The Benefits of French Immersion Programming
The Government of Alberta (and the governments of all provinces in Canada) believes:
"(L)anguage learning provides students with a competitive edge that will help them succeed in the global economy and increase their potential career options. Our goal is to enable Alberta students to communicate and interact in two or more languages."
French Immersion programming is the most researched and the most successful language acquisition program in the world!
A Review of the Literature on Second Language Learning, by the Language Research Centre of the University of Calgary, outlines the benefits of language learning and provides a strong rationale for making language learning an integral part of student learning.
Research findings indicate that students involved in language learning demonstrate:
- improved student achievement,
- positive intellectual potential,
- improvement in both verbal and nonverbal intelligence, divergent thinking, and memory and listening skills,
- improved skills in the first language, and
- positive attitudes toward cultural diversity
DID YOU KNOW...
... the French Immersion program in Canada is the most well-researched and most successful language acquisition program in the world?
Click on the tiles below to see what the research shows about the positive effects language acquisition has on...
Students fluent in two languages score higher in both verbal and non-verbal intelligence.
Students studying a second language are better in divergent thinking tasks and in memory ability and attention span.
Second language students have higher test scores in reading, language and mathematics.
Education in another language significantly strengthens first language skills in areas of reading, vocabulary development, grammar and communication skills.
The earlier the start, the greater the positive effect on the first language.
Students studying another language have superior cross-cultural skills and adapt better to varying cultural contexts.
Students studying another language display greater cultural sensitivity.
There is a growing need for qualified speakers of languages other than English in areas of science, technology, medicine and global commerce.
For information about career opportunities, please see the document in the toolbox on the right.