primary level students. It would be reasonable to suggest that although students continue to demonstrate difficulty with some aspects of these independent library research projects, they do recognize the skills that they have learned and that they will practice and improve upon in the future. It was pleasing to note that the students recognized personal progress in their sentence/paragraph composition as well as in their presentation of final products. One student remarked \"This is my best project because I got lots of ideas from other kids' stuff the last two times!\" and another mentioned \"I'm an expert at research now!\" The comments made by three students in response to question thirteen were not specific. To paraphrase, these students agreed that the> project had been \"lots of fun even though it was so much work\". One of the three asked \"When can we do another one?\" 78 Summary of Results Analysis of Teacher Journals-Regular perusal of the teacher journals during phase one of the study revealed four consistent observations about the study group participants. a) For the grade five students of the study group, the major hurdle appeared to be that English notes were difficult for students to translate and that teachers were required to devote an inordinate amount of time and attention to assisting and reassuring students with this individual research project task. b) Through impromptu conversations with the grade five students teachers found that the majority of the French language trade books appeared to be at an appropriate reading level and that the note-taking task was relatively easy for them. However, these same students confided to teachers that' the French language encyclopedia available to them was beyond their current reading skills and that this caused some frustration with note-taking. c) Throughout the project, students from the grade two/three class of the study group voiced to teachers their difficulty with written text in both the French and English language resource materials. d) The most common teacher intervention recorded was to give students the direction to use graphics (i.e. photos or illustrations) to glean information for their notes. 79 During phase two of the study, the Primary teacher and the teacher-librarian made three common journal entries. a) Teacher observations confirmed that the Primary students, now the sole members of the study group, continued to experience difficulty with the French language resources from which they chose to work. b) Both the teacher and teacher-librarian made entries with suggestions to improve their practice, to try these new strategies and to monitor their success through written observations of students' behaviour and unsolicited comments (eavesdropping on peer-to-peer conversation). c) Both the teacher and teacher-librarian expressed their beliefs that this action research should be an on-going process in their classrooms. At the end of phase two, all teachers involved in the study agreed that some questions about the experience of Early French Immersion Primary students completing individual library research projects remain unanswered and areas of the present study merit further research and attention. Two areas of consideration would be to improve our instruction of note-taking strategies for students and to develop a list of criteria which would be employed as a \"selection\" tool to assist in the acquisition of appropriate level resource materials for Early French Immersion students. 80 Analysis of the Library Research Process The note-taking phase of the individual library research projects was the most useful to the present study. A link was established which demonstrated that a student's success, or lack of, at the note-taking stage directly influenced student products at the sentence/paragraph composition stage and the final product stage of each individual library research project. During phase one several facts were established. The majority of Primary students took unilingual (French) notes while their Intermediate counterparts took bilingual notes (French and English). Intermediate students produced up to eighty-eight percent more notes than Primary students. This was attributed to the additional expertise in reading and writing that the Intermediate students were assumed to have gained during their additional years of schooling. Student work at all grade levels was satisfactory with some students exceeding teacher expectations. Gender did not appear to be an influence on the quality or quantity of work that a student produced. Personal reading and writing skills influenced both the quality and quantity of student products. Students' note-taking products paralleled their current classroom performance on tasks of a similar nature such as reading and responding to literature. At the Primary level approximately seventy percent of the students in the study group were not wholly successful with the note-taking tasks. These students were visibly frustrated with both the resource materials and the note-taking task itself. 