"Medicine, Faculty of"@en . "Audiology and Speech Sciences, School of"@en . "DSpace"@en . "UBCV"@en . "Cardwell, Jacqueline Ann"@en . "2010-08-16T03:21:46Z"@en . "1989"@en . "Master of Science - MSc"@en . "University of British Columbia"@en . "The purpose of this investigation was to re-evaluate the English language skills of a group of minority language children enrolled in French Immersion programs (experimental group) in order to establish whether these skills have been maintained, are better, or worse than the same skills in English children in French Immersion (English control group) or minority language children enrolled in regular English programs (minority control group). Of the original thirty children who participated in Davies' (1985) investigation, seven experimentals, seven minority controls and nine English controls were located again and able to participate in the 1989 follow-up study. English language comprehension was assessed using two standardized tests of English comprehension (the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-R, and the Token Test for Children). Similarly, English metalinguistic skills were evaluated using two standardized tests which tap metalinguistic awareness at both the lexical and structural level (the Test of Language Competence and the Word Test). Finally, English language production was evaluated based on a picture-description sample elicited from each child. It was hypothesized that the English language skills of minority language children in French Immersion would, as was the case in 1985, continue to be as good as those of the English control and minority control groups. The results confirmed this hypothesis. In addition, the results showed the experimental group to be performing significantly better than the minority control group on vocabulary comprehension and interpretation of ambiguous sentences. The experimental group also performed significantly better than the English control group on vocabulary comprehension. The English control group scored higher than the minority control group on recognition of semantic absurdities. All three groups performed similarly on the picture description task. These results confirm that minority language children are excellent candidates for French Immersion and suffer no delays in English language ability over the long term. In fact, these children display certain linguistic advances over the other groups of children in this study."@en . "https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/27403?expand=metadata"@en . "THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE SKILLS OF MINORITY LANGUAGE CHILDREN IN FRENCH IMMERSION PROGRAMS: A FOLLOW-UP INVESTIGATION by JACQUELINE ANN CARDWELL B.A., U n i v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia, 1987 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTERS OF SCIENCE i n THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES School of Audiology and Speech Sciences We accept t h i s t h e s i s as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA October, 1989 (5) Jacqueline A. Cardwell, 1989 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. I 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 The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada Date Prober q, \<\ 0.1; t a b l e 3). However, c h i l d r e n from the experimental group scored s i g n i f i c a n t l y higher than e i t h e r the m i n o r i t y 34 c o n t r o l group ( t ^ t - = 2.75; p < 0.02) or the E n g l i s h c o n t r o l group ( t o b t = 1.90; p < 0.1). Group: Mean Standard D e v i a t i o n Experimental: 121.0 10.06 M i n o r i t y C o n t r o l s : 106.3 8.71 E n g l i s h C o n t r o l s : 111.3 10.01 TABLE 3. Summary of r e s u l t s f o r the PPVT-R. Since the PPVT-R was also administered in.1985, i t was possible to determine the r e l a t i v e improvement of each group over time. Figure 1 displays the mean raw scores from 1985 and 1989. These results suggest that the experimental group improved at a faster rate than the other two groups of ch i l d r e n . This was supported by a two-way ANOVA (years x groups), which showed a s i g n i f i c a n t i n t e r a c t i o n effect (f = 6.91; p = 0.006). 