A CASE STUDY OF TEACHING STRATEGIES ASSOCIATED wmJ DIFFERENT FORMATS

FOR CORE FRENCH

Christopher Paul Hïimer

A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts

Department of Curriculum, Teadiing and Learning Ontario ïnstitute for Studies in Education of the

University of Toronto

O Copyright by Christopher Paul Hilmer 1999

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A CASE STUDY OF TEACHING STRATEGIES ASSOCIATED

WITH DIFFERENT FORMATS FOR CORE FRENCH

Master of Arts

1999

Christopher Paul Hilmer

Graduate Department of Education

University of Toronto

This study deals with the teadillig strategies that a particular teacher uses

when instructing two Grade 7 core French classes in different program formats.

The aim of this study is to determine whether differences in the teaching

strategies used in the two formats are a factor in the students' leaming outcornes

and attitudes towards Iearning FrendL

Students in two groups of roughly equal academic ability were assigned

to one of two program formats: a traditional format of 40 minutes daiiy for the

entire school year or a compact format of 150 minutes daily for approximately

one-quarter of the school year. Sarnple lessons were videotaped, and the

teaching strategies were analyzed.

Quantitative findings indicate that there was no difference in this teachefs

use of teaching strategies between the two program formats. Evidence from the

qualitative data suggests, however, that the two dasses were not treated exactiy

the same way.

1 have many people to adnowledge for their contributions to my writing

of this thesis.

1 wodd like to give my heartfelt thanks to Sharon Lapkin, m y supervisor,

and Birgit Harley for their guidance and insight throughout this project Their

invaiuable comments and suggestions were always thought-provoking and

incisive- I espeudy appreaate their unfailing patience and understanding.

1 am grateful to Glenn Campbell for permission to pursue the research he

outlined in his proposal. My th& also go to Doug Hart for his role in the

original Carleton case study.

Susan Elgie from the Research Consulting 5ervice at OISE/UT deserves

many thanks for sharing her statistical expertise with me.

My family and many friends deserve recognition for the roles they played

in helpuig me complete this thesis. Their understanding, cooperation and faith

in me were essential throughout my thesis-writing process. In patticular, 1

would Iike to thank Iva Baltova for performing inter-rater reliability checks on

the coding of the observational data, Miles Turnbull for his unflagging

encouragement, and Hiroko Seya for her constant support.

Last but certainly not least, the anonymous teacher who agreed to

participate in this study desemes many thanks for enduring my constant

observation, mechanical faiîures, and my incessant probing. Without

cooperative teachers like her, dassroom research would be impossible.

iii

Table of Contents

Abstract

Acknowledgements

List of Tables

Chapter 1: Introduction and Rwious Rescuch

1.1. Purpose

1.2. Issues

1.2.1. Rationale for the Study

1.2.2. Theoretical Issues

1.2.3. Practical Issues

1.3. Conceptuai Framework and Previous Research

1.3.1. Time as a Factor in Student Learning Outcomes

1.3.1.1. Lapkin, Harley and Hart (1995). Revitaiizing Core French: The Carleton Case Study

1.32. T h e as a Factor Affecting Teaching Strategies

1.3.2.1. Spada and Lightbown (1989). Intensive ESL Programmes in Quebec Primary Schools

1.3.2.2. Spada (1987). Relationships between Instructional Differences and Learning Outcomes

1.3.3. Teaching Strategies and Their Effect on Student Outcomes

1.3.3.1. Gayle (19û4). Effective Second-Language Teaching Styles

1.3.4. Summary of Previous Research

1.4. Research Focus

1.4-1. Research Questions

1.4.2. Hypotheses

1.4.3. Assumptiom

1.4.4. A Definition

1.5. Summary

Chapter 2: Methodology

2.1. Overview

2.2. The Sample

2.3. Research Materials

2.3.1. Teacher's Journal

2.3.2. Questionnaires

2.3.3. Tests

2.3.4. Classroom Observation and Videos

2.3.4.1. Observation Scherne

2.3.4.1.1. Teaching Strategies

2.3.4.1.2. Student Language Production

2.3.4.1.3. Explanatory Notes for the Observation Scherne

2.3.4.2. Summary of the Obswation %eme

2.3.5. Interviews

2.4. Procedurd Overview

2.5. Summary of Methodology

Chapter 3: Findings

3.1. Quantitative Findings

3.1.1. Summary of Quantitative Findings

3.2. Qualitative Findings

3.2.1. Interview Data

3.2.1.1. The Teacher's Language Leaming Experiences

3.2.1.2. The Teacher's Beliefs about Language Teadiing

3.2.1.3. The Teacher's Implementation of the Éhns Materials

3.2.1.4. The Teacher's Consistency in Lesson Planning

3.2.1.5. The Teacher's Suggestions for Future Changes to Her Teadiing in a Similar Context

3.2.1.6. Summary of Interview Data

3.2.2. Teacher Journal Data

3.2.2-1. The Teacher's Implementation of the Éhns Materials

3.2.2.2. The Teacher's Use of English

3.2.2.3. Impressions of the 40-Minute and 150-Minute Classes

3.2.2.4. Favourable Attitudes toward the 150-Minute Program Format

3.2.2.5. The Loss of Teadung Time

3.2.2.6. Summary of Teacher Journal Data

3.2.3. Classroom Observation Da ta

3.2-3.1. Summary of Classroom Observation Data

3.2.4. Summary of Qualitative Findings

3.3. Summary of Findings

Chapter 4 Discussion

4.1. Interpretation of Findings

4.2. A Possible Explanation for the Results

4.3. Possible Explanations for Differences in Group Outcornes

4.3.1. The mect of the Variation of Other Teadiing Strategies

4.3.2. The Effect of the Teacher's Use of English

4.3.3. The Effect of the Loss of Class Time

4.3.4. The Effect of Differences in Group Composition

4.3.5. The E f k t of Reactivity Problems

4.3.6. The Effect of the Intensive Program Format

4-3.7. Summary of Possible Explanations for Differences in Group Outcornes

4.4. Shortcomuigs and Limitations of the Shidy

4.5. Implications for Theory and Practice

4.6. Directions for Future Research

4.7. Condudtig Remarks

Ref -ces

vii

Table 1.1.

Table 2.1-

Table 2.2.

Table 3.1.

Table 3.2.

Table 3.3.

Table 3.4.

Table 3.5.

Table 3.6.

Overview of Gayle's (1984) Language Teadùng Record Scheme

Teaching Strategies

Student Language Production

The Nurnber and Percentage of Occurrences of Each Teaching Strategy in the Two Groups

The Number and Percentage of Occurrences of Each Type of Student Utterance in the Two Groups

The Number and Percentage of Occurrences of AU Translation in Each Group

The Nurnber and Percentage of Occurrences of Extended Questions in Each Group

The Number and Percentage of AU Student Utterances in French in Each Group

The Number and Percentage of Teacher Utterances in French and in English in Each Group

viii

Chapter 1

Introduction and Previous Research

This thesis reports on an educational case study involving a Grade 7 core

French program in Ontario. My study considers the possîbility of variations in

the use of certain teaching strategies associated with program format as a factor

affecting student performance. This study is done within the fiamework of

another project hvestigating time or program compactness as a variable affecthg

students' linguistic achievernent and attitudinal outcomes.

Compact courses are programs which have the same number of

instructional hours as regular programs but complete the total number of hours

in a shorter span of time. Therefore, compact courses are of a short overall

duration but consist of dasses longer than those in regular, more distributed

courses. Researchers and educators are showing interest in compact programs,

because they may contribute to better student leaming outcomes (Lapkin, Hart &

Harley, 1998; Lapkin, Harley & Hart, 1995; Baxter, 1993; Jorgensen, 1993; Lindsay,

1993; Tumer et al., 1993; Carroll, 1990; Stem, 1985). (Note that Lapkin, Harley and

Hart, 1995, is an official report; Lapkin, Hart and Harley, 1998, is the published

version in general distribution. Throughout the present document, only the

original report by these three researchas is ated instead of their published

chapter in order to eliminate a double citation.)

Improved student leaming outcomes may be a result of variations in

teadllng strategies used in the different program formats. For the purposes of

this study, 1 have defined "teaching strategy" as a specific teadiing behaviour

1

which may support one or more practices of an approach to, or method of,

language teadiing (see section 1.4.4 for further details). (Richards and Rodgers,

1985, define "method as the melding of a teaching "approach" - the theoretical

assumptions and beliefs about language learnïng - and the "procedure" - the

practical dassroom techniques, activities and tasks.) The teaching strategies that

1 am focussing on here are not activities or tasks such as the use of a dictogloss, a

dictation, or oral substitution driiis; such classroorn w ork constitutes different

practice techniques. (See N~nan# 1991; Bowen, Madsen & Hilferty, 1985; and

Ailen & Valette, 1977 for more examples of second language practice techniques,

activities and tasks.) The teaching strategies observed in this study (and

desaibed at greater length in section 1.4.4 and in Chapter 2) are more fine-

grained; they are teadiing behaviours at a more "micro" level.

My definition of a "teaching strategy" dosely foilows Gayle's (1984, 1989),

and these teaching strategies should not be confused with what others may cal1

"teaching approaches", "teadiing practices", "procedures" or, indeed, "teaching

strategies". Gayle (1984) defines teaching strategies as the "verbal dynamics in

the second-language classroom" (p. 525) which describe "the pedagogical

[au thor's i talics] function of the [teacher's] oral behaviour rather than [the]

linguistic function" (p. 526). "[Rleference to configurations on the miao level of

the discourse hinction rather than on the more macro level of the activity, etc.,

offers a certain advantage since it is important to determine exactly what the

teacher ïs doing in the classroom." (Gayle, 1984, p. 526)

The teaching strategies that 1 am researdUng are basic strategies used for

conducting a lesson in a second language dassroom. They represent the teacher

talk intended to elicit certain behaviours or verbal interaction in the students.

They provide the students with a source of target language input (in addition to

the teaching materiais) and they encourage the students to produce target

language output and/or partiapate in or, at least, foilow the lesson and partake

in the classroom activity. Some examples of these teaching strategies are

inf orna tion questions, &play questions, requests or commands, disüplinary

actions, and comprehension checks.

When an instructional program is made more compact, it is reasonable to

believe that instructors WU adjust their teaching strategies to better facilitate

1e-g (Stem, 1985; Carroll, 1990; Turner et al., 1993; Jorgensenf 1993). Studies

have shown that teachers adapt th& teadiing approach (Spada & Lightbown,

1989), Vary in their practices (Spada, 1987), and ciiffer in their individual use of

particular strategies (Gayle, 19û4)- However, 1 have not yet found research in

which a key element - the participation of a single teacher in the various

program formats - is kept constant and where the teaching strategies have the

potential to change when the format of the program is altered. Further research

into the process-product relatiowhip must be done.

This thesis proposes to investigate two questions: Do different formats of a

program affect the teadiing strategies ernployed by a particular second language

teacher? If yes, could the variations in teaching strategies selected for

observation be responsible for different linguistic or attitudinal outcornes? This

work, based on adiievement and attitudinal testing conducted by Lapkin, Harley

and Hart (1995), investigates these questions as they relate to a compact dass of

150 minutes and a regular dass of 40 minutes in a grade 7 core French program

taught by the same teacher. Information about teaching strategies was gathered

through classroom observation, banscripts of videotaped lessons, an interview,

and the teacher's journal.

