IMPACT OF EARLY SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING ON FIRST LANGUAGE

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IMPACT OF EARLY SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING ON FIRST
LANGUAGE

• A Study of the
• Confucius Institute in Edmonton
• In Partnership with
• Edmonton Public Schools
• June 2009

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Researchers

• Study Sponsored by
• The Confucius Institute in Edmonton
• Primary Researcher
• Dr. John Macnab
• Research Support Services Edmonton Public
  Schools
• Editor
• Stuart Wachowicz
• Chairman Confucius Institute in Edmonton

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Purpose of the Study

• To examine the reciprocal effect of second
  language study from an early age on first
  language
• Hypothesis
• That students participating in intensive second
  language training from an early age will have
  comparable or superior performance in formalized
  English language studies than students who are in
  unilingual programs.

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Rationale for the Study

• To grow demand for second language education in
  school systems (especially in North America), and
  in particular to grow enrollment in Chinese
  language, a number of sincerely held, but
  possibly erroneous beliefs need to be addressed
• L2 should wait until L1 is firmly established
• Early L2 can damage L1 acquisition
• L2 students struggling in L1 should be withdrawn
  from L2
• L2 learning is difficult, therefore limit to
  strong students

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Rationale for the Study

• Such beliefs contribute to an educational culture
  in which L2 is not valued as other core subjects.
• Hence promotion of the idea that all students
  should gain a measurable proficiency in L2 is a
  challenge.
• Subsequently promoting Chinese is even more
  difficult given the idea that Asian languages are
  harder to learn for western students

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Basis for the research

• Edmonton Public Schools (EPS) has a 30 year
  history of intensive L2 education, and is the
  Canadian pioneer in Bilingual education. (80
  000 students)
• EPS has carefully collected years of performance
  data of students on Alberta government exams at
  grades 3, 6, 9 and 12.
• The data was segregated for students in Immersion
  and Bilingual programs

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EPS Language Programs
Program Age and grade Time in L2
French Immersion (age 5-17) K-2 3-6 7-9 10-12 100 85 70 40
Bilingual (age 5-17) K-6 7-9 10-12 50 30-35 15
Second Language Courses 4-9 10-12 10 12.5
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Languages Offered
Immersion Bilingual Second Language
French (3400) Chinese (2000) Arabic (1000) German ( 800) Spanish (300) Ukrainian (300) Hebrew (150) ASL (100) French (26 000) Spanish (3 000) Chinese (1 000) German (1 000) Japanese (800) Punjabi (200) ASL (150) Ukrainian (150) Cree (300)
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Research Design

• Local conditions and time issues ruled out a
  controlled experiment
• Open boundaries
• Programs of Choice
• Student mobility
• Access was available to many years worth of data
  of student performance on provincially
  standardized tests in English and core subjects.
  These test are written by all students in the
  province at grades 3, 6, 9 and 12
• English tests are of high quality assessing all
  strands of Language Arts
• Given the purpose, the research design was
  limited to the English results.

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Research Design

• Based on student performance on tests the
  provinces sets cut scores to determine students
  who achieve
• Below Acceptable Standard
• Within Acceptable Standard
• Above Acceptable Standard
• Grade 3 English results were used as pre-test
• Grade 6 and 9 results were used as post-test
  scores for analysis

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Research Design Controlling Confounding
Variables

• Provincial Achievement Tests represent the total
  population of Alberta students, therefore true
  population parameters are available (normal
  population) Control
• Only students remaining in the L2 program from k
  to 9 were included
• Individual student results were converted into Z
  scores Z(X-µ)/s This permits tracking of
  growth, based upon what would be expected
  progress for that student.

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Research Design

• Data analyzed in two ways
• Statistical tests analyzed in an R computing
  environment (statistical computing and graphics
  language interface)
• Graphical representation
• Results not broken down by specific language
• Some language programs are too small
• The study considered instruction in L2 in an
  English environment the common treatment
• Programs varied slightly in content and approach
  in different schools, making the total cohort
  better approximate a random sample than if we
  focused on smaller groups, yielding greater
  generalization.

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Research Design The Student Sample

• Cohort 1
• 304 students who began their schooling in
  September 1997
• Cohort 2
• 286 students who began their schooling in
  September 1998
• Total sample size 590

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Cohort Composition
Cohort 1 Cohort 2 Total
Chinese Bilingual 126 122 248
French Immersion 128 101 229
German Bilingual 35 41 76
Ukrainian Bilingual 9 10 19
Arabic Bilingual 6 9 15
Hebrew Bilingual 0 3 3
TOTAL 590
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Rationale for Confucius Institute Sponsorship

• The study has raised interest across Canada in
  the media, and academic and education circles,
  and will play a key role in the language
  education debate in Canada
• The largest population in the cohort are students
  learning Chinese
• A study that could demonstrate a positive
  correlation between Chinese language learning and
  increased proficiency in L1 would be useful in
  promoting Chinese.
• National coverage in the national media would
  profile the Confucius Institute as making a
  valuable contribution to language learning in
  Canada and beyond

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Results
Course Standard Provincial Results Results for Bilingual or Immersion students Difference from Province
ELA 3 Below 10 5 -5
ELA 3 Acceptable 72 72 0
ELA 3 Excellence 18 23 5
ELA 6 Acceptable 12 4 -8
ELA 6 Below 69 70 1
ELA 6 Excellence 19 26 7
ELA 9 Below 12 2 -10
ELA 9 Acceptable 72 62 -10
ELA 9 Excellence 16 36 20
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Change in English Performance
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Tracking Z Scores

• Z gt 0 Above Provincial Average
• Z 0 At Provincial Average
• Z lt 0 Below Provincial Average
• Result indicates that even with LESS instruction
  in English, Immersion and Bilingual students
  increased in English proficiency relative to the
  total population.

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Grade 3 vs 9 Z Score Distribution
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Observations

• In grade 3 the student population is only
  slightly above the normal distribution for the
  province. (This after 3 years of being in the
  intense L2 environment)
• They still have a broad distribution of results
  indicating they are not an elite group.
• Some students are clearly struggling in English
  at -2 and -3 Standard Deviations below the mean.

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Observations

• By grade 9 this group has clearly advanced
  significantly beyond the mean.
• The top end students in grade 3 have not
  necessarily advanced, yet they are still in the
  excellence category.
• It is the low end student in grade 3, the ones
  who struggled in English, who have made the most
  gains

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Effect Size

• This effect size indicates that those students
  who remained in their bilingual or immersion
  programs show statistically significantly greater
  growth in English Language Arts than would have
  been expected if they had tracked the control
  (provincial census) group.
• In other words their English was better than if
  they had been in an English only program

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• Although these students spend significantly less
  time in English instruction, their English
  results have improved at a rate that is
  statistically faster than English only program
  students.

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Current Conclusion

• If we desire the strongest results in English for
  the individual student, provide, early and
  sustained, quality second language education.
• The effect size indicates this has greater impact
  than any other researched intervention.
• The result will be a student with strong English
  results, with bilingualism as a by product.
• If you want strong English skills provide
  sustained second language instruction, in
  particular Mandarin.

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Contact Information

• The Confucius Institute in Edmonton
• 13750 Woodcroft Ave.
• Edmonton, Alberta T5M 3M4
• Website www.confuciusedmonton.ca Phone (780)
  970-5233

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IMPACT OF EARLY SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING ON FIRST
LANGUAGE

• A Study of the
• Confucius Institute in Edmonton
• In Partnership with
• Edmonton Public Schools