81 Among the Intermediate students of the study group there prevailed a more positive attitude than with their Primary counterparts. Approximately 15 percent of the Intermediate students were not totally successful with the note-taking task. The data collected indicate that frustration levels with both the task and the resource materials were considerably less with the Intermediate students. Analysis of Student Surveys/Interviews Survey #1 included twelve questions seeking student opinions concerning the individual library research projects that these students had recently completed. The survey was administered orally with both the questions and responses recorded on audio cassette. These survey interviews were then transcribed to facilitate data collection for phase one. Twenty-four students from a split grade two/three class and fourteen grade fives from a split grade four/five class comprised the study group. This survey found that all participating students used at least one trade book or encyclopedia as a research resource with some students using as many as four. Only one student chose to use a magazine as a resource. A number of students, mostly intermediate, chose to use non-book resources such as video footage or CD-ROM computer programs. One student used a peer \"sharing\" session and discussion to broaden her knowledge of the topic she had chosen to study. 82 Primary student responses indicated an overwhelming preference for French language resource materials. In fact, at the Primary level, the use of French language materials was almost exclusive with only three students opting to try at least one English language resource. Seventy-five percent of the Primary students professed to find reading the French language resources easy and twenty-five found the reading task difficult. Among the Intermediate students, there was a split of opinions with approximately two-thirds preferring to consult English language resource materials. Although these students profess to prefer using English language resources, their responses indicate a relative ease with reading in either language. All students who used English language resources required the assistance of bilingual teachers and teacher-librarian as well as the use of bilingual dictionaries to paraphrase their English notes into French. It is interesting to note that the student responses for the final survey questions paralleled the teacher journal entries in that both teachers and students agreed that the most difficult stage of the individual library research project was the reading through note-taking stage. Despite earlier responses (questions nine and ten) to the contrary, most Primary students professed that their lack of reading skills made the text of French or English language materials too challenging. For the confident readers at the both Primary and Intermediate levels, the challenge was less with the mechanics of reading and more 83 with judgement, or what to record as a note. Student responses to question eleven, regarding the difficulties encountered during the individual library research project, provided data which were helpful in limiting phase two of the study to provide a focus on the difficulties which appeared to challenge the Early French Immersion Primary students only. Survey #2 was administered during phase two of the study to all twenty-four grade two/three students of the study group. It included thirteen interview questions which were formulated to solicit student opinions regarding their personal experiences and frustrations during the individual library research project that each of them had recently completed. As with phase one, the survey interviews, including questions and responses, were recorded on audio cassette. These recordings were then transcribed for ease of data collection during phase two. The responses to questions one through four of survey #2 indicated that the Primary students had increased their use of a variety of resource materials. All but one of the students used two or more French language trade books and/or encyclopedia. Between 4 and 16 percent of the students used additional resource materials: one student took notes from a CD-ROM program which was studied at home, four students used magazines and six students recalled taking notes during a video presentation in the library. The language of preference remained the same for these 84 Primary students as for phase one of the study: French language resource materials were preferred and used by the.majority (twenty-one students) of the study group. The use of French language resource materials was almost exclusive with only three students using any English language resources. With French language resources, seventy-nine percent (nineteen students) of the study group found that the reading task was very easy or easy, however, this number drops to sixty-seven percent (sixteen students) when questioned regarding understanding the text that they were reading. In fact, one third (eight students) found that understanding the text was difficult and required some assistance