2. Token Test for Children Individual scores for each subtest of the Token Test were uniformly high, suggesting that the children had reached a plateau i n performance. There were no s i g n i f i c a n t differences between groups (p > 0.1; table 4). Figure 2 i l l u s t r a t e s the c e i l i n g e f fect that occurs with majority culture, normal, middle class children on the Token Test. This figure was constructed from the normative data provided by the author of the test (DiSimoni 1978). The figure shows that mean ove r a l l test scores begin to plateau i n children between the ages of eight and nine. Though performance analogous to that of younger children ( i . e . nine and below) was a d i s t i n c t p o s s i b i l i t y for the minority language subjects i n t h i s study (see methods for further discussion), apparently a l l three groups of children had reached plateaus i n performance on t h i s t e s t . Mean Raw S c o r e 150 i ^r- E x p e r i m e n t a l s -\\u00E2\u0080\u0094 M i n o r i t y C o n t r o l s Figure 1. Comparison of the mean raw scores obtained on the PPVT-R by the experimental, minority control, and English control groups in 1985 and 1989. 37 Subtest Grouj One Exp. Min. Con. Eng. Con. 3 : Mean Standard D e v i a t i o n : 501.0 : 501.0 501.0 Two Exp. Min. Con. Eng. Con. 502.0 502.0 501.3 2.00 Three Exp. Min. Con. Eng. Con. 501.8 2.86 503.0 501.4 3.09 Four Exp. Min. Con. Eng. Con. 501.8 3.82 501.7 1.80 503.6 2.18 Fi v e Exp. Min. Con. Eng. Con. 502.3 3.20 500.5 4.65 503.4 3.50 O v e r a l l Exp. Min. Con. Eng. Con. TABLE 4. Summary oi 502.7 1.86 502.0 2.08 503.7 2.35 : r e s u l t s f o r a l l subtests of the Token Test. Token Test Overa l l S c o r e s (means) 60 i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Age (years) Figure 2. Mean overall scores obtained by groups of children ranging in age from 3;0 to 12;0 years old. Graph constructed from data provided in DiSimoni 1978. 39 3. Test of Language Competence Comparison of mean scores across groups revealed that E n g l i s h c o n t r o l s and m i n o r i t y c o n t r o l s d i d not d i f f e r s i g n i f i c a n t l y i n m e t a l i n g u i s t i c a b i l i t y (p > 0.1; t a b l e 5). However, the experimental group scored s i g n i f i c a n t l y higher than the m i n o r i t y c o n t r o l group (p Qbt = 1\u00C2\u00AB87; p < 0.1; f i g 1). Thus, the experimental group demonstrated a su p e r i o r a b i l i t y t o recognize l e x i c a l l y and s t r u c t u r a l l y ambiguous sentences compared wi t h m i n o r i t y c o n t r o l s . 4. Word Test There were no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e s among groups on subtests A, B, D, E, F, and the o v e r a l l t e s t scores (p > 0.1; t a b l e 6). However, the E n g l i s h c o n t r o l group scored s i g n i f i c a n t l y higher than the m i n o r i t y c o n t r o l group on subtest C, semantic a b s u r d i t i e s (p Qbt = 2.6701, p < 0.02). Thus, c h i l d r e n from the E n g l i s h c o n t r o l group were b e t t e r able t o i n t e r p r e t sentences c o n t a i n i n g semantic a b s u r d i t i e s (for example, \"the mother fed the l u l l a b y to her baby\") than the mi n o r i t y c o n t r o l group. Further d i f f e r e n c e s between groups may not have been present because scores on t h i s t e s t were, as w i t h the Token Test, uniformly high. The average o v e r a l l mean scores t h a t c h i l d r e n obtained on t h i s t e s t corresponded to a p e r c e n t i l e rank of ninety-nine percent or above. 