1.1. Purpose

According to Canadian Heritage (1994), three-quarters of Canadians

would like their chilchen to leam both of Canada's official languages. With more

than 2 million students outside Quebec now enrolled in elementary and

secondary French second-language programs, the offiaal support for French is

obvious. The demand for French immersion classes is particularly great;

enrollment in immersion progams has risen to almost 300,000 - nearly a ten-fold

inuease since 1977 (Canadian Heritage, 1994). This means that there are more

than 1.7 million students in traditional, core French classes in Canada. Mrhile

French immersion seems to have received the majority of research attention and

public fanfare since its inception two decades ago, the most common FSL

program in Canada today is stilI the core French dass (R LeBlanc, 1990; J.C.

LeBlanc, 1985). With such a large number of students involved in the core French

program, it is wise to inspect it more dosely and to invest in its revitalization.

Both the federal govenunent and laquage educators recognize the

importance of effective French second-language education. "Knowing both

officia1 languages enridies the lives of Canadians and helps us understand one

another better. The Canada of tomorrow is being built in the dassrooms of

today" (Canadian Heritage 1994). The federal government, through Hentage

Canada (formerly the Department of the Secretary of State), provided some of the

funding to support this research into core French revitalization.

The purpose of this study is to consider strategies for the improvement of

core French instruction in this bilingual country with the uitimate intention of

improving the second language skills of young Canadians.

1.2 Issues

In this section, the rationale for this study is explained. Also, some

theoretical and practical issues arising from the study are briefly outlined.

1.21. Rationaie for the Study

Despite J. C. LeBlanc (1985) teporting that most English-speaking

Canadians want French to be taught in the schools, core French at the

junior/intermediate levels in Ontario is still viewed as a subject of minor

importance. There is a general feeling that core French is only offered for

political reasons rather than for any benefits that exposure to language learning

may have on children. Poyen and Gibson (1990) report that

[mlany school p ~ u p a l s begrudge the time taken for French in what

they cowider a aowded tirnetable. Finding a good French] teacher is

often a low priority and, when dasses must be cut to accommodate

special events, it is not musual to find that the French class has been

cancelled. (p. 20)

Even some elementary dassroom teachers may feel that the sole purpose of core

French is to provide them with their daily, 40-minute preparation period.

Although the core French class is a daily event in the schools, it is often not

considered to be an integral part of the system.

The poor attitudes towards core French which may mise among the

elementary school staff and administration are sometimes reflected in the student

body. Because it is not often th& reguiar dassroom teacher who teaches thern

French, students can often see the core French dass as a break from the "subjects

that count". Researchers have noted h t "students in Grade 7 and 8 tend to

express negative attitudes, and to behave negatively [...and display a] la& of

motivation [...] in the core French program" (Smith h Massey, 1987, p. 314).

Aside from this kind of research, there is much anecdotai evidence which shows

thaï students do not settîe down quiddy in dass, and they begin to pack up their

books-and dose their minds--relatively early before the end of dass. This

situation results in the l o s of precious minutes and, over the course of the school

year, hours of instructional tirne. The resulting loss of instruction and practice

time-time away from exposute to French-certainiy does not improve the

students' ability to communicate in French. When students do not feel successful

in their attempts to learn French (or any other subject), they may develop

negative attitudes towards that subject (Hanen, 1993).

Offering core French in a compact format could change both the

adiievement and attitude problems of students in these programs. Stem (1985)

theonzes that compact courses ailow students to concentrate on their shidies

more and thus learn better. Because students in these courses are able to develop

a strong sense of achievement, they can enjoy the subje& Campbeii (1992) made

a proposa1 to assess the impact of compact programs on core French. He

hypothesized that student achievement and attitudes wouid be positively

affected by the compact program, just as they were in the intensive E L program

evaluated by Spada and Lightbown (1989) (see below). At the same tirne,

Campbell also proposed the possibility of compact programs affecting teaching

strategies which dtîmately could infiuence student achievement and attitudes.

Therefore, in my study, 1 try to explore differences in adiievement and

attitude between students in different formats of the same core French program

from the perspective of possible variations in teaching strategies in the t i o

program formats.

1.22 Theoretid Issues

Spada (1987, p. 138) notes that "Little research has been undertaken to

demonstrate that there is a relationship between spedic instructional practices

and second-language achievement". Most research into teaching and its effects

on student achievement has concentrated on a certain approach or a specific

method of second language teachïng (Gayle, 1984) rather than looking at some

finer details of teacher-student interaction in the classroom. Because individual

students seem to learn in different ways, the teaching approach or their related

practices may not be the only factors in determining student success in the

language classroom. Researchers and educators must look more deeply into the

process-product relationship.

Perhaps when the context of teaching (for example, program format or

class Length) changes, the teaching also changes. A relationship between the two

has been suggested by Stem (1985), Carroll (1990), Turner et al. (1993), and

Jorgensen (1993). Of course, there can be changes in certain activities that can be

made with more dass tirne, but researdiers have begun to ask what happens to

the "smaiier", "micro level" teachïng strategies (Gayle, 1989; Gayle, 1984) that

teachers use on a daily basis. The next levei of researdi into teaching practices,

therefore, pertains to the "smailer" teaching strategies involving teacher/student

interaction. Further research into this area wiil expand our understanding of

pedagogical discourse functions and their effect on leamer outcomes.

Teaching strategies should not be viewed in isolation from teaching

approaches and practices. It may be that it is neither teadiing strategies alone nor

the approach alone nor the practices alone that determine student achievement.

Instead, upon doser examination, researchers may h d that it is more lrkely that

a balance of factors related to ali aspects of the tea&erfs and students' behaviour

in the dassroom is responsible for successfd second language learning.

It is research such as that proposed in this study that may open the dwr a

little wider on our understanding of teaching behaviours and their comection to

students' second language acquisition.

1.23. Practid Issues

Studies iike this may have an effect on teacher behaviour as well as student

learning outcomes.

The prevailing wisdom in Canadian second language education indicates

that teachers should be adopting a communicative/experiential approach in

or der to facilitate their students' learning . Communicative / experiential teaching

is structured around communicative tasks and permits the learners to participate

in authentic communication situations (Tremblay, Duplantie & Huot, 1990). It is

similar to the widely known communicative language teaching (CLT) which

"emphasizes that the goal of language leaming is communicative cornpetence"

(Richards, Platt & Platt, 1992, p. 65). Despite the support for such teaching,

Spada (1987, p. 138) notes that "teachers are left to interpret how CLT can be

implemented in the dassroom" and to determine which practice activities are

appropnate. Her study indicates that teachers do interpret the communicative

approach and judge the value of ptactice activities differently - sometimes

producing varied student outcomes (see below). More research into the finer

details of the teacher's role in second language education may lead to more

prescriptive teaching techniques for better second language learning and

acquisition

Shidies üke this may help to improve core French education and make it a

more respected option to immersion. This, in tum, could lead not only to better

results in students' efforts to leam French in class but also to students' greater use

of French outside the classroom.

1.3. Conceptuai Framework and Previous Research

In this section, 1 describe the concepts which fotm the foundation of my

study. 1 focus on time as a factor in student leamïng outcomes, time as a factor

affecüng teadiing strategies, and teadiing strategies and their effect on student

outcomes. 1 also review relevant background research, highlighting four studies

in particular: Laplsin, Harley and Hart (1995), Spada and Lightbown (1989).

Spada (1987), and Gayle (1984).

1.3.1. Tirne as a Fador in Student Leaming Outcornes

Research into classroom second language learning involves

experimentation with and investigation of the interdependence of many variables

and their effect on linguistic outcomes. Some of the relevant variables indude

individual differences among the participants themselves, the teaching approach

and/or the teadung strategies used in the dassroom, and the element of time

involved in instruction. Participants may Vary in age, ability, educational

background, linguistic background, and personal experience. Çome research

concerning individuai variables in student participants has been done. (For

example, in their study, Naiman, Frohlich, Stem and Todesco, 1978, ou the

individual variables such as learner's strategies, their productive versus

receptive competence, IQ and language aptitude, attitude, personality and

cognitive style which indudes tolerance of ambiguity, tolerance of the teacher's

use of the target language in the dassroom, and field independence. Harley,

1986, discusses general considerations in the nature of second language

acquisition by younger and older leamers while focusing speàficaiiy on issues

of early and late French immersion. Skehan, 1989, discusses other variables such

as motivation and cognitive/affective influences like extraversion-introversion,

risk-taking, and anxiety in addition to providing an overview of these types of

studies.) Mu& debate still occurs over which teaching approach, another major

variable, is best. At the time this case shidy was being done, the Ontario Ministry

of Education (1980) did not mention any particular preferred approach;

however, it indicated that the "aim of the Core French program [was] to help

students develop the ability to use the French language to communirate" (p. 21).

Furthermore, it stated that "students should be placed in a situation where they

must receive and give all information in French" (p. 62). ALthough the preferred

teaching approach was not named, a communicative, if not experiential,

approach seemed to be implied. A third major variable, time, is important as it

is generaiiy accepted that one is more likely to master a second language the

more time one spends studying it (Carroll, 1975) (see section 4.3.2). However,

researdiers do not know very much about the extent of the influence that tirne -

and, specificaily, its distribution - has on language learning and much less about

its effects on the language teaching process.

Stem (1985) states that most research done into time as a factor affecting

language learning has dealt with lengthening the program and inaeasing the

study time within the program as well as beginning language study at an earlier

age. It is widely accepted by professionals in the field of language education that

more t h e spent on the task of language study, whether formal or informal, leads

to more learning. However, Stem (1985) points out that süii more research can be

done with the variable of t h e .

Tirne can be altered not only by adjusting the total number of hours of a

language program but also by making it more compact. A compact course is

one in which the total number of hours is held constant (as compared to a

"regular" course); however, the t h e frame in which the course is realized is

shorter or more compact. A compact course does not entail an inaease in the

number of hours of study in a program. It sirnply involves making the program

more "intense". Intense, in this case, does not mean the addition of

communicative targets to be mastered or more difficult linguistic structures to

be leamed in the program; however, a compact course is intense in the sense that

the regular amount of material must be covered in the same number of dassroom

hours but in a shorter overaii time frame. In short, the distribution of hours in a

compact program is different from that of a regular program, yet both courses

maintain the same number of instructional hours.

Although proposed at least as far back as the late 1970s/early 1980s, the

concept of compact courses is a relatively rare phenornenon in the public sdiools

of Ontario. Stem (1985) theorizes that compact language courses may be more

effective than programs which fitribute th& content over longer periods of

tirne- However, Stem cautions that much is to be investigated before a compact

course is implemented. It is not known what effect the program's compactness

has on long-tenn language learning. Even less is known about the effect that a

program's compactness has on 0th- variables such as the teaching approach or

teaching strategies adopted by the language teacher. It has not yet been

determined if ciifferences in outcome between regular and compact programs

are due to the program compactness or to any adjusteci teaching strategies- %me

researchers may hope to establish a general cause-and-effect chain between these

kinds of variables and second language learning in order to prescribe more

effective teaching conditions.

1.3.1*1. Lapicin, Haley and Hart (1995). Revitalizing Corn French= The Carleton Case Study

Lapkin, Harley and Hart (1995) were able to conduct research similar to

that proposed by Campbell (1992). This study investigated two questions: (a) Do

compact courses result in improved student adiievement and attitudes?, and @)

Are any improvements maintained over time?

Their case study, hereinafter referred to as the Carleton case study,

focused on three classes of grade 7 core French taught by the same teacher. The

control or cornpa.rison group was one dass of students which received the usual

40 minutes of core French instruction per day for the entire sdiool year. Another

dass was an experimental group which received a half-day (150 minutes) of core

French instruction per day for ten weeks; it was the intensive or compact group.