from peers or teachers. In comparison with survey #1, some improvement by individual students was apparent through survey responses and many students gained a certain self-confidence upon completing their second individual library research project of the school year. Survey #3 was administered late in the same school year following the third and final independent library research project that was completed by the students in the study group. The format of this survey duplicated that of survey #2 and included the same thirteen questions. As had been done for the previous two surveys, audio cassette recordings were produced of all survey interviews and these were then transcribed for ease in collecting data for this study. The study group remained constant, and included the same twenty-four students from the 85 split grade two/three French Immersion class. Some progress was noted for individual students; however, in general, the same obstacles that were identified with survey #1 and survey #2 were encountered and expressed again for this survey. The note-taking task remained the most difficult assignment of the individual library research project. This survey indicated that all students used at least two resources which included trade books and encyclopedias. Many students use alternative resource materials as well. Almost half (eleven students) used one or more magazines; five students took notes during library video presentations and three students used CD-ROM encyclopedia or dictionary at home to supplement the notes that they had taken at school. Once again there was an overwhelming preference for French language resource materials. In comparison with surveys #1 and #2, only one additional student chose to consult English language resources as well as French ones. It appears significant that although these four students professed a preference for English language resources, there was no difference in the facility with which they used these resources when a comparison was made to their responses regarding the French language resource materials. The students complained equally about the difficulty of completing the note-taking task when using resource materials written in either language. Student comments, both formal (for the survey) and informal, reinforced the teachers' belief that the students 86 recognized the skills which they have learned and will practice and improve upon in future grades. In general, the students communicated positive attitudes and reported that they were ready to embark on another individual library research project without hesitation. 87 CHAPTER FIVE Recommendations Recommendations for Practice Based on the findings and interpretations of this investigation, several implications for practice follow. Learning to research a topic involves understanding how to find a wide range of resource materials and how to use them to extract information which one feels is of value and of interest. These are skills which are introduced, developed and maintained throughout a student's scholastic career. It is the teacher-librarian's responsibility to assist students and teachers in the effective use of resources and technologies (ATLC/CSLA, 1998). Second, as the study progressed, it became increasingly evident that Early French Immersion Primary students found the note-taking task of the individual library research project to be the most challenging assignment. Therefore, as teacher-librarians and teachers we must acknowledge that more consideration needs to be given to the resource materials which are recommended and purchased for libraries in dual track schools which support Early French Immersion programmes. As resource materials are reviewed prior to purchase we need to take into account what use students will be making of these materials and set our criteria accordingly. In addition, we might also consider that instructional strategies with regards to note-taking need to be improved and that note-taking skills continue 88 to be a major focus in library research skills development. Students need opportunities to learn these skills in Primary grades so that they may practice and improve their newly developed skills throughout the middle and secondary grades. In support of teacher-librarians' need to be reflective of their teaching practice, O'Connell (1997) makes reference to the notion \"Teachers are responsible for creating a learning environment for their students and should be acting as mediators for students involved in the information search process. Teachers are constructing this environment based on their teacher training, teaching experience, professional development experiences, and in discussion with colleagues along the way.