40 Group: Mean Standard D e v i a t i o n Experimentals: 11.0 '. ' 1.67 M i n o r i t y C o n t r o l s : 8.9 2.48 E n g l i s h C o n t r o l s : 9.4 1.94 TABLE 5. Summary of r e s u l t s f o r the TLC. 41 Subtest Grout, A Exp. Min. Con. Eng. Con. 3 : Mean Standard D e v i a t i o n : 55.2 4.40 52.7 5.35 55.1 4.26 B Exp. Min. Con. Eng. Con. 53.2 3.25 52.4 2.23 52.3 2.40 C Exp. Min. Con. Eng. Con. 54.3 1.37 52.9 1.68 55.0 1.66 D Exp. Min. Con. Eng. Con. 53.3 2.34 53.5 2.23 52.8 2.17 E Exp. Min. Con. Eng. Con. 54.0 1.83 54.1 2.34 51.0 2.29 F Exp. Min. Con. Eng. Con. 53.8 1.94 53.0 1.73 52.7 3.04 O v e r a l l Exp. Min. Con. Eng. Con. TABLE 6. Summary oi 58.7 2.42 57.3 2.29 58.2 2.64 : r e s u l t s f o r a l l subtests of the Word Test. 42 5. Spontaneous Language Samples The p i c t u r e d e s c r i p t i o n s f o r p i c t u r e two proved adequate f o r the purposes of the present a n a l y s i s . Four measures were used to complete t h i s q u a n t i t a t i v e a n a l y s i s : t o t a l number of words (tokens), t o t a l number of d i f f e r e n t words (types), t o t a l number of clauses, t o t a l number of e r r o r s of form. From these measures, c a l c u l a t i o n s of mean length of clause, type/token r a t i o s , and e r r o r s per clause were p o s s i b l e . As a measure of s y n t a c t i c complexity, the mean length of independent clause was c a l c u l a t e d . This measure i s comparable to mean length of utterance but i s more appropriate f o r o l d e r c h i l d r e n , since t h e i r utterances are more lengthy and complex than younger c h i l d r e n , and mean length of utterance r e f l e c t s s i t u a t i o n of speaking more than i t does grammatical complexity at t h i s developmental stage. In order to segment the t e x t i n t o clauses, the independent clause was chosen as a u n i t of a n a l y s i s . A clause was considered independent i f i t could stand on i t s own as a d e c l a r a t i v e , i n t e r r o g a t i v e , exclamatory or imperative s t r u c t u r e . This d e f i n i t i o n of the independent clause i s based on c l a s s i f i c a t i o n w i t h i n a systemic grammar framework ( H a l l i d a y & Hasan 1976). The f o l l o w i n g segmentation procedure was used to i d e n t i f y the independent clauses w i t h i n the t e x t (procedure described by M a r t i n 1977, Pappas 1981, and Rochester & Martin 197 9). Independent clauses i n c l u d e the f o l l o w i n g : a) any independent clause followed by a subordinate clause (the subordinate clause may be r e l a t i v e , complement or adverbial) e.g. there's a fireman g e t t i n g a person out of the apartment because he won't be able t o come down b) clauses that are conjoined and i n which there i s subject e l l i p s i s e.g. the woman i s on the r i g h t side and i s ho l d i n g a microphone c) other coordinated clauses are counted as two independent clauses e.g. the tr u c k has two wheels at the f r o n t /and i t ' s k i n d of on i t s side C a l c u l a t i o n of the mean number of words per clause revealed a l l three groups to be performing s i m i l a r l y (p > 0.1, see t a b l e 7); that i s , there was no cross-group d i f f e r e n c e i n s y n t a c t i c complexity. Type/token r a t i o s were c a l c u l a t e d to provide a measure of productive vocabulary. Type/token r a t i o , which i s c a l c u l a t e d by d i v i d i n g the t o t a l number of d i f f e r e n t words i n a sample (types) by the t o t a l number of words (tokens) , i s widely recognized to be a r e l i a b l e i n d i c a t o r of l e x i c a l d i v e r s i t y . This measure complements the vocabulary comprehension t e s t , the PPVT-R. The r e s u l t s suggested once again t h a t , despite considerable v a r i a b i l i t y w i t h i n groups, c h i l d r e n across groups tended to produce a s i m i l a r number of t o t a l words (tokens) and t o t a l d i f f e r e n t word types (types) (p > 0.1, see t a b l e 7). Davies (1985) found t h a t , i n grade one, both m i n o r i t y language groups produced more e r r o r s of form than d i d the E n g l i s h c o n t r o l group. E r r o r s of form were t a b u l a t e d i n the present