The third dass was an experimental group which received 80 minutes of core

French instruction per day for five months.

Students' abilities in liçtening comprehension, reading comprehension,

and writing in French were pre-tested. A random subsample of subjects in each

dass underwent an oral ability pre-test in French. Students were given a post-

test some time after the completion of th& program, and a diffexent delayed

post-test was administered at the beginning of the following school year.

Students completed attitude questionnaires at aii three stages of the study. The

three classes used the same textbook and workbook (Duplantie, Beaudoin &

Huilen, 1991) which were based on a communicative/ experiential learning

approach (Tremblay, Duplantie k Huot, 1990; R LeBlanc, 1990; Stem, 1992).

From their findings, Lapkin, Harley and Hart (1995) reported that al l three

classes improved between the French pre-test and post-test- However, students

in the two compact programs made gains on 5 of the 6 tests (the Test de

compréhension auditive, the Test de lecture, the Dictée, the Compositions, and

the first part of the oral test involving descriptions of pictues), while students in

the reguiar 40-minute dass made gains on only two of the tests (the Dictée and

the second part of the oral test involving a role-play in a restaurant) during the

pre-test/ post-test period and had signifïcantly poorer pst-test results on another

(the Test de lecture). (See subsection 2.3.3 for details on these tests.) In a

cornparison of the groups, it was found that students in the two compact groups

did significantly better in French reading comprehension than those in the

reguiar group. Resdts from the French listening comprehewion and French

speaking tests ùidicated that there were no signifiant differences in achievement

14

between the three groups. Students in the 150-minute group scored signincantly

better than those in the 40-minute group in French writing. This ciifference was

the only lead that was maintained in follow-up testing.

These researchers dso reported hdings on students' self-assessments of

perceptions and attitudes. About two-thuds of the shidents in the compact

groups liked having more time for French each day, while the remaining one-

third did not. The majority of students in the two compact groups felt that they

could remember more of their French from day to day than in the regular

program. About threequarters of students in the compact groups felt that those

formats made speaking French easier. Students in these two groups felt that they

had done better on speaking French in class as compared to self-assessments

made by students in the regular group. (However, as noted in the above

paragraph, there had been no significant differences in French speaking skills

between the three groups when they were post-tested.) Aside from large

portions of the compact dasses mentionhg that they got tired or that it was hard

to pay attention in the longer classes, students' reactions to the compact program

formats were largely positive.

Lapkin, Harley and Hart (1995) conduded that a compact program could

promote higher levels of achievement and contribute to greater levels of self

confidence in students' use of French.

1.32. T h e as a Factor Affecting Teaching Stratcgies

Although their findings did show that students could make gains in

French ski11 areas while in a compact course, Lapkin, Harley and Hart (1995) did

not determine whether it was the program format per se or a possible variation in

teadiing strategies prompted by the change in dass length that was responsible

for these attitudinal and learning achievements. There is some research to

indicate that t h e does affect teaching behaviours.

Carroll (1990) suggests a restructuring of the traditional instructional

programming in secondary schools. His model, which he cails the Copemican

Plan, proposes long maaoclasses of 220 minutes running for 30 days and shorter

microclasses of 110 minutes running for 60 days. As Carroil suggests, a compact

program can consist of both macro- and microclasses or of either macro- or

microclasses. Carroll (1990) states that

if the schedule for students and teachers is completeiy reoriented to

provide conditions that will accommodate better instructional practice,

then many practices identifieci with more effective instruction can be

implemented. 1.. .] The Copemican Plan establishes conditions that

foster the use of a variety of instructional approaches that are more

personalized and more effective. (pp. 361-362)

Clearly, Carroll believes that the compactness of the course would not be

directly responsible for improved achievement scores. Rather, the longer classes

in a compact program ailow teachers to use teaching strategies that would help

to reinforce and expand on the lesson targets. (Carroli does not elaborate on the

exact nature of these better instructional strategies.) As Carroll (1990) expresses

it: "Teachers can teach students rather than cuver classes" (p. 362). Presumably,

in the language classroom, this situation would involve teaching strategies that

not oniy present second language structures and aiiow for th& usage but also

encourage the real use of language whidi is necessary for language learning

16

(Stern 1992).

Canady and Rettig (1993) advocate a change from traditional program

formats, and Traverso (1991) reports on schools in the United States which have

adopted the Copernican Plan or block thetable. Baxter (1993), Turner et al.

(1993)' Lindsay (1993)' Jorgensen (1993), Hanen (1993)' and Morris et al. (1993)

describe the success of this system and its benefits for both teachers and students

in various schools in British Columbia although they do not refer specifically to

core French or second language dasses. (The Lapkin, Harley and Hart, 1995, case

study looking into compact programs did not look at the effects of a Copernican

tirnetable on students' general education, but instead focused on the effects of

different program formats on students' leaming and attitudes in the core French

classroom.) It is worth noting that this type of instructional programming has

been adopted without the benefït of extensive research.

Wong-Fillmore (1985) notes that students may learn best by

communicating in the target language in social situations that have personal

meaning. Having a longer dass period may mean that the teacher is able to

create more "social situations" more often than in regular dass penods. This

concept was explored by Spada and Lightbown (1989) and is describeci below.

1.321. Spada and Lightbown (1989). Intensive ESL Pmgcunmes in Quebec Primary Schools

Some research in modified programs has already been conducted in

Canada. Spada and Lightbown investigated the effects of an intensive English as

a second language (ESL) course with native speake~s of French in Quebec.

h i e a d of receiving the usual 120 minutes of English language instruction per

week (or about 25 minutes a day) for the entire school year, students in the triai

program received up to five hours of language instruction per day for five

months. (It is important to note that this experimental program differed from

Ontario's program of French immersion in that it did not provide instruction in

content subjects in the second or target language.) Spada's and Lightbown's

study focused on 19 groups of grade 5 students and 14 groups of grade 6

students. Classroom observation revealed h t teachers of these classes used a

variety of teadung approaches and techniques. %me teachers taught grammar

and vocabular y through communicative contexts whiie others decontextuaiized

theV language teaching. Some teacher-centred instructors encouraged their

students to Listen whiie other instructors provided their students with many

opporhuiities to speak. Teachers also varied in the degree of accuracy which

they demanded of their students. Testing of listening comprehension ability

showed that the grade 5 and 6 students in the intensive program outperformed

not only their peers in the regular program but also those students in the regular

grade 9 program who had accumulated the same number of instructional hours,

but in a less intensive manner. When testing for fluency, the tesearchers f o n d

that the students from the intensive program produced more words with less

prompting than did students from the regular program. Spada and Lightbown

conclude that "the potential for learning ESL is dramaticdy better in these

programmes than in the traditional drip-feed approach" (p. 24). In a foliow-up

study, Lightbown and Spada (1991) were able to condude that students who had

participated in the intensive ESL program in primary school were able to

maintain the^ linguistic gains and continue to improve at the end of secondary

school.

Spada and Lightbown (1989) also researched changes in attitude brought

about by the intensive program. The researchers measured students' attitudes

towards learnulg English both before and after their programs. When the

attitude measurements were compareci, they found that the attitudes of students

in the intensive program became more positive as a resdt of their program.

Attitudes of students in the regular program, on the other hand, declùied by the

end of that program. At both testing times, students in the intensive program

had more positive attitudes towards learning Engiish than the students in the

regular program. Spada and Lightbown concluded that the final positive

attitudes of the students in the intensive program were attributable to some

aspect of that program.

It must be noted that Spada and Lightbown are describing an intensive

program rather than a compact program. in this intensive program, the total

number of hours of instruction in the second language has been increased.

Because of the increased exposure and study, it is not surprising that students in

the experimental group outperformed students in the peer cornparison group.

Carroll (1975) found similar results when he investigated factors affecting

students' levels of achievement in French (see section 4.3.2). What is of interest in

the Spada and Lightbown (1989) study is that the students participating in this

intensive ESL program posted better second language outcomes than older

students who had received an equal number of instructional hours in a l e s

concentrated way. These results prompted, in part, Lapkin, Hart and Hatley

(1998, p. 5) to ask "Could similar results be achieved in core French programs

without inaeasing overd instructional tirne?" Work with compact courses

where the overall amount of time is not diangeci is still in the early stages.

An important finding fkom this study was that there was a variety of

approaches employed by the teachers when the program format was düinged.

Different teachers used different approaches to teach the same program. One

must wonder if the study's resdts would have been the same if aii teadiers had

adopted a communicative approach to instructing their students. As the

foliowing study by Spada (1987) indicates, the results are not likely to have been

1.3.2.2. Spada (1987). Relationships between Instructional Differences and Leaming Outcornes

One study that bears some similarity to my own study was conducted by

Spada in which she investigated possible reiationships between the differences in

instruction and the learning outcornes of adult students in a communicatively-

based program. Specifically, Spada focused on two questions:

(1) Were there differences in the kind of instruction that learners were

receiving fkom the different teachers in this program?

(2) Did differences in instruction contribute to any variation in the

Iearners' irnprovement in proficiency?

Spada's subjects were 48 intermediate-level students in an intensive

English as a Second Language program. Eadi student had been randomly

assigned to one of three teachers. Extensive pre- and post-tests were

administered. These tests were comprised of a iistening comprehension test, a

reading comprehension test which induded a doze passage and a section on

inferencing, a writing test scored for grammar, vocabulary, discourse and

content, a speaking test involving an interview and an interaction task which

were scored for syntax, vocabulary, pronunciation, fluency, and

discourse/sociolinguistic ability, and a grammar test. In order to note potentiai

differences in instructional treatment between the three classes which had been

described as communicative in nature, Spada used the COLT (Communicative

Orientation of Language Teaching) observation scheme while performing 20

hours of observation in each dass.

Spada found that the teadiers of dasses B and C used more function- or

meaning-based activities than the teacher of dass A. This latter teacher used

more form-based activities than the other two teachers. The teacher of class C

spent about one-half as much t h e on form-based instruction as the teacher of

dass A. An even greater contrast was found with the teacher of dass B who spent

only one-third as much time as the teacher of dass A on this kind of instruction.

A further difference was that dass B had the greatest teacher topic control and

the least student topic control. Of the three dasses, dass A had the greatest

student topic control and dass C had the least teacher topic control. Spada also

found that the teachers of dasses B and C were not only using more authentic

activity types than the teacher of dass A, but that they presented the iistening

cornprehension activities differently than the other teacher. This latter teacher

simply allowed the students to silently read the listening comprehension

questions, whereas the other two teachers prepared the students for the activities

by using predictive exercises and a discussion of the questions. (Spada does not

present any evidence of expliat differences in teaching strategies or activities

intended to promote student oral production.) From the comparison of these

observations, Spada was able to condude that there are differences in the kind of

instruction between similarly oriented classes.

Mer an analysis of the pst-tests, Spada found that the students in dasses

B and C improved significantly in Iistening comprehension, while those in dass

A improved only slightly. On speaking tests, the students in dass B improved

significantly, while those in dass C improved slightly. Students in dass A

showed a deaease in their speaking test scores. (Spada explains that this may

have been due to the fa& that different evaluators administered the pre-test and

the post-test to this group.) The students in dass B improved significantly over

those in dass C on discourse scores. According to Spada, the differences in the

amount of dass time spent on listening activities were not a factor in the

variations of the outcomes of these test scores for the three dasses. Spada noted

that one class (class B) did improve overail more than the other two, and she

concluded that the instructional differences did contribute to this variation in

learning outcomes. However, based on the results of her study, she is not able to

prescribe the optimal kind of instruction. She does note, nonetheless, that a

mixture of function- and form-based instruction is required for student success.

