AN ANALYSIS OF SECOND LANGUAGE PERFORMANCE IN TWO TYPES OF IMMERSION PROGRAM

The purpose of this research was to investigate the learning of French and Hebrew as second languages. The subjects were 114 native English-speaking children from grades 1, 2 and 3 studying in two different immersion programs: an all-French program and a French/Hebrew program. Each child was administered an oral expression test in French. Each child in the French/Hebrew program was also administered the same test in Hebrew. The results show that: (1) the children in the all-French program were more proficient in French than the children in the French/Hebrew program; (2) the improvement in the oral performance in French from grade 1 to grade 3 was more pronounced in the all-French program than in the French/Hebrew program; (3) the improvement in the oral performance from grade 1 to grade 3 was less consistent in Hebrew than in French. The results lead to the conclusion that similar strategies are applied to the learning of French and Hebrew as second languages. These findings suggest certain pedagogical implications.