speech samples t o determine whether t h i s d i f f e r e n c e s t i l l e x i s t e d by grade f i v e or grade s i x . The e r r o r s t a b u l a t e d i n the c h i l d r e n ' s speech samples inclu d e d : a) d e l e t i o n of o b l i g a t o r y c o n s t i t u e n t s e.g. the fireman i s wearing black coat ( i n d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e a omitted) 44 b) morphological e r r o r s e.g. the ladders is. grey ( s i n g u l a r is. produced i n s t e a d of p l u r a l are) c) a d d i t i o n of an e x t r a c o n s t i t u e n t e.g. there's a g i r l t hat she's h o l d i n g a microphone (referent of she i s g i r l and t h e r e f o r e she i s redundant) Comparison of number of e r r o r s per clause i n d i c a t e d no d i f f e r e n c e s between the three groups of c h i l d r e n (p > 0.1, see t a b l e 7). In f a c t , c h i l d r e n g e n e r a l l y produced very few e r r o r s w i t h respect to the t o t a l number of clauses and many c h i l d r e n produced no e r r o r s at a l l . S u b jective observation of the speech samples suggested that s e v e r a l c h i l d r e n had d i f f i c u l t y m a intaining unambiguous reference (e.g. \"there's a lady from i t \" , where c l e a r reference of i t . to the b u i l d i n g i s not e s t a b l i s h e d ) . A n a l y s i s of t h i s e r r o r - t y p e should be considered i n future i n v e s t i g a t i o n s . To summarize the r e s u l t s : a) comprehension: M i n o r i t y language c h i l d r e n i n French Immersion were s c o r i n g s i g n i f i c a n t l y b e t t e r than the m i n o r i t y c o n t r o l group or E n g l i s h c o n t r o l group on vocabulary comprehension. The experimental group was performing s i m i l a r l y t o the c o n t r o l groups on comprehension of complex commands. b) m e t a l i n g u i s t i c s k i l l s : M i n o r i t y language c h i l d r e n i n French Immersion were d i s p l a y i n g b e t t e r m e t a l i n g u i s t i c s k i l l s than the m i n o r i t y c o n t r o l group, as assessed by the Test of Language Competence. The experimental group was performing s i m i l a r l y to the other two groups of c h i l d r e n on the remainder of the m e t a l i n g u i s t i c t e s t s . c) production: M i n o r i t y language c h i l d r e n i n French Immersion were demonstrating productive s k i l l s which p a r a l l e l e d those of both c o n t r o l groups. They produced a s i m i l a r number of words per clause, e r r o r s per clause, and obtained comparable type/token r a t i o s . Thus, n u l l hypothesis (1) was r e j e c t e d f o r vocabulary comprehension. The r e s u l t s from a l l other measures of E n g l i s h comprehension, production and m e t a l i n g u i s t i c a b i l i t y provide support f o r hypothesis (1). N u l l hypothesis (2) was r e j e c t e d f o r vocabulary comprehension and a b i l i t y t o i n t e r p r e t ambiguous sentences. A l l other r e s u l t s i n d i c a t e d no d i f f e r e n c e s i n E n g l i s h language a b i l i t y between m i n o r i t y language c h i l d r e n i n French Immersion and m i n o r i t y language c h i l d r e n i n r e g u l a r E n g l i s h c l a s s e s , and thus serve as support f o r hypothesis (2). 46 Experimentals Minority controls English controls Words M 229.8 295.9 188.6 SD 131 350 64 range 121-460 73-1054 100-274 Independent Clauses M 21 26 18 SD 10 25 6 range 10-34 9-79 9-28 Words/Indep .Clause M 11 10 10 SD 2 2 1 . range 9-14 8-13 8-12 E r r o r s / c l a u se M 0.044 0.086 0.055 SD 0.065 0.096 0.082 range 0.00-0.154 0.00-0.222 0.00-0.250 Type/token r a t i o s M 0.39 0.44 0.39 SD 0.07 0.16 0.08 range 0.30-0.50 0.19-0.66 0.30-0.47 Table 7. Mean frequency of words, independent clauses, words per independent clause, e r r o r s per clause, and type/ token r a t i o s . 