\" Third, the perceived relationship between students' research skills and their actual understanding (or perhaps misunderstanding) of what is research, an exercise in fact or information finding, argues for increased value to be placed on the exploration and development of curricula which support this area of the students' instructional program. It is through such exploration that these curricula are developed and refined to meet current needs. The structure provided for students' research skills and the library context both influence the student's ideas or notions about completing library research projects. Jay and Jay (1994) sum it up succinctly with the statement \"By introducing the concept of what a fact is and basic note taking procedures as soon as students become independent readers, they discover the excitement of finding answers to their 89 information questions. By introducing students to research through appropriate assignments matched to their abilities and interests, they remain eager to explore.\" Finally, the results of this study suggest that within the realms of the individual library research project, note-taking is a particularly difficult task for Primary French Immersion students. Teachers and teacher-librarians at dual track schools need to make changes to their teaching practice and improve their methods of reviewing resource materials which will reflect upon future school library non-fiction purchases. Suggestions/Implications for Further Research In the context of using a variety of teaching strategies for developing students' information skills, this study was an attempt to begin an exploration of the general question of what problems confront Early French Immersion Primary students as they complete individual library research projects. The findings indicate that Primary students view these projects as both challenging and rewarding. Such a dichotomy exists at this point because the focus of the research needs to be refined to concentrate on the specific area of difficulty: the note-taking task. Research is needed to further explore the observational results of this study and to focus on the difficulties presented 90 by the note-taking task. Throughout this study the researcher recognized the existence of areas which merit serious consideration and made recommendations for further study of the following questions. 1. As a result of this study, the suitability of some resource materials 'has been questioned as they did not meet the Primary students' needs. What changes are needed in our current selection process? A selection \"tool\" or policy needs to be developed cooperatively by teachers and teacher-librarians from the Early French Immersion field. This policy would evolve from an investigation of the question of which resource materials would meet the specific needs of Early French Immersion Primary students and the expectations of their parents and teachers? For consideration as well is the question of whether we lobby Canadian educational publishers for better materials even though the Early French Immersion programmes represent such a small percentage of their potential sales market? 2. The Primary students demonstrated particular difficulty with the note-taking task. A further study of current teaching practice with an emphasis on seeking methods to improve instruction and to enhance students' success with the note-taking task is warranted. 91 Perhaps Intermediate Early French Immersion students do have better English language skills for, unlike their Primary counterparts, as much as fifty percent of their school day is spent in English language situations. Does this make them better prepared to tackle English language text materials? As stated in the Analysis of student surveys/interviews in Chapter 4, many of the Intermediate and Primary students remarked that they thought it was \"weird\" for the questionnaire survey to be delivered in English to them, Early French Immersion programme students. It is recommended that for future research which might include an oral survey of students' opinions, that this survey be delivered in French, particularly if Primary students are involved. It is believed that students would be more at ease and provide more comments. The quantity of information currently available to students as well as the myriad of formats in which this information may be accessed has provided opportunities for drastic changes in teaching practice in recent years. Teacher-librarians are not merely keepers of books, they are the keepers of \"keys\" to all information sources, be they electronic or print. Teacher-librarians are on the leading edge of a new wave of educational 92 and classroom practice; they must encourage their teaching colleagues to \"ride the wave\" with them in a collaborative effort to assist students as they navigate the \"seas\" of information. 93 References Alberta Education Curriculum Support Branch. (1990). Focus on Research: a guide to developing students' research skills. Edmonton, Alberta: Minister of Education. American Association of School Librarians. (1995). 