Spada concluded that qualitative rather than quantitative diffetences in

instruction seemed a more plausible explanation for significantly more

improvement in listening comprehension in classes B and C. This study shows

that more communicative instruction was better than the formal, explicit

instruction, but it may have left out other aspects of the teacher's teadung

practices.

This study is similar to mine in that it explores a process-product

relationship in the classroom. Spada's study and my own attempt to find a link

between teadiing ach and leaming outcomes. However, with regards to process,

Spada's study is reaiiy investigaüng teachers' interpretatiow of CLT. Because

there is so much variation in teaching approaches and practices, researchers

should perhaps focus on other aspects of teadiing behaviour. This leads to the

question: What happens to the strategies of teachers (or, in this case, one teacher)

with one interpretation of CLT in classes of varying formats? In the study

described below, Gayle (19û4) tried to analyze classes without regard to their

orientation or approach Instead, she wanted to observe the strategies that are

employed by most language teachers on a daily basis.

1.3.3. Teaching Strategies and Th& Ufect on Student Outcornes

In the two preceding articles, the first outlined the variations in teaching

occurring under a new program format, while the second described links

between variations in teaching and differences in student leaming outcomes. It is

important to note that the authors here are referring to differences in teaching

approaches or methods. Over the decades, there has been much discussion

about the best approaches or methods for teaching a second language (se, for

example, Nunan, 1991, for a brief overview). Little research has been done on

specific teaching behaviours that may be used with various teaching approaches

or methods. Researchers do not often take the role of micro-level teaching

strategies that can occur across the various approaches and methods into

account The foliowing article explores the potential importance of such

teaching strategies on student language leaming outcomes.

1.3.3.î. Gayle, G.M.H. (1984). Effective Second-Language Teaching Styles

Gayle used the Language Teaching Record Scheme ( L m ) to observe

pedagogical functions of teachers' speech in order to identify teaching styles. As

this scheme is not sensitive to the teaching method (e-g. audiolingual,

coxnmunicative/experiential, etc.) used by the teacher, she was able to make

observations on the "micro level [of teadung strategies] rather than on the more

macro level of the activity" (p. 526). (See also Gayle, 1989.) Although my own

study does not focus on teaching styles, Gayle's research may help to identify

which teaching strategies might have been responsible for the better leaming and

attitude outcornes of the intensive group in the Carleton case study.

Gayle referred to strategies as a grouping of related pedagogical discourse

functions rather than c a h g the actual functions themselves strategies as 1 do in

my study. For example, according to Gayle's sdieme, information questions are

not a single strategy but rather one part of a strategy cailed "Language

Exposure". Reading, writing, illustration, and rephrasal are also part of this

strategy on the LTRS. (My observation scheme is not as detailed as Gayle's;

however, on my scheme, information questions are a strategy by themselves.

Based on Gayle's discourse function of "initiation", 1 developed my "student

utterance" strategy as weii as the teacher "aside" category.) Table 1.1 presents the

strategies, pedagogical discourse functions, and definitions from Gayle's LTRS.

Gayle's study involved 12 teachers in an intensive program relying on an

audiolingual approach. Ail participants were teachers of grade 6 French and

Social Studies (taught in French) in Ontario, Canada. After obsefving their

Gayle's Stratagias Oiscourso Fundoni* Dafinitions

Basic

Language m u r e

lndependent Anaiysis and Use Of Language (Enterprise)

Mechanical Use of Language

Direction

Verbal Processing

General information

Reading

Initiation

Cornpiete repetition Partial mpetl i i Expansion to full seritence

Acceptance Reject ion Diredive

Specifïï information (due) Gerieral information (due) lilustratiori (due)

oisplay questions

Information questions or unrehearsed statements Reading to aid subsequerit student interaction wrib'rlg for practice of to clarily meaning Using an exampie of a pmviow, nle or generalizatiori Use of diierent uiwds mthout a change in rneaning

Extreme readiness to utilire ianguage freely anâ extensiveîy Subetiution af the correct form without focusing on the enor

Positive feedback for pieceding response Negative feedback for preceding response Command or request for riorr-verbal action

Precise indication of exact wor Suggestiori of emr Stating the mason for inconectness or conectness of preceding student response Relerence to grammatical features of L2 to aid correct student iesporrse ProfqH to dicl aie cxmect amwer Promgl to stimulate an accepteble answer Use of a simillude to pcampt a student response Use of diiererit mnds to aid studemt cornprehension Focw on LIIL2 simiiaiities or dferiences to cue appropriate student ramponse An unpînnned tianslation mede to pmmote further interaction

* Gayle's pedagogical dixourse functions are similar to the teaching strategies discussed in the present study. (See Chapter 2.)

teaching, she identified pattems which indicated differences in teadiing styles.

Teadhg styles were identifieci by certain dominant frequencies in the different

categones of pedagogical discourse functions (or what 1 would consider to be

teadUng strategies). Gayle identified four teadUng styles among these 12

participating teadiers.

The four teadiing styles outlined by Gayle were described as Lateral,

Linear, Balanced, and Information. The Lateral teaching style was characterized

by the dominant use of her "Language Exposure" categories. However,

information questions, which were part of this strategy, were not used to a great

extent. This style was also characterized by a low fkequency of initiation to

converse freely on b o t . the teachers' and students' parts. (Italicized words

indicate strategies found on my observation scheme. See Chapter 2.) The Linear

teadùng style is diaracterized by the dominant use of repetition (an individual

student or group of students repeating after the teacher) and similar mechanical

usages (rather than a communictive use) of the language and a more restricted

use of the tirget language. The Balanced teaching style is a blend of the first two

styles. There is a domMnce by "Language Exposure" functions @ut, again, not

by infonnntion questions) as well as mechanical uses of the language. However,

its dominance by cIassroom management or "Direction" functions and "Verbal

Pr ocessing" functio w like explicit correction, dues to specific information (for

example, by beginning a mord or phrase for a student), and translation

differentiates the Balanced teaching style from the Lateral and Linear styles.

Finally, the Information teaching style is dominated by its use of "Language

Exposure" functions - especiaily by information questions. It shouid also be

noted that ali four of these teaching styles were dominated by the use of display

questions.

Gayle's study had been intended to show a link between teaching styles

and learning and attitude outcornes. She found that students with low attitude

and low aptitude scores were helped by the Laterai style. In fact, her results

showed that these low aptitude/attitude students could sometimes score higher

that high aptitude/attihide students taught with the Lateral style. In general,

Gayle found that low aptitude/attitude students responded weii to the Lateral

and Balanced styles due to their dominance of "Language Exposure" functïons.

By contrast, high aptitude/attitude students did weli with the Linear teaching

style and its focus on "Mechanical Use of the Language" functions. Display

questions also fadlitated the learning of high aptihide/attitude students.

According to Gayle (1984,1989), a teadùng style is recognized by a certain

pattern of different proportions of the various teadiing strategies. My study is

not trying to identify the participating teacherfs teaching style through the

frequency of her use of certain strategies; it is, however, trying to link the

frequency of certain teaching strategies in each group to the linguistic

adiievernent of shidents in the respective groups.

1.3.4. Sununay of Revious Reseuch

The research cited in this chapter has helped to focus the present study.

The research literature indicates that time may be an important factor affecting

student language leaming outcornes. However, the literature also suggests that

time or the program format can affect teachersr uses of various teaching

approaches, methods and strategies. It has been shown that these variations in

teaching strategies can affect student learning outcomes. In the present study, I

will further explore these last two points.

1.4. Research Focus

This section outlines my research questions, hypotheses, and the

assumptions behind them. An important definition and descriptions are also

provided.

1.4.1. Research Questions

This case study is intended to address questions related to the effect of

program compactness on the teaching strategies of the second language teacher.

As proposxi by Carroll (1990), when the format of a program is dwged to

become more compact, teachers may find that they are able to use more, fewer, or

different strategies to develop their students' language profiuency. If there are

differences in teaching strategies and differences in linguistic or attitudinal

outcomes when the program is made more compact and if the program and the

subjects are equal in ail other respects, then both the teadring strategies and the

program compactness can be considered as factors contributhg to the outcomes.

However, if the outcomes are different but there is no ciifference in teaching

strategies when the program is made more compact and if ali other variables

between the two programs are held constant, then the outcome differences can be

attributed primarily to the program compactness. In other words, this study is

an attempt to isolate possible variations in teaching strategies as a factor affectïng

program outcomes.

The present study is an extension of Lapkin, Hariey and Hart's (1995)

Carleton case study in which differences in learning and attitude outcomes were

f o n d between dasses with different program formats.

The questions to be addresseci by the present case study are:

(1) Do different formats of a program (Le. its compactness) affect the

teaching strategies empioyed by this particuiar second language teacher?

(2) if yes, could the variations in teaching strategies selected for

observation be responsible for different Linguistic or attitudinal outcomes?

The study does not aim to look at the value of form-focused or content-

based activities on second language acquisition. Rather, it looks at the

interaction the teacher has with a class to possibly account for potential

differences in outcomes between dasses. My observation scheme does not deal

with differences in classroom activities that might occur between the

experimental lessons. These differences, if any, in activity (eg. use of materials

other than course text and workbook like a film, student control of content by

choosing a writing or discussion topic, changes in groupings, providing models

of oral and/or written work, etc.) could be noted separately by the researcher as

well as by the teacher in her journal.

1-42 Hypotheses

1 anticipate finding variation in teaching strategies across dasses during

this study. Carroll (1990) suggests that it is not unreasonable to expect teachers to

alter their teaching when the program format changes. The school board

cooperating with my study arranged special daily release time for the teacher

involved so that she would have the opportunity to consider changes to her

lessons for each of her three dasses. Therefore, it is reasonable to anticipate that

there will be differences in teaching strategies among these dasses.

Laplch, Harley and Hart (1995) reported that there were differences in

linguistic outcomes between the groups. These researchers were not able to

conclusively show that the program format was the primary factor affecting

students' linguistic outcomes. For this reason, 1 suspect that another factor rnay

be responsible for these differences. 1 hypothesize that 1 wili find variations in

teaching strategies between the program formats which wilI account for the

differences in learning outcomes.

Some of those teaching strategies may be ones outlined by Gayle (1984)

(see above); others may be those described by Mitchell (1988) who descriiîies

"teacher communication strategies" which are intended to facilitate learners'

language acquisition. She highlights strategies such as language switching, due

giving, and repetition. In m y observation scheme, there are similar categories

which explore the use of French and English and translation done by the teacher,

begïnning a word or phrase for a student, and repetition.

Educators like Lindsay (1993) report that teachers at his d o 0 1 feei that

compact courses allow them to use a greater variety of teaching techniques and

provide them with more quality inskuctional t h e . Hanen (1993) reports that

students are better engaged in their learning under these circumstances. Clearly,

the teaching can affect students' attitudes and th& learning outcomes.

1 hypothesize that more communicative teaching strategies - Le. those

leading to independent oral production by students -- WU be employed in the

compact classes. For example, I believe that the teacher will ask more extended

questions (requests for information prompting an extended reply by the student),

provide more encouragement, and/or stimulate more student-initiated

utterances in the compact dasses. Because these teadung strategies engage the

students linguisticaily and emotionally, dasses exposed to these strategies will

have better achievement and attitudinal outcornes than those classes offering

fewer such strategies. This hypothesis follows Swain's (1985) belief that students

must produce cornprehensible language (or output) in order to develop their

ianguage skills. 1 hypothesize that their greatex use in the dassroom WU

correspond to better achievement scores in the classes using these teaching

strategies.