47 CHAPTER FOUR DISCUSSION Davies (1985) concluded that m i n o r i t y language c h i l d r e n can attend French Immersion programs without r i s k of delays i n the development of the m a j o r i t y language of the community ( E n g l i s h ) . However, Davies recommended a follow-up i n v e s t i g a t i o n would be b e n e f i c i a l i n determining whether the patterns of E n g l i s h language development suggested by e a r l y language t e s t r e s u l t s p e r s i s t over time, or whether language d e f i c i t s might emerge as the c u r r i c u l u m assumes a more s o l i d E n g l i s h language base at higher grade l e v e l s . Thus, the purpose of t h i s i n v e s t i g a t i o n was t o re-evaluate the E n g l i s h language s k i l l s of the same group of m i n o r i t y language c h i l d r e n e n r o l l e d i n French Immersion programs i n order to e s t a b l i s h whether these c h i l d r e n continue to perform as w e l l as t h e i r E n g l i s h peers i n French Immersion and t h e i r m i n o r i t y language peers attending a l l - E n g l i s h programs. The present r e s u l t s suggest that the E n g l i s h language s k i l l s of m i n o r i t y language c h i l d r e n continue to be as w e l l -developed as those of both E n g l i s h c h i l d r e n i n French Immersion and m i n o r i t y language c h i l d r e n e n r o l l e d i n a l l - E n g l i s h programs. Furthermore, the vocabulary comprehension of m i n o r i t y language 48 c h i l d r e n e n r o l l e d i n French Immersion appears to be sup e r i o r t o that of e i t h e r m i n o r i t y or E n g l i s h c o n t r o l s . A d d i t i o n a l l y , r e s u l t s from the TLC suggest t h a t experimentals have m e t a l i n g u i s t i c s k i l l s s u p e r i o r to those of the m i n o r i t y c o n t r o l s . These r e s u l t s not only support Davies' (1985) hypothesis, but a l s o extend her f i n d i n g s , showing that over time, l e v e l s of E n g l i s h language p r o f i c i e n c y i n m i n o r i t y language c h i l d r e n i n French Immersion remain comparable t o those of t h e i r E n g l i s h and mi n o r i t y language peers i n French Immersion and a l l - E n g l i s h programs, r e s p e c t i v e l y . Davies s t a t e d that the su p e r i o r performance of the experimental group compared w i t h that of m i n o r i t y c o n t r o l group i s not c o n s i s t e n t w i t h the s o c i o - p s y c h o l o g i c a l model of language l e a r n i n g since both groups apparently h o l d t h e i r home language and c u l t u r e i n high regard. Davies (1985) noted that her questionnaires may not have produced r e l i a b l e information about a t t i t u d e s of c h i l d r e n , t h e i r parents, or teachers towards home language and c u l t u r e . I f the experimental group c h i l d r e n , t h e i r teachers and parents hold home languages and c u l t u r e i n higher regard than do the c h i l d r e n , parents and teachers of the mi n o r i t y c o n t r o l group, then the experimental group would be expected t o score higher on language t e s t s than the m i n o r i t y c o n t r o l group (Davies 1985). On the other hand, the c o n d i t i o n s under which c h i l d r e n acquire new languages have been described as an i n t e r a c t i o n between environmental and s o c i o - p s y c h o l o g i c a l f a c t o r s . Attitudes towards home language and culture constitute only one of many of these f a c t o r s . In chapter one, I i d e n t i f i e d the conditions under which minority language children i n French Immersion learn new languages. This c l a s s i f i c a t i o n suggested that the conditions for learning experienced by minority language children i n French Immersion more closely resemble those of t h e i r majority language peers i n French Immersion than those of t h e i r minority language peers i n regular English programs. I f so, i t i s perhaps not surprising that both majority and minority language children i n French Immersion demonstrate superior English language s k i l l s to those of