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School library research: a Canadian perspective. Feliciter, May 1997, 30-31 and 49. Newton, Douglas P. (1995). The Role of pictures in learning to read. Educational Studies, 21 (1), 119-130. Nunan, David. (1991). Language teaching methodology: A textbook for teachers. Toronto: Prentice Hall. O'Connell, Judy. (1997). Information literacy: Teacher's perspectives of the information process. In Lighthall, Lynne and Haycock, Ken (Ed.), Information rich but knowledge poor: Emerging issues for schools and libraries worldwide (pp.125-136) Seattle, Washington: International Association of School Librarianship. Rebuffot, J. (1993). Le point sur 1'immersion au Canada. Anjou, Que.: Centre Educatif et Culturel inc. Romney, J. Claude, Romney, David M. & Menzies, Helen M. (1995). Reading for pleasure in French: a study of the reading habits and interests of French Immersion children. Revue canadienne des langues vivantes, 51 (3), 474-511. Romney, J. Claude, Romney, David M. & Menzies, Helen M. (1994). What and how much do immersion children read for pleasure. In French as compared to English? Le journal de 1'immersion, 17 (3), 7-15. Sacco, Steven J. & Marckel, Beverly G. (1983). Beyond reading: developing visual literacy in French. In Garfinkel, Alan (Ed.), The foreign language classroom: New techniques (pp. 54-62) . Lincolnwood, IL: National Textbook Company. Smith, Barbara. (1999). Resource-based teaching connections to the social studies K-7 IRP. The Bookmark, 40 (3), 70-75. Stern, H. H. (1984) . The immersion phenomenon. Language and Society. 12, 4-7. 97 Sturgeon, Debbie. (1993). Le contexte de 1'immersion en Columbie-Britannique: what makes teaching in French immersion different? Le journal de 1'immersion, 16 (3), 7-9. Swain, Merrill. (1996). Integrating language and content in immersion classrooms: research perspectives. Revue canadienne des langues vivantes, 52 (4), 529-548. Tallman, Julie. (1995). Connecting writing and research through the I-search paper; a teaching partnership between the library program and classroom. Emergency Librarian, 23 (1), 20-23. Tarasoff, Mary & Emperingham, Sonya. (1994). From library program to learning resources program: cooperative program planning & teaching. Emergency Librarian, 22 (1), 22-27. Tardif, Claudette & Gauvin, France. (1995). Repertoire de la recherche universitaire en immersion francaise au Canada. Nepean, Ontario: Association canadienne des professeurs d'immersion. Tardif, C , & Weber, S. (1987) . French immersion research: A call for new perspectives. Revue canadienne des langues vivantes, 44 (1), 67-77. Truett, Carol. (1994). School Library Reference Services in the 90s: where we are, where we're heading. New York: The Haworth Press, Inc. Weisburg,. Hilda & Toor', Ruth. (1995) Resource-based instruction enters the 21st century: creating a new curriculum. Emergency Librarian, 23 (2), 8-10. Wesley, Threasa. (1991). Teaching library research: are we preparing students for effective information use? Emergency Librarian, 18 (3), 23-30. 98 APPENDIX A Sample Teacher Journal Entry January 25. Spent much of today's forty'minute block assisting students to find appropriate materials for their specific province or territory. The teacher-librarian had already pulled many books from the shelves, so basically I was just setting up students with books and getting them settled. Most demonstrated a certain level of confidence and made comments about their success with the first library research project that they did in the fall. Hopefully we will have more success this time with the note-taking. January 27. Spent 2 0 minutes today with and helped her to find information about Newfoundland. I showed her how to scan the FACTS AT A GLANCE page to get some information for her history box on the note-taking grid. Although we've spent a great deal of time preparing the kids, I found myself reviewing what a \"note\" is..-, that one cannot copy complete sentences from the resource materials. When I left her on her own she was using the same page to gather general information about the province. I'll have to remember to check back with her at the beginning of next class or have the T-L look' at 's grid sheet. The remaining 2 0 minutes I wandered from table to table just to get an idea of what the kids were managing to do so far on their note-taking grid sheets. For the most part, everyone was on task and had been able to find at least 5 facts. Lots of browsing in the books today which is understandable at the beginning stages of the project. February 1. Both the T-L and I remarked today that we wish there were more French language trade books at an appropriate readability level that covered the Canadian provinces and Territories. She says that she continues to search publishers' catalogues and to question her T-L colleagues, but so far has come up empty-handed. It looks like my students will be limited to using mostly English language trade books and the French language encyclopedia. This project is definitely going to be a challenge to the poor grade twos who haven't yet received any formal English lessons! We may have to adapt our original plans for this project given the constraints under which my students are working. I must remember 99 to ask the T-L for some guidance as she has many years of experience with these individual library research projects. I'm sure that she'll be able to help. During the last ten minutes I made a point of sitting with to view what she had been able to accomplish independently since I sat with her for that 20 minutes last class. She really is struggling with this note-taking stage of the project. 