In summary, 1 am hypothesïzïng that (a) there wiii be variations in teaching

strategies used in the different program formats, @) the teaching strategies 1 have

selected for observation can affect students' learning, and (c) communicative

teadiing strategies wiii be used more frequently in the more successful dass.

1.4.3. Assumptions

Most students t a h g core French in Ontario (induding those partiapating

in this study) do not receive a great deal of target language input from theix

surroundings; in other words, we can assume that these second language leamers

receive their linguistic input during French class only. The language used by the

teachers helps to improve students' language knowledge, impart general

information and develop skills (especiaiiy in a communicative/experiential

program) as weli as serving as the linguistic input. In her study of teaches t . as

input in second language dassrooms, Wong-Fillmore (1985) found that effective

teachers could control the input, model the target language appropriately, and

encourage students to use the language.

In my study, 1 observe the number of occurrences of certain teaching

strategies. Behind this obsenration is the assumption that these kinds of teaching

strategies are valuable forms of input in the communicative dassroom. (Of

course, the teacher's spoken language is not the only kind of input that students

receive. Texts and tapes from the French program also serve as means of

linguistic input. I do not take these means into account as the instructional

materials were the same across classes. Furthermore, my study focuses merely

on the participating teacher's particular teadiing strategies.)

In the present study, there are two underlying assumptions that

accompany the hypotheses that certain teadiing strategies are valuable as input.

First, 1 assume that the total number of occurrences of a particdar teaching

strategy will be indicative of time spent on that kind of input. By doing a tally of

the different kinds of teaching strategies (see Chapter 2 for a discussion of my

methodology), my assumption is that the frequency of a teadiing strategy will be

roughly equal to the duration of time spent on providing input to students by

means of that particular teadiing strategy. In other words, the more often a

teaching strategy is used, the more time it takes. In my study, 1 compare

frequencies of teadllng strategies between groups rather than time spent on these

strategies. Second, there is the assumption that "more is better". In other words,

1 assume that a greater frequency of a particular teaching strategy is an

enhancement of the overaii input received by the students. All of the observed

teaching strategies have the potential to provide students with valuable target

language input and/or assist them in using French. Nonetheless, after the

analysis of the data, I will attempt, if possible, to determine which teadung

strategies are the most beneficial.

32

1.4.4. A Definition

My study looks at various ways a particuiar teacher provides potentially

valuable target language input in order to develop students' linguistic slcills and

to encourage them to produce meaningfui second language output.

1 am defining a teadiing strategy as a specific behaviour which may

support, directly or indirectly, an approach or method to language teaching. A

teaching strategy is different from an approach or a practice technique. It is at a

more "micro" level than these. In a hierarchy, they foilow as su*

approadi or method e-g. communicative language teaching

\

practice technique (an acüvity or task) e.g. role playing

\

teaching strategy (not necessarily prompted by an activity;

it cornes more from the teachers themselves) e-g. asking

information questions

Mitchell (1988) desaibes "teacher communication strategies" which are

intended to facilitate learners' language acquisition. She highlights strategies

such as language switchg, due giving, repetition, and substitution. These

"teacher communication strategies" have been derived from a functional

perspective; that is, they desaibe the function of each statement in classroom

interaction. My teadiing strategies, on the other hand, are derived from a more

discursive or descriptive perspective within the pedagogical communicative

kamework. In effect, my teaching strategies are a fonn of teacher talk.

Nunan (1991) states that "teacher talk is important. The modifications

which teachers make to their language, the questions they ask, the feedback they

provide and the types of instruction and explanations they provide can a i l have

an important bearing [...] on the acquisition by learners of the target languagetf (p.

7). Teaching strategies cowist of the teadier talk which helps the lesson to

progres; they are taiiored to help a student or group of students participate in

the lesson and learn the target language in general terms, teachhg strategies

support the functioning of the dass and the execution of the lesson.

Breen (1983) states that "communication is not merely the objective and

content of the dassroom, it is also a crucial gneaw for the actual processes of

teaching and learning". A teacher may utilize teadiing strategies outside of the

formal planned lesson; however, these very teaching strategies become part of the

students' language leaniing experience. Everything that is happening in the

target language is part of the language leaming process. Because they act to

some extent as a source of input for the students, teadùng strategies such as

asides and dassroom management/disciplinary actions are part of the lesson.

Nunan (1991) concurs by stating that "teacher tallc provides learners with the[ir]

only substantial live target language input" (p. 190) whether it is planned or

spontaneous. The teachirtg strategies may be planned (as in the asking of certain

questions) or spontaneous depending on the dassroom situation. Nonetheless,

this teacher talk and the teaching strategies that it encompasses contribute to the

students' leaming by exposing them to the target language and assisting them

with their own target language production.

The teadung strategies foc& on in this study are repetition, translation

@oth fuii and partial), correction, beginning a word or a phrase for a student,

direct encouragement to speak in French, asides, requests/commands,

comprehension checks, display questions, and information questions. (See

Chapter 2 for more details on these teaching strategies.) Berause an important

airn of providing students with target language input iç to facilitate meaningfd

output, I provide data on student utterances as an indication of the teacher's

success in promoting the use of the target language in the dassroorn. In this

study, I observe student language production in the form of clarification

requests and other student utterances initiated in French. (See Chapter 2 for a

more complete description.) This kind of data complements the teaching

strategy data.

In summary, for the purposes of this study, 1 am defining teaching

strategies as a type of teacher talk which provides target language input and

which assists students in their comprehension and/or production of the

language. in order to track the relative success of the use of such teaching

strategies, 1 also observe student target language production

1.5. S u m m a y

Despite the popularity and high profile of French immersion programs

across the country, the traditional core French dass is still the most common FSL

program in Canada today. With dose to 2 W o n students enroiled in core

French dasses, it makes sense to research ways in which these programs could be

made more effective. The purpose of this study is to examine means to improve

core French instruction with the intention of improving students' French skills.

One suggestion to improve core French outcomes is to change the

program format This suggestion entails lengthening the dass period while

maintainuig the total number of instructional hours. Researchers and educators

believe that students are able to concentrate on fhe material more easily and

retain the content better in such compact courses. In a case study, Lapkin, Harley

and Hart (1995) measured the attitudinai and achievement outcomes of tluee

groups of Grade 7 core French students. Each group covered the same program

with the same teacher yet experienced a different program format: 40 minutes

daily for the entire school year, 80 minutes daily for half the school year, or 150

minutes daily for about one-quarter of the school year. These researchers f o n d

that there were some benefits from the compact program formats for the ski& of

reading and writing.

This chapter has describeci research which indicates that there are student

outcome differences in compact programs as compared with regular programs.

Similarly, if has also outlined research which shows that in compact programs

teadiing strategies ciiffer from those in regular programs. The issue that rernains

in the present case of core French is the determination of the cause of the

differences in student achievement 1s time distribution alone (i.e. the program

format) responsible for these differences or do variations in teaching strategies

affect the learning outcomes?

This research may provide greater insight into the process-product

relationship in second language learning as weii as lead to recommendations

regarding the use of teadiing strategies. The ultimate aim of this study is to

contribute to ùnprovements in core French education.

Chapter 2

Methodology

This chapter provides an ovenriew of the study induding a description of

the participants and an explanation of the various research materials The

speaaily adapted observation scheme is described at l m .

Zl. Ovewiew

Overview

The present study is an offshoot of the Lapkin, Harley and Hart (1995) case

study conducted in the Carleton Board of Education, focusing more on the

teaching dimension than the student outcomes of the main case study. Whereas

Lapkin, Harley and Hart's (1995) Carleton case study investigates the role of time

distribution on student achievement and attitude outcomes, the present case

study investigates the nature of teachïng strategies associated with different

instructional formats for core French. As 1 wiU be doing further analyses of data

collected in the main case study, many of the same procedures and instruments

are used.

Ail participants were tested for French proficiency irnrnediately before

and after their experimental (or cornpaxkon) treatments. Another test for French

achievement was admùUstered as a delayed post-test weii after each group's

treatment. A widely used general academic test of English was also

adrninistered at the beginning of the program. Students provided information

about theV background, and they completed entry and exit questionnaires about

their feelings about leaming French In the Carleton case study (Lapkin, Harley

& Hart, 1995), a certain lesson unit was selected, and this same lesson unit was

videotaped in each of the three groups. In the present study, these videotapes

were analyzed for teaching strategies. Observational notes were taken during the

lesson presentations. The teacher involved with the studies agreed to keep a

journal of her experiences and impressions, and she consented to an interview.

Student performance and responses from tests and questionnaires, the

teacher's impressions as recorded in her journal and interview, and the observer's

notes and classroom videotapes provided a variety of sources of data to be

analyzed in the present study.

Par~ntal Con.-

As with al1 studies involving minors in a school setting, the participants'

parental consent was required for the case study conducted by Lapkin, Harley

and Hart (1995) for the Carleton Board of Education. Parents and guardians were

informed in advance of the reaçons and plans to implement this study at the

school in question Parents who were wiUuig to have their chiidren participate

in the shidy then signed consent forms agreeing to the release of test,

questionnaire, and observational data to the researchers. Signed consent was also

given for videotaping done in the dassroom.

The participating school periodicaily infonned parents of the study's

progress as many were keenly interested in it. Some parents expresseci regret

that their child had not been placed in one of the experimental groups, and

others even attempted (without success) to have their child moved into an

experimental group.

Consent specific to my shidy was not required as it had already been

obtained through parental consent to the main study by Lapkin, Harley and Hart

(1995).

22 The Simple

Because the Carleton Board of Education had made core French

revitalization a priority, it was piepared to partiapate in an elaborate, controlîed

study. The experimental school was selected when an interested teacher and

cooperative principal volunteered their senrices. Participants for the study were

drawn from the overali student population entering the regular Grade 7

program in the experimental school in the 1993-1994 school year. In the

Carleton/Ottawa area, a significant proportion of students wanting to study

French choose to enter French immersion programs, and this was true at this

school. Nevertheless, a large potential sample of students in the core French

program was stili available for study purposes. After dass lists were created and

timetabled so that the same teacher could teach these dams, approximately 90

students in total were involved in the study. In dl, three of the four grade 7 core

French dasses at the school participated. (For reasons to be explained below, the

present study involved oniy two of the partiapating dasses.)

School personnel randornly assigneci students in the study to dasses in the

three different program formats-150-minute and 80-minute heatments and the

40-minute cornparison group. Minor changes to these random assignments were

made in order to ensure that, to the greatest extent possible, variables affecting

class performance were equal aaoss the three groups. These variables-academic

ability and behavioural history-were believed (by school personnel, at least) to

have a potential impact on student learning and, thus, class achievement scores

and attitude outcornes. (Laph, Harley and Hart also surveyed students on their

previous school experience with French and their exposure to French at home.)

Elementary feeder schools provided information about students'

behavioural history and academic abiiity. The school guidance counsellor asked

the feeder school homeroom teachers to rank their students on a tluee-point scale

for academic ability (above average, average, below average) and on another

three-point scale for behaviour (weli behaved, average behaved, having

behavioural difficulties). An equal number of students of each ranlcing was

distributed auoss the three groups more or less randomly. When students were

not placed randomly into a group, it was because they needed to be part of a

certain class for scheduling purposes in order to accommodate such course

selection as music instruction. Other than two students identified as being @Red

who had to be placed in the 150-minute group for scheduling purposes, the

groups were identical in respect to academic ability and behavioural history.