minority language children i n English programs. Davies (1985) suggests that the superior English language performance of minority language children i n immersion (compared with the minority control group) may result from higher l i n g u i s t i c competence i n t h e i r f i r s t language ('psycholinguistic model'; see Davies, 1985, for further discussion). However, the explanation that English performance i s related to f i r s t language competence i s weakened by the current observation that, on one of the tests (PPVT-R), the experimental group performed better than the English control group. Presumably, at the onset of schooling i n French Immersion, the f i r s t language s k i l l s of majority language children were at least as good as those of minority language children, since the former had constant exposure to English ( i . e . i n the home and i n the community), while the children i n the experimental group were only exposed to t h e i r f i r s t language i n the home. In addition, i t seems l i k e l y t hat m a j o r i t y language c h i l d r e n i n French Immersion probably have b e t t e r o p p o r t u n i t i e s to maintain good f i r s t language s k i l l s compared wi t h m i n o r i t y language c h i l d r e n i n French Immersion, since c h i l d r e n from the former group are exposed to E n g l i s h more ofte n ( i . e . at home, i n the community, and during some of the c u r r i c u l u m ) , while c h i l d r e n from the l a t t e r group are, at best, exposed to t h e i r n a t i v e language only i n the home. I f the E n g l i s h c o n t r o l group do indeed possess stronger f i r s t language a b i l i t i e s than the experimental group, the p s y c h o l i n g u i s t i c model cannot account f o r the su p e r i o r performance of the experimental group on vocabulary comprehension. D i f f e r e n c e s i n i n t e l l i g e n c e may al s o account f o r the Superior performance of the experimentals compared wi t h the m i n o r i t y c o n t r o l s . Unfortunately, i n t e l l i g e n c e was not o b j e c t i v e l y evaluated i n Davies' (1985) study ( s u b j e c t i v e teacher r a t i n g s of student standing were used to c o n t r o l f o r d i f f e r e n c e s i n i n t e l l i g e n c e ) , and t h i s could have a f f e c t e d performance i n the 1985 i n v e s t i g a t i o n as w e l l as i n t h i s f o l l o w -up i n v e s t i g a t i o n . This study provides new evidence suggesting t h a t c h i l d r e n who acquire a d d i t i o n a l languages demonstrate at l e a s t some l i n g u i s t i c advantages (Stern 1982). In t h i s case, m i n o r i t y language c h i l d r e n i n French Immersion scored s i g n i f i c a n t l y b e t t e r than the E n g l i s h c o n t r o l c h i l d r e n and m i n o r i t y c o n t r o l c h i l d r e n on a vocabulary comprehension t e s t . The experimental group a l s o performed s i g n i f i c a n t l y b e t t e r than the m i n o r i t y c o n t r o l group on a subtest of m e t a l i n g u i s t i c a b i l i t i e s . These r e s u l t s suggest t h a t l i n g u i s t i c b e n e f i t s r e s u l t i n g from knowledge of a d d i t i o n a l languages may not become apparent u n t i l c h i l d r e n are i n grades f i v e or s i x . Future i n v e s t i g a t i o n s should aim to sample m u l t i l i n g u a l c h i l d r e n ' s l i n g u i s t i c a b i l i t i e s at i n c r e a s i n g age l e v e l s t o e s t a b l i s h whether other l i n g u i s t i c advantages emerge as c h i l d r e n get o l d e r . Stronger E n g l i s h language a b i l i t i e s i n m i n o r i t y language c h i l d r e n i n French Immersion were not present across a l l areas t e s t e d . However, the language measures used may not have been s e n s i t i v e enough to d i s t i n g u i s h s m a l l , but c o n s i s t e n t d i f f e r e n c e s i n performance. Since scores represented performance oh standardized t e s t s and since the subjects