100 APPENDIX B Checklist: note-taking Date: Student name: M or F Reading competency: below at above grade level Project title/topic: How many sub-topics completed? All or # /total How many notes (bullets) per sub-topic? Are the notes: coherent (make sense to reader) or incoherent? Do the notes appear in: full sentences (plagiarism) or has the student written key phrases or vocabulary? Are the notes written in: French or French and English ? If the notes are bilingual, are more than half in English? Yes No Presence of anglicisms? Yes / how many? or No 101 APPENDIX B Continued Sample checklist; note-taking D a t e : OcfoUr 11 Student name: Reading competency-grade level Project title/topic: M or F ) above /ViLvJUWrJ 4 How many sub-topics completed? V. All.\" or # /total How many notes (bullets) per sub-topic? 3 To if Are the notes: coherent (make sense to reader) or incoherent?, Do the notes appear in: full sentences (plagiarism) or has the student written'key phrases or vocabulary,? Are the notes written in: French J or French and English ? If the notes are bilingual, are more than half in English? Yes No Presence of anglicisms? Yes / how many? br( No 102 APPENDIX C Checklist; sentence and paragraph composition Date: Student Name: \ M or F Project title/topic: Number of sentences per sub-topic? Is this a reflection of number of notes taken? Are sentence structure and punctuation: below at above grade level? Any evidence of translation from English? Yes or No anglicisms? English in body of text? 103 APPENDIX C Continued Sample checklist; sentence and paragraph composition Checklist: sentence and paragraph composition fthfii^y Iff Date Student Name: M or F/ Project title/topic: Albertt CL-1& Number of sentences per sub-topic? (o lO Q Is this a reflection of number of notes taken? Are sentence structure and punctuation: above below ) at \" above grade level? Any evidence of translation from English? (^Yes )OT N O anglicisms? \"English in body of text? 6JMJ& 104 APPENDIX D Checklist; final product Date: Student name: M or F Project title/topic: Is final product aesthetically pleasing? -information well-organized? Yes or No -information easy-to-follow? Yes or No Do all paragraphs from draft copy appear? Yes or No Are accompanying illustrations appropriate :, accurate Do paragraphs provide: in-depth or superficial coverage of student's topic? 105 APPENDIX D Continued Sample checklist: final product Checklist; final product Date,- tAan/ 10 Student name JkuL M ; or F P ro j ec t t i t l e / t o p i c : \t &UQ Qfj & f Is final product aesthetically pleasing? -information well-organized?( Yes )or No -information easy-to-follow? //^esNor No Do all paragraphs from draft copy appear? Yes \or No Are accompanying i l l u s t r a t i o n s a p p r o p r i a t e _ ^ _ , a c c u r a t e ^ ? 'V' Do paragraphs provide:/ in-deptn^Vor superficial coverage of student's topic? lv --y W f im^ 106 APPENDIX E Student Survey Questionnaire #1 Student Name: Grade: M or F The following questions will be asked following the completion of the independent library research project. # 1) How many information resources did you use? # 2) Did you use books? Yes or No # 3) Did you use magazines? Yes or No Which titles/issues? # 4) Did you use other sources? Yes or No If yes, what type and which title(s)? # 5) Did you prefer using English or French language resources to get information? Why? # 6) When you used an English language resource did you find it very easy or easy or difficult or very difficult to understand? Why? # 7) When you used an English language resource did you find it very easy or easy or difficult or very difficult to read? Why? # 8) When you used an English language resource did you find it very easy or easy or difficult or very difficult to choose which words to use in your notes? Why? # 9) When you used a French language resource did you find it very easy or easy or difficult or very difficult to read? Why? #10) When you used a French language resource did you find it very easy or easy or difficult or very difficult to choose which words to' use in your notes? Why? 107 APPENDIX E Continued #11) During this project you read and looked at information resources and took notes. Then you made sentences (your draft copy) and finally you made a good copy to share with your classmates and family. Did you find any part of this project difficult or very difficult? Yes or No If so, which part(s)? [circle above] Why? #12) Do you have anything you wish to say/add about working on this library research project? 108 APPENDIX F Sample transcription of Survey #1 Student Name: Student Survey Questionnaire #1 Grade: YafWUr ra e: O (jy\u00C2\u00B0r F The following questions will be asked following the completion of the independent library research project. # 1) How many information resources did you use? // # 2) Did you use books?