However, due to students leaving and moving into the school area and to

discrepancies between the feeder schools in the ranking of students, it became

apparent by the time that standardized tests were administered in October 1993

that the three groups were not e q d academicaliy. Based on the scores from the

reading and language subtests of the Canadian Adiievement Test (CAT), it was

found that the 150-minute dass was significantly stronger academicaliy than the

40-minute dass. (Lapkin, Harley and Hart statisticaily controlied for these

differences in CAT scores among classes in theu analyses.)

Each of the three groups contained some students who spoke English as

their second language or students who had never studied French pnor to Grade

7. Groups varied slightly in the amount of experience individual students had

with the French language. %me participants had been enrolied in French

immersion programs or Fr& language schwls before switdiing to the regular

core program, and there was some concem that they couid be potentid linguistic

leaders in their respective groups. However, each dass had a similar median

number of years vent in immession or French-language sdiool programs.

23. Research Materials

Research materials for this study consisted of instruments intended to

gather qualitative and quantitative data. A teacher's journal, questionnaires,

tests, observation and videotaping of dassroom activity, and interviews were

used in order to provide a complete overview of the context of each class. These

instruments as well as a description of the observation scheme are described

fuiiy in the foilowing subsections.

2.3.1. Teacher's Jounial

Throughout the 1993-1994 school year, the teacher involved in the study

agreed to keep a journal. 0th- than asking her to record her impressions of the

groups involved in the study, the researchers gave her no guidance as to what

should be induded in the journal. The teacher usually made several short

journal entries each week. Subjects of journal entries induded her personal

impressions of the groups, expressions of concern for various students, work

covered in dass, factors affecting student performance that day, etc-

This journal provided qualitative information about the progress of the

study. It also provided the researchers with a more complete picture of the

different groups as they were able to observe the classes in person only on a very

few occasions.

2 3 2 Questionnaires

Prior to the study, subjects completed background questionnaires

regarding their history of FÇL education, their exposure to French at home and

outside of dass, abiiities in languages other than English and French, and th&

thoughts about l&g French-

Parents of students partiapating in the study were also asked to complete

background questionnaires. These questio~aires asked for information

regarding the parents' history and ability in French and other languages as weil

as the5 educational and professionai background. Parents were also asked to

comment on th& children's experience with leaming French as well as their own

thoughts about the French programs available. The response rate to the parental

questionnaire ranged from approxîmately 61 percent to 65 percent in the t h e

groups.

As respondents to the two above-mentioned questionnaires were not

requKed to idenhfy themselves, the data collected ftom these questionnaires

provided the researchers with general insight into the learning experiences, and

linguistic and souoeconomic backgrounds of the participants and their

respective groups. Questionnaire results indicate that groups were similar with

regard to their French language home background and parental education levels.

One student in each group reported that French was used more than "hardly

ever" at home, while responses to the parent questionnaire indicated that there

was a francophone adult in no more than 10 percent of the households of

students in each dass. The highest level of education attained by fathers of

participants was similar arross groups; at least half had a university degree or a

diploma from a community college. Sixty percent of mothers of partiapants in

the 40-minute group had eamed such a degree or diploma compared to about

one-third of them in the two other groups. However, over half of aii m-others in

each of the three groups had experienced at least some postsecondary education.

During their (experimental or cornparison) treatment, participants were

asked to complete another questionnaire. This questionnaire asked participants

to provide their impressions of their experience learning French that year as

compared to the previous year when they were in Grade 6. Participants were

also asked to rate their performance in different aspects of French such as

vocabular y learning, spe lhg , reading, conversation comprehension, etc.

Finally, participants were also asked to comment on activities done in dass that

year. A second form of this questionnaire was given to partiapants in the two

experimental groups. In addition to the questions already mentioned, this

second questionnaire form had a section dealing specifically with their

impressions of their experiences in the longer (experimental) groups. This

questionnaire (in both forms) was administered to subjects at the end of their

respective programs. The data collected here aiiowed the researchers to measure

dianges in student attitudes toward 1 e a . g French in the core program.

2.33. Tests

Three different tests were used to provide data about the students'

abili ties. In addition to the Canadian Achievement Test, two different French

tests were also administered on other occasions.

The Canadian Achievement Test (CAT) is a general academic test (of

English) used widely across the country; in fact, the schwl involveci in the study

regularly administers it to aii Grade 7 students. The CAT scores were used to

help determine the academic ability level of each of the three groups.

Researchers wanted to detemine if the "semi-random" placement of subjects into

groups had in fact aeated three groups of equal academic abiiity.

The first French test admuiistered to the subjects was the Grade 8 Core

French Test Package (Harley et al., 1995) deveioped and used extensively by the

Modem Language Centre of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (of the

University of Toronto). Despite the test having been intended for students of a

higher grade Level, this test was used because the vast majority of participants

had attained the 600 to 800 instructional hours of French for which the test was

designed. This French test has sections to evaluate students' listening

comprehension, reading, writing, and speaking skills.

The Test de compréhension auditive, the l i s t e h g comprehension

component of the Grade 8 Core French Test Package consists of 15 multiple-

choice questions based on a conversation between two young native speakers of

French.

In the first section of the Test de lecture, the reading comprehension

component, students must correctly match written commands with pictorial

signs. in the second and third sections, students are required to answer muiüple-

choice questions based on a series of postcards.

For the writing component, students first complete a partial dictation

(Dictée) based on a tape-recorded account of a sports event. Scoring is based on

the comprehension and spelling of each missing word. Students then write two

compositions (Compositions) on a magazine advertisement and the pros and

cons of school unifonns. Students are assessed on their ability to complete the

task with a majority of words in comprehensible French.

The speaking component of the test package requires students to give a

fnend oral instructions on how to reaeate two pictures that th& partner cannot

see. Students are scored on their ability to convey key information in

comprehensible French. The second section of the speaking component scores

students on their use of souolinguistic elements and their pronunuation of

various phonemes during a restaurant roleplay task. Both sections of the

speaking component are administered individuaily. Only a random sample of

students from each of the three groups was administered the speaking

component of the test.

The Grade 8 Core French Test Package was administered to the subjects

just prior to or at the beginnuig of their respective program treatments. It was

aciministered again imrnediately following each of the treatments. This test was

the pre-test and immediate post-test referred to elsewhere in this document. The

pre-test and pst-test results weie compared in order to measure improvement

(if any) over the course of the subjects' respective programs.

Another French test was used to measure student achievement and to

establish whether students maintained their improvemenb (if any) over t h e .

This test-the Grade 7 Core French Reading and Writïng Achievement Test-was

developed specificaily for the Carleton case study, and it was based on the

textbook materials used by the participants.

The reading comprehension component of this test has three sections

toudiing upon concepts that had been covered in this particular Grade 7 core

French program. First, students answered multiple-choice questions regarding

the ownership of various items described in a short passage. Next, students

matched instructions from a numbered iist to the corresponding paris of an

irnaginary machine. Finally, students completed sentences by matchhg sentence

stems and possible endings based on a passage about the beaver. Students

received a score based on the numbex of correct responses given.

The writing component also has three sections. In the first section,

students had to express their opinion about six questions related to television.

Next, students were asked to write a postcard with s p e d c information. Both

sections require responses to be written in comprehensible French. The third

section presents students with three pictures on which they must base a story.

Marks are awarded here for suitable description, style, and the appropriate use

of discourse devices.

The listening comprehension component from the pre- and post-test

package was re-administered to round out this test.

This test was administered as a follow-up test in the early fall of 1994. It is

the delayed pst-test referred to elsewhere in this document.

2.3.4. Classroom Observation and Videos

The three groups were observeci and videotaped during the instruction of

"Zoom sur les sens", Unité 3 of the Première partie of Éhns 1. Certain sections of

the videotapes have been transaibed, because they consist of activities that were

done with al i three groups and a researcher was avaiîable to observe the classes

in action at those times. These transcripts were made in order to facilitate the

coding of the observation scheme. Due to technical problems, the videotaped

segments for the 80-minute group are not complete. The videotape of the first

day of observation for this group consists of only about the Grst 20 minutes of the

80-minute lesson. The videotape of the second day of observation for the 80-

minute group does not have the audio component. Therefore, transcripts of the

lessons for the 80-minute group have not been made. My dassdoom observation

notes for this group do not have enough specific data on the teacher's use of

teaching strategies to make an analysis meaningful; therefore, 1 was not able to

consider the 80-minute group in my case study.

This lesson in the program was not chosen delierately for observation;

rather it was selected from among possible dates that coincided with both the

researcher s' and the teacher's schedules. Forhuiately, this lesson permitteci the

researchers to observe the teacher and students working through a variety of

tasks. Dupiantie, Beaudoin and Hden (1991) state that the majority of acüvities

in Élans 1 are experiential; nonetheless, the activities observed for the study are

representative of the range of activities in the program. Each activity supports

the O ther, either b y orienting the student linguisticaliy (with form-focused/

analytical activities) or by engaging the student personally (with

communicative/experientiai activities). These kinds of activities were chosen for

this lesson in order to maintain the ultimate goal of the program: to enrich the

students' personal experience through use of the target language as well as to

improve their ability to communicate in French.

The sections of the lesson that were observed and videotaped represent

both communicative/experiential and form-focused/analytic activities. For

47

example, page 33 of the textbook (Duplantie, Beaudoin & Hullen, 1990a) is a

fonn-focused activity which introduces students to various ways of expressing

their opinion with phrases such as S e l a moi, D'aprPs moi, A mon avis, Je dirais

que, Je pense que, etc. This activity is meant to expand the students' French

(vocabulary) skills with the intention of helping them to express themselves

during subsequent tasks Page 34 of the texfbook is an experiential activity called

L'expérience. Shidents read instructions in order to perform the steps necessary

for completing a short experiment. Students must describe what they see and

provide an explanation for the phenornenon that occurs during the experiment.

This activity is rather realistic; students use the target language to carry out a

meaningful task and give their personal reaction- Page 36 of the textbook and

page 60 of the workbook (Duplantie, Beaudoin & Hdien, 1990b) are related

communicative activities. Shidents first read about the life of a young blind

person before answering general questions about blind people. Both the reading

passage and the questionnaire are used as points of departure for an open

discussion on the students' impressions of the blind and of blindness. Students

are supposed to move beyond the actuai content of the reading passage and the

questionnaire in order to discuss their personal expenences related to the topic.

In this way, this activity becomes truiy experiential. Finaiiy, page 59 of the

workbook is an analytic activity (baseci on the concept of giving instructions to

complete an experiment) in which students must dioose the appropriate vetbs

from a List and provide their correct (imperative) forms. By focusing on form,

this activity is designed to improve students' accuracy in their efforts to use the

target language.

The videotaping and classroom observations were conducted

simultaneously on dates when the respective groups were being taught this

lesson. Because of the intensive nature of the 150-minute dass, this group

completed the lesson before the two other groups. This group was observed and

videotaped on the morning of Friday, November 5, 1993. The 40-minute

cornparison group was next to reach this lesson Because of the shorter dass

length, this lesson was conducted over a penod of four days. This group was

obsemed and videotaped on Friday, January 14,1994 and from Tuesday, January

18 to Thursday, J a n v 20, 1994. This group, 7C, always had French dass from

2:20 to 3:00 p.n, the last period of the school day. Because it started later than

the other groups, the 80-minute group wai last to reach this particulas lesson.

This group was observed in the moming on two successive days, Wednesday,

Mardi 2 and Thursday, Mardi 3, 1994. However, due to the technicd problems

mentioned above, complete data for this class could not be gathered and,

therefore, this group is not induded in this study.