i n t h i s study a l l f a l l w i t h i n the range of normal, the amount of v a r i a t i o n i n scores i s reduced and s t a t i s t i c a l d i f f e r e n c e s are not as l i k e l y . Another problem i s that a d d i t i o n a l l i n g u i s t i c advantages may e x i s t , but may not have been apparent at the ages sampled i n t h i s study. A l o n g i t u d i n a l study w i t h assessments c a r r i e d out at r e g u l a r i n t e r v a l s would b e t t e r address t h i s l a s t i s s u e . Superior performance of the experimental group compared wit h the E n g l i s h c o n t r o l was noted on only one subtest; perhaps too much weight has been placed on t h i s f i n d i n g . However, despite the lack of s t a t i s t i c a l s i g n i f i c a n c e , there was a c o n s i s t e n t t r e n d on most other t e s t s and subtests f o r experimental c h i l d r e n to score higher than c h i l d r e n from the E n g l i s h c o n t r o l group. This i s i n marked co n t r a s t w i t h Davies' (1985) study i n which the reverse p a t t e r n was t r u e ; c h i l d r e n i n the experimental group tended to score lower than t h e i r E n g l i s h peers. Thus, French Immersion programs may a c t u a l l y confer a d d i t i o n a l b e n e f i t s upon m i n o r i t y language c h i l d r e n , a l l o w i n g them to acquire E n g l i s h s k i l l s at an a c c e l e r a t e d r a t e . Comparison of the data from 1985' w i t h data from 1989 i n d i c a t e s t h a t e a r l y gaps i n E n g l i s h language a b i l i t i e s of m i n o r i t y c o n t r o l s compared w i t h E n g l i s h c o n t r o l s p e r s i s t , although they are l e s s apparent. The E n g l i s h c o n t r o l group scored higher on a subtest of the Word Test which tapped c h i l d r e n ' s a b i l i t i e s to i n t e r p r e t sentences c o n t a i n i n g semantic a b s u r d i t i e s . Thus, m e t a l i n g u i s t i c s k i l l s do not seem to be as w e l l developed i n m i n o r i t y c o n t r o l c h i l d r e n as i n e i t h e r of the other two groups of c h i l d r e n . Perhaps the m i n o r i t y c o n t r o l s would b e n e f i t from features of French Immersion programs that r e g u l a r E n g l i s h programs l a c k . I n t e r p r e t a t i o n of the r e s u l t s from t h i s study should be viewed w i t h c a u t i o n . Because the sample s i z e was reduced from the 1985 study, i t was d i f f i c u l t to show s t a t i s t i c a l s i g n i f i c a n c e f o r the trends observed i n the r e s u l t s . Furthermore, c e i l i n g e f f e c t s may have been present on some of the subtests administered. S p e c i f i c a l l y , on two of the four t e s t s used i n t h i s i n v e s t i g a t i o n , c h i l d r e n were performing uniformly high, making i t more d i f f i c u l t to observe d i f f e r e n c e s even i f variances i n a b i l i t i e s were present. In f a c t , the two t e s t s t h a t had higher c e i l i n g ages were the ones showing s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e s i n performance between groups. Unfortunately., fewer language measures are available for children at the grade f i v e or six l e v e l , making i t d i f f i c u l t to avoid c e i l i n g e f f e c t s . In conclusion, minority language children are excellent candidates for French Immersion programs, and suffer no detrimental e f f e c t s to the development of t h e i r English language s k i l l s . These children appear to have l i n g u i s t i c advantages over minority language children i n regular English classrooms. In addition, minority children i n Immersion demonstrate increased vocabulary comprehension s k i l l s compared with children from majority language backgrounds i n French Immersion. It seems, however, that these language benefits may not become apparent u n t i l children are older, i n t h i s case, i n grade f i v e or s i x . 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