( Yeg or No # 3) Did you use magazines? Yes or (No J .Which titles/issues? V J # 4) Did you use other sources? Yes or ( No If yes, what type and which title(s)? # 5) Did you prefer using English a to get information? why? A L^MMA language resources Wn, fcn # 6) When you^used an English language resource did you find it very easy N ^ r easy or difficult or very difficult to understand?\" Why? # 7) When you used an English language resource did you find it very easy o^?\ easy or difficult or very difficult to read? Why? # 8) When you used an^lSnalish language resource did you find it 1 very easy or easy\\ or difficult or very difficult to choose which words tbxuse in your notes? Why? 109 APPENDIX F Continued # 9) When you used a very easy or to read? Why? language resource did you find it or difficult or very difficult QUU> 11 095 a #10) When you used a very easy or to choose which Why? #11) Frejoch language resource did you find it easyN or difficult or very difficult to use in your notes? %i MO During this project you read and looked at information resources and took notes. Then you made sentences (your draft copy) and finally you made a good copy to share with your classmates and family. Did you find any part xriE this project difficult or very difficult? Yes or /No ) If so, which part(s)? [circle above] V__^ #12) Do you have anything you wish to say/add about working on this library research project? 110 APPENDIX G Student Survey Questionnaire #2/#3 Student Name: Grade: M or F The following questions will be asked following the note-taking portion of the library research project. 1) During your research project, how many different information resources did you use? 2) Did you use books? Yes or No Do you remember which titles? You may check your bibliography if you like. 3) Did you use any magazines? Yes or No Which titles/issues? Check your bibliography if you wish. 4) Did you use any other kind of information sources? Perhaps posters or videos? Yes or No *If yes, what type and which title? 5) Did you prefer using English or French language materials to get your project information? Why? 6) When you used an English language book/magazine did you find it very easy or easy or difficult or very difficult to understand? Why do you think so? 7) When you used an English language book/magazine did you find it very easy or easy or difficult or very difficult to read? Why do you think so? Ill APPENDIX G Continued 8) When you used English language materials did you find it very easy or easy or difficult or very difficult to choose the words and write in your notes in French? Why? 9) When you used a French language book/magazine did you find it very easy or easy or difficult or very difficult to understand? Why do you think so? 10) When you used a French language book/magazine did you find it very easy or easy or difficult or very difficult to read? Why do you think so? 11) When you used French language materials did you find it not difficult or difficult or very difficult to choose the words and write in your notes in French? Why? The following questions will be asked at/after the conclusion of this particular library research project. 12) When you worked on this research project you looked at and read different information sources and at the same time took notes. Next you made sentences - your draft copy - and then you made a final copy to present to your teachers and classmates. Did you find any part of this project difficult or very difficult? If so, which part(s) [circle above] Why was that difficult/very difficult for you? 13) Do you have anything you wish to tell me or add about working on your library research project? Thank you! 112 APPENDIX H Sample Transcription of Survey #2 Student Survey Questionnaire #2 Student Name :\ / j/i^i^y Grade: J} ( M / or The following questions will be asked following the note-taking portion of the library research project. 1) During your research project, how many different information resources did you use?. /^ 2) Did you use books? ( Yes^> or No Do you remember whicn^fitles? You may check your bibliography if you like. lot rnMuJMA; 3) Did you use any magazines? Yes or Which titles/issues? Check your bibliography if you wish. 4) Did you use any other\u00E2\u0080\u0094-kind of information sources? Perhaps posters or/videos^ v e sJ o r N o *If yes,, what type. an^ i_wjaich title? \-/ 5) Did you prefer usingfEnglis^ or French language materials to get you project information Why?, - \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 \" \" ^ JH HMA1O ftMK h 6) When you used an English Language book/magazine did you find it very easy or ( easyj^ or difficult or very difficult to unders'fea^ id?