23.4.1. Obsemation Scheme

The observation scheme considers teaching strategies from two

perspectives. In the f i s t subsection, 1 outline teaching strategies that provide

target language input as well as assist students in their comprehension and/or

production of the language. Many of the categories of this observation scheme

have been adapted from the COLT (Communicative Orientation of Laquage

TeadUng) observation scheme developed by Men, Frohlich and Spada (1984).

In the subsequent subsection, I describe student language production and

categorize it into darification requests and other student utterances.

23.4.l.l. Teaching Shategies

The first part of the observation scheme deals with the strategies the

teacher uses to present language to the students. These strategies may be

intended to provide linguistic input, aid comprehension, or elicit a (verbal or

non-verbal) response from the students. The teadung strategies here range from

open-ended information or referential questions to closed-ended display

questions, and indude requests or commands, comprehension checks, dassroom

management actions, asides, beginning a word or phrase for a student,

translation, repetition, correction, and direct encouragement to use the target

language. This subsection defines these terms and explains why they were

induded in the observation scheme. Table 2.1 presents an overview of the

selected teaching strategies.

The 'raison d'être' of the communicative classroom is to allow leamer-

controlled curricula to develop from and interact with the teacher's pre-planned

curriculum (Breen 1983). Therefore, the teacher must try to engage the students

so that they become active participants in the language acquisition process rather

than allow them to be passive presences in the dassroom. The teacher must draw

out expliut contributions from the studenh so Uat the dassroom discourse is as

realistic as possible. Teachers are Likely to accomplish this by asking questions.

It might be expected that teachers trying to encourage students to spealc at

length in the target language (as in a communicative or experiential approach)

wiil ask th& students more open-endeci questions than dosed-ended questions.

Open-ended questions, also known as information or referential questions, are

Table 2.1. Teadiing Stratees

Wonnation Questions Extended Qu 'est-ce qu 'il a?

Qui n'étairpos ici veridredi?

Display Questions Limited

Extended

Est-ce qu'une personne meugle est une personne qui peut voir ou ne peut pas voir?

C'est m e très b o ~ e question, parce que si tu as une 'e' ici, qu'est-ce qui mrive?

Est-ce que tu peur me lire le premier, le premier verbe? Okay, alors, dis-le encore wre fois.

- -

Comprehension Check Est-ce que tu comprends 'tenir'?

Classroom Management/ Disciplinary Actions

Encore une fois, je te demande de, de rnertre le sac par terre. Monsieur. Regardez au tableau. Michael. Et Jamie et Brrrd, regarde [sic]. Les yeux ici.

Oh, quelqu'un est fatigut'! il faut être gentil

Beginning a Word or Phrase for the Student

T: L 'in.. .m.. . S: nitif

Translation S: Est-ce que ...if you have an 'e' ... T: S'il y a un 'e' ...

Repetition s: [...] T: Okay. Ici. .. S: Ici ... T: est-ce qu 'on ente nd.. S : est-ce qu 'on entend..

T: le ... S: le 's'?

Comction S: Est-ce que c'est fmt. .. T: il faut S : il faut oublier-., T: Pas 'oublier'. Écrire. S: écrire les mots

Direct Encouragement to Use the L2

French Dis-le enjkqais.

Some French Dis-& un peu en anglais et un peu enfian~ais.

questions to which the questioner/teacher truiy does not know the answer. 1

have made a distinction between two types of information questions: one

requVing an extended response and the 0 t h prompting a limited response. An

example of an information question requiring an extended response taken from

the transcripts of the lessons is Qu'est-ce qu'il a? [150-59-13]. (The numbers in

square brackets refer to the group, the page number of the current activity, and

the line number that the quotation appears on in the transcript of the relevant

dass session. In this example, the quotation is taken from the thirteenth line of

the transcript of the 150-minute dass while working on page 59.) In this situation,

the teacher is asking a student to desaibe what her blind brother uses to aid him

in walking. Here, the teacher does not know the answer, and her question

encourages a reasonably long or detailed response. An example of an

information question prompting a limited response is Qui n'était pas ici

vendredi? [M-59-31. The teacher does not know the answer; however, students

may answer with a very short answer or even a single word.

Display or dosedsnded questions are questions in which students must

display their knowledge. There is no real commdcative impetus behind the

question, because the teachedquestioner already knows the answer. As with

information questions, 1 make a distinction between the possible extended and

limited natures of the responses to display questions. An example of a display

question prompting a limiteci response is Est-ce qu'une pmonne awugle est une

personne qui peut mir ou ne peut pas voir? [150-59-51. Here, the teacher is not

asking the question because she herself does not know the answer, rather she is

trying to determine whether a specific student or the entire dass undetstands the

meaning of the word aveugle . It is a limited display question, because the

responding student need only to Say a few words to adequately answer the

question. Extended display questions are those which require the students to use

phrases to answer a question to which the teacher already knows the correct

response. C'est une très bonne question, parce que si tu as une 'e' ici, qu'est-ce

qui arrive? [40-59-118] is an example of this type of question.

Extended information questions and extended display questions iequire

leamers to produce more language than limited information or limited display

questions. According to Swain (1985), student output is an important factor in

successful second language acquisition. Questions of an extended nature

encourage students to use the lexis, the structures and syntax, and the phonology

of the target language. For this reason, 1 hypothesize that classes exposed to

more extended questions will have better achievement and attitudinal outcornes

than those classes offering fewer such questions.

Other teadllng strategies that might be considered helpful to students Li a

communicative or experiential context are requests or commands made by the

teacher. A typical request or command like Okay, alors, dis-le encore une fois

[150-59-51 is recognizable by its use of the imperative verb form. (Expressions

like Regarde are not counted as commands as they are used more as an

exclamation than as a directive.) However, a question may be a request if it has

the intent of requiring a student to do something. Richard, est-ce que tu peux me

lire le premier, le premier verbe? [40-59-1261 is an exarnple of a question that

functionç as a request. In this situation, the teacher is asking the student il he

can read the first verb but is rather requesting him to read it.

Requests or commands are a way of involving the students in the lesson.

They provide valuable communicative input; students must act immediately

upon the message given in the target language.

Co-on C a

A comprehension check is a special kind of limited information question.

With comprehension checks, teachers ensure that one or more students

understand their or another student's message. Comprehension checks may be

important in a dassroom that stresses the fluent expression of the message over

the accurate production or mode of communication. In a comprehension check,

the teacher asks a student or the dass directly if they understand such as in Est-ce

que tu comprends 'tenir'? [40-59-1621. Such comprehension checks are intended

not only to ensure that al1 students can be involved in the lesson but they also

encourage students to express themselves.

Classroom Mananement/Disuvlinarv A c t i o ~ . . .

Teachers can provide more communicative input by disaplining students

in the target language. Discïplinary or classroom management actions are

examples of real communication-teachers express th& feelings or wishes and

students (should) read to these statements. An example of a disciplinary or

classroom action is encore une fois, je te demande de, de mettre le sac par terre

[40-59-51. Commands, as in Monsieur. Regardez au tableau. Michel . Et Jarnie

et Brnd, regarde [sic]. Les yeux ici [150-59-45], may also be disciplinary or

classroom management actions. This category of teadiing strategies does not

include questions purposely directed at specific students to stop them from

talking to their seatmates or otherwise misbehaving.

Asides

Language teachers can provide more communicative input by adding

comments that would not nonnaily be part of the lesson if a certain coursebook

was followed strictiy. These cornments-or asides-may be immediate reactiow

to actual occurrences in the classroom. For example, after a student yawned

loudly, the teacher commented Oh, quelqu'un est fatigué! [150-59-1221- When

the teacher asks the students to estimate the number of mors she made that day,

she added jokingly Il faut être gentil [150-59-1431. This comment is an aside,

because it is not a planned part of the lesson; it is tangential to the curent

activity, and the teacher knows that most students do not need to understand it in

order for her to still meet her lesson objectives for the day. (In this category of

teaching strategies, comments such as Très bien, Okay, Bon, Point pour toi,

Merci, are not considered to be asides and are, therefore, not counted in my tally

of asides.)

Asides can be considered to be a strategy for providing the students in the

class with additional authentic input.

Encouragement to Produe the T a r w m i a ê g e

Because the intent of the communicative second language dassroom is for

students to produce the target language, teachhg strategies which assist or

encourage the students to speak at length in French must be studied. (Incidents

of the students reading from the textbook will not be induded here.) Chaudron

(1988) notes that categories like "teacher encouragement" are often induded in

observation sdiemes in order to gain more insight into teacher intentions, student

strategies, and dassroom dimate. There are a variety of strategies which teachers

can use to promote the production of language by students. The COLT (Ailen,

Frohlich and Spada, 1984; etc.) observation scheme recognizes teacher reactions

with such subcategories as correction, repetition, expansion, and paraphrasing.

These subcategories are adapted in my observation scheme. 1 consider these

types of reaction to be encouragement to aid students in speaking; therefore, my

observation scheme includes teaching strategies such as direct or explicit

encouragement to use the target language, repetition, translation, correction, and

beginning a word or phrase for a student. These teaching strategies are explained

below.

Regardless of the students' ability, the teacher's aim is to have the students

produce the target language as often as possible. Nonetheles, the teadier may

recognize that some students could be ready to use the language earlier than

others. It is conceivable that a teacher and/or the students in a beginw-level

core French class may happen to use the L1 on occasion. A teacher could

directly or explicitly encourage those students who seem to have some ski11 with

the target language or those who display confidence in using French to use

French exdusively. An example of this teaching strategy from the transcripts is

Dis-le en français [150-59-251. The teacher may encourage students who are

having diffidty expressing themselves or are hesitant to express t h e d v e s in

French by asking them to use only as much of the target langauge as they can.

For example, the teacher might say Dis-le un peu en anglais et un peu en fnmçais

[40-59-1041.

&pe titioq

To assist students who are having more diffidty or who are afraid to risk

using the target language, teachers may have the student repeat after them or use

their words and phrases to continue the sentence and express their thoughts.

Examples of this strategy are:

s: [...]

T: Okay. Ici.,.

S: Ici.. .

T: est-ce qu 'on entend..

S:

T:

S:

[a-59- 1091 1 1 SJ

est-ce qu 'on entend..

le ... le 's'?

s: 'i" 's'

T: Oui, il y a un groupe avec

S: i'

T: s' & k a f i Et il y a un mtre groupe avec

S: une Y.

[40-59-59/63].

Translation

The following excerpt from the transcripts is an example of the teadrer's

attempt to assist the student by providing a partial French translation of what the

student wishes to Say.

S: Est-ce que ... lfyou have an 'e'

T: S'il y a un 'e'. ..

[40-59- 107/108]

This teaching strategy provides students with the language necessary for

expr essing themselves.

Correction

Another strategy that teachers cm use to faolitate student production is to

simply provide a correction whiie the student is speaking. This strategy ensures

that the student produces the language correctly. This excerpt from the

transcript demonstrates how the teacher's correction prompts the student.

S: Est-ce que c'est fou&..

T: if faut

S: il faut oublier. .. T: Pas W i e r : Écrire.