^ Why do you think so? Stk put my 7) When you used an English-^iSJjguage book/magazine did you find it very easy or \ easy } or difficult or very difficult to reac Why do you think so? 113 APPENDIX H Continued 8) When you used Eng-3rJTsh\language materials did you find it very easy or ^easy \ or difficult or very difficult to choose the wokds\u00E2\u0080\u0094ana write in you notes in French? Why? [o jmj to iW fe 9) When you used a French langua very easy or easy or fdi to understand? Why do you think so? agazine did you find it t)| or very difficult ' d/'fr kdtfx tit &ktfCoh 10) When you used a Freneii language book/magazine did you find it very easy or (erasy J or difficult or very difficult to read? ^^LJ Why do you think so? cP^v JMti 1J9 MJkfJM 11) When you used French 1 not difficult or to choose the words and Why? fji 4^ /r4{ ac materials did 'you find it or very difficult ite in you notes in French? dJt The following questions will be asked at/after the conclusion of this particular library research project. 12) When you worked on this research project you looked at and read different information sources and at the same time took notes. Ktevf ynn_mgiHg_ggpt\u00C2\u00AB=>nrp>g - your draft copy - and then you made aCjEinal_CQBy to present^ to your teachers and^ . classmates. Did you find any part of this project (difficu] or very difficult-?-\u00E2\u0080\u0094tf so, which part(s) [circle above Why was tha^difficult)/very difficult for you? 13) Do you have anything you wish to tell me or add about working on your library research project? 9pL, fkcwJ?.-I y QOL 114 APPENDIX I Sample Transcription of Survey #3 Student Survey Questionnaire #3 Student Name: N\ n^i-' Grade: ^ 7 ^ \ Myfar F The following questions will be asked following the note-taking portion of the library research project. 1) During your research project, how many different information resources did you use? <7 2) Did you use books? (.Yes/ or No Do you remember whicir~Eitles? You may check your bibliography if you like. \u00C2\u00BB / , 3) Did you use any magazines? ( Yes/* or No Which titles/issues? ^ Check your bibliography if you wish. \u00E2\u0080\u00A2fro boots md^iAJD 4) Did you use any o t h e r klnd^of in fo rmat ion sources? Perhaps p o s t e r s o r \ v i d e o s ? y /Yes) o r No *If y e s , what type ^rid^which t i t i r e ? d) cfoa'-f hM^ 5) Did you prefer using English or^^rencK^language materials to get your project information? J) ^9fi\u00C2\u00A5 \u00C2\u00A3*&U/~ MU>^ TO Q&- ^iMtMAj. 6) When you used an English language book/magazine d m you find it very easy or easy or (difficulty or very difficult to understand? Why do you think so? 7) When you used an English language book/magazine did you find it very easy or easy or difficult or very fatTfficult^)to read? ^hy~c[o-You think so? $ McU!-f JWJ^ ^ & / u M{ 115 APPENDIX I Continued 8) When you used English language ^ materials did you find it very easy or easy or \u00E2\u0080\u00A2^difficulB) or very difficult a.g\u00C2\u00A7_jnatj \u00C2\u00A3o\e-i 117 APPENDIX J C o n t i n u e d \ / / 6 COr0 /c;.^-\".':- ' ' ' k f j ; \" Top-* x / X 118 APPENDIX K Sample of Student Product; sentence/paragraph composition ids -dty4&\u00C2\u00A3rft in cpS fa$& Vti/aiviF dms ki jbxdrofk >ds. nprdM a//ouzr fo-nt rwhuf 119 APPENDIX K C o n t i n u e d 1$ a}Ms. OCm vpj> 120 APPENDIX K C o n t i n u e d dEb buns qris vSonj- w i f e &f &arfto-l&? vejux ^^g2^^33jSlfe * & * & % * , Zfc 03m foa /q^ yo c?r# & & CmiA UMJif.U} wfs..\u00C2\u00A7r>$ 'hd qutmJL ay a dcL^mpr 123 APPENDIX L Sample of Student Product; Final product 124 APPENDIX L C o n t i n u e d , \(A t a b f c ck/ /nar/'elrer L' i\u00C2\u00B0ti trod ^ ct^ o^ . . . . I # Plcwr \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 - . - . - . . -7? (eoQra$\?e L3> t \u00E2\u0080\u0094 125 APPENDIX L C o n t i n u e d ^V ) N ^ ^ i , \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 > ; ^ S \u00C2\u00BB : I K , \">-\u00C2\u00A3'. ^S& ^-m VJ o*' ^: ^ ~ , ' * \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 ::K ;.- - - w v * - ; 126 APPENDIX L C o n t i n u e d 127 APPENDIX L C o n t i n u e d li'^SMkil w 128 APPENDIX L C o n t i n u e d r * \u00C2\u00AB . . Wr \"\u00E2\u0080\u00A2\"rn&Z-A 4\ . \ 1 J I I f}0U^rr(p -.0, f | f ' Planttrkt bon pear PfCMironn&Wjf* ^ 7 ^ ' f l f d ^ r R^J \u00C2\u00ABr^ !rt 129 APPENDIX L C o n t i n u e d 'Lis\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Yrtfts '?r\iercmnTf Ala c n I C\"A h\<-- for - MrV^ 1 q ^ ,\"/ p\e.^ beiv^Cc-Mi '\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 I'l y ft bfx^fe&yjp d 'a-forc rt^j'j '' \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 9, If A M M it Ij 1 3 0 APPENDIX L C o n t i n u e d 1 3 1 APPENDIX L Continued 1 aMr-tik fp\u00C2\u00A7jg-P ' Lrr ^ T f f SooTTr^ yew c /^Mop/ British Columbia Colombia \u00C2\u00A9 r i - t n n i ^ u ^ 136 APPENDIX L C o n t i n u e d wni^Wkomik v.>*\u00E2\u0080\u0094 i. 2. 3. 137 "@en . "Thesis/Dissertation"@en . "1999-05"@en . "10.14288/1.0078156"@en . "eng"@en . "Language and Literacy Education"@en . "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en . "University of British Columbia"@en . "For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use."@en . "Graduate"@en . "Early french immersion primary students and the development of information literacy skills through individual library research projects"@en . "Text"@en . "http://hdl.handle.net/2429/10029"@en .