58

écrire les mots

a Word or P b for the S a

The teadiing strategy of beginning a word or phrase for a student may

assist the student to use the target langauge in a limited way. An example of this

is

T: L 'in. -fin. - . S: nitif

[ 16O-S9-59/60]

23.4.12. Student Language Production

Teachers rnay use certain strategies to provide their students with

oppominities to use the target language. When trying to determine the effect of

these teachllig strategies on student language production skills, it is important to

consider the linguistic output of students. in my study, 1 looked at clarification

requests made by students as w d as other types of student utterances. When

examinhg each utterance, 1 considered the degree of student initiation of each

utterance. The categones which make up the second section of my observation

scheme are desaibed below. Table 2.2 presents a brief o v e ~ e w of the different

types of student utterances and the clarification requests examinecl in my study. - When asking students questions, teachers can often predetermine the

language that learners wiii produce. Questions cm provide the learners with

prompts that may iimit their language output grammatically, semantically or

ideationally. In a communicative or experiential dassroom, the teacher should

be concerned that students produce language on theii own accord (Tremblay,

Duplantie & Huot, 1990; Stem, 1992; Breen, 1983). It is not enough for students to

merely react to the teachet's utterances; they must aeate true interaction by

influencing the discourse themselves. It is mutual interaction-not simple

reaction-that is real communication (Malamah-Thomas, 1987). It has been

theorized that language leamers require opportunities for comprehensible

output in order to acquire the target language (Swain, 1985). Utterances that are

spontaneous, that have required no prompting from the teacher are perhaps the

most valuable in terxns of language acquisition. For this reason, one must

consider the degree of initiation that students take in beginnïng an utterance. My

observation scheme makes a distinction between student utterances that are hilly

student-initiated, partiaiiy student-initiated, or non-student-initiated. These

types of student utterances wiii be counted and the totals for each dass wiii be

compared.

A fully student-initiated utterance is unprompted by a request or

question. In this example, Ah, 'rapproche', c'est avec 'a' [M-59-44] the student

a& on her own hee will and corrects the teacher's spelling error. Another type

of fully student-initiateci utterance is the clarification request in which a student

asks the teacher to explain something more dearly. A partiaiiy student-initiated

utterance is one that is made by a student who is interacting with the teacher but

is not responding directly to the teacher's request or question In this example,

Est-ce que j'ai un point? [40-59-1751, the student uses some assistance from the

teacher to ask if he is awarded a bonus point for his previous response. A non-

student-initiated utterance is one in which a student is simply required to

Table 2.2 Student Luiguyle Production

Student Utterances Fully Student-initiated S: Ah, 'rapproche', c'est avec 'a'.

Partially Student-iniW S: Je suis un point. T: Je suis un point? Non- Est-ce que j 'ai un point? S: ESt-ce que j'ai un point?

Non-student-initiated T: Ou est-ce que c'est parce que c'est vendredi? S: Parce que c'est vendredi

Clarification Requests S: Si tu as un 'e ' après le 's ', wouldn't i ~ . . you wouldn't hear the 'e' too much, would you?

respond to one of the teacher's questions. In other words, the student is not

uttering anything that he or she truly wishes to comrnunicate. In this core French

dassroom, ail of these kinds of utterance might be made in either the target

language or the students' fitst language. For this reason, 1 have done six different

taliies for both groups - one for each of the thtee kinds of student utterances

(fully student-initiated, partially student-initiated, and non-student-initiated) in

French and in English.

t Clarification R- . . .

A darification request is a speciai type of student utterance in dassroom

discourse. My definition of a clarification request is broader than the usual

definition. Not only do I consider a clarification request to be a question about

the content or meaning of what an interlocutor has just said, I also consider it to

be a question that focuses on the form or code of the target language during

instruction. An example of this broader type of darification request is:

S: Si tu us un 'e ' après le 's', wouldn't it.- you wouldn't hear the 'e' tao

much, would you?

[40-59- 1231

In each group, 1 have counted incidents of student darification requests

made in French and in English separately.

2.3.4.l.3. Explanatory Notes for the Observation Scheme

Teaching strategies may vary depending on the teaching approach. For

example, the extensive use of drills, substitution exercises, and choral repetition-

that is activities without a meaningful context done simply to practise usage of

the target language-axe not a hallmark of communicative-experiential teaching.

Rather, experiential teadiing concentrates on conveyixtg a message instead of

concentrating on the language form (Stem 1992, Tremblay, Duplantie & Huot

1990, Rogers 1969). Because the goal of communicative-experiential teaching is to

have learners express their persona1 experiences and ideas, experiential-

communicative teaching strategies could involve asking students for the2

opinions, impressions, and observations about various situations. Proponents of

communicative-experientiai teaching believe that students will learn the

language by using the language in meaningful ways. Communicative-

experiential teaching strategies are those which encourage or require the students

to purposefully use the target language and/or expose them to real language in

use.

However, it is not always a simple task to detemiine whether a lesson is

communicative-expenenüal. h y lesson, whether the teacher considers her

teaching approach to be communicative-experiential or "traditional" (form-

focused), may incorporate strategies from vanous types of approaches. For

example, a teacher could use a drill exercise, a "traditional" activity, and the

lesson might be hastily judged to be one that does not adopt a communicative-

experiential approach. in the videotaped lessow which act as a sample of the

teacher's strategies, the use of a drill exercise may not be representative of the

teaching done in the wecorded lessons. In other words, the lessow cannot

merely be analyzed for their activities or events like dass discussions os choral

repetition exercises; rather the teaching strategies of interest to this study are

more subtle. Many of these subtle teaching strategies may be used in both a

communicative-experientid dass and a form-focused, analytic dass. Malamah-

Thomas (1987) describes the development of an observation scheme as foilows:

The various systems and categories ... are aU intendeci to act as frameworks

of description for what goes on, in verbal tesms, in any lesson. They

cannot be used to judge the success of a lesson, or to prescribe what

should go on in a lesson, unless seen in conjunction with other factors,

such as the general purpose or content of the lesson in question. They are

not, however, to be seen as wholly objective instruments of description.

They are ali subjective to the extent that they are based on pasticular

assumptions and preconceptions about the dassroom. (p. 56)

The general purpose of each lesson given by the teacher in this study is to

provide her students with linguistic input so that they may produce meaningfui

target language utterances. Therefore, the observation scheme must capture

these kinds of strategies. When defining obsewationd categories, Chaudron

(1988) and Nunan (1989) refer to behaviours or behavioural events. These

behaviours can refer to unintentional reactions, intentional behaviours, Le.

strategies or pedagogical functions, or utterances. One is Left to assume that

regardless of the activity, the teacher wiil use strategies to engage the shidents in

some sort of meaningful discourse. Examples of these strategies might be

information (or referential) questions, display questions, requests and

commands, comprehension checks, dassroom management or disciplinar y

actions, communicative asides, repetition, translation, and correction. (These

teaching strategies are outiined in Table 2.1 and described in more detail above.)

Teachers use their strategies to provide their students with opportunities to gain

verbal input and/or to speak. Therefore, teaching strategies which furthet

faalitate oral production among students must also be studied. (These strategies

are iisted in Table 2.2 and explained above.)

The categories used in the observation scheme for this study have mainly

been modelied on existing observation schemes, while providing a clear

description of the interaction between the teacher and the students as they

pertain to the focus of the study. For example, some pedagogical discourse

functions from Gayle's (1984) Language Teaching Record Scheme (outiined in

Chapter 1) have been adopted or adapted for the observation scheme of the

present study. My teaching strategies of display questions, information

questions, requests or commands, and full and partial translation have been

developed from Gayle's discourse functiow of speafic information, general

information, directive, and translation respectively. In addition to Gayle's (1984)

L m , my observation scheme adapts categories from other schemes. As the

classes observed in the present study are supposed to have a

communicative/experientiai basis (as evidenced by the teacher's choice of

program and textbook materials as weii as her comxnents during her interviews),

the observation scheme must capture the communicative nature of the dassroom

interaction. For this reason, categories fiom the Communicative Orientation of

Language Teadiing (COLT) observation scheme developed by Ailen, Frohlich

and Spada (1984) have also been adapted for my observation scheme. COLT

categories like "discourse initiationff and "use of target language" have been

adapted to suit the purposes of my observation scheme. Nonetheless, recently

developed observation schemes like the COLT are built upon research

experience with earlier observation schemes. For this reason, my scheme is

dosely linked to the COLT scheme but also incorporates elements from older

schemes like Flanders' Interaction Analysis Categories (FIAC) (Flanders, 1970)

and Moscowia's Foreign Language Interaction (FLINT) system (1971).

From Flanders' Interaction Analysis Categories (1970)' 1 have used the

"asks questions" from his "Teacher Talk" section However, 1 have modified his

"asks questions" category to reveal the types-Le. extended or limited-of display

and information questions being posed by the teacher. I have a h adapted the

"gives directions" category from the "Teacher Talk" section of the FIAC.

From Moscowitz's FLINT (1971), 1 have used the "praises or encourages"

category from her "Indirect Influence of Teacher Talk" section. From her "Direct

65

Influence of Teacher Tallc", 1 have used her "gives directions" category; however,

1 did not combine "requests/commands8~ and "directions" into one single

category. Her "uiticizes student behaviour" is used in my "dassroom

management" category. In her "Student Taik" section, 1 have adapted her

"student response, specific" and "student response, open-ended or student-

initated" categories. As Moscowitz does, 1 also consider the use of the L1 and LZ

My observation scheme is descriptive; it is meant only to describe the

interaction in a class that is aiready considered to be communicative. My

observation scheme reveais the strategies that the teacher in the study uses to

provide students with oral input and the ways in which the students respond.

Some observation schemes may use a time unit as the basis of observation

of each category. The observation of the totai number of seconds or minutes

spent on a particular pedagogical event is an example of time being used as the

unit of analysis. Other observation schemes use the occurrence of a particular

pedagogical behaviour as th& unit of analysis. These pedagogical behaviours

could be as "smaii" as an utterance (e.g., an extended open question) or as "large"

as an activity (e-g., a game). In embarking on this study, 1 did not know whether

the teacher would use the same "large" pedagogical behaviours-or whether to

the same extent-in each of the groups. On the other hand, it was almost certain

that the teacher wodd use some similar "small" teaching strategies in ai i of her

classes of different formats. However, 1 did not know the extent to which she

would use these "small" teaching strategies in eadi dass due to the varying

length of each tesson. The use of a time unit of analysis might mean that some

"srnail" teadung strategies are misseci during the observation. Due to this and to

the fact that 1 wished to determine whether there are variations in teadiing

strategies between the different groups, this observation scheme uses a tally of

the number of occurrences of specifïc strategies as the basis of observation. High

learning outcome scores or attitude ratings assoaated with the geater use of

particular strategies in a certain group may indicate the effectiveness of those

strategies.

The classification of the various teaching strategies into specific categories

should be consistent. According to Chaudron (1988), this consistency is

influenced by "the degree of inference required of the observer in making the

classification" (p. 19). Low-inference categories are those which are defined by

dear behaviours. High-inference categories, on the other hand, require the

obsenrer to make a judgement about the significance of a behaviour, thus,

making their interpretation possibly less reliable. In an attempt to elimlliate any

possible misunderstanding of behaviours, 1 have tried to use categories that

require as fittle interpretatioii as possible. %me categories in my obse~at ion

scheme, such as "comprehension checks" or "requests / comrnands", refer to

strategies which are dearly defined and obvious in their nature (and, therefore,

low-inference), whereas others, such as "extended display questions" and

"limited display questions", require some interpretation on part of the coder. In

an effort to maintain consistency, 1 assess inter-rater reliabiiity (as ciiscusseà in

section 3.1) in the coding of the observation scheme categories.

Chaudron (1988) notes that some observation schemes permit multiple

coding. Multiple coding refers to the possibility of having a behavioural event

assigned to more than one category. This situation is possible if a researcher is

looking at, for example, the linguistic content and social value of dassroom

utterances. The present study is unidimensional in that the observation sdreme

needed to capture only the (potential) pedagogical value of strategies as

delimited by dassroom utterances. Therefore, 1 have used categories that are

intended to be mutually exclusive; that is, each verbal strategy (utterance) is

coded only once.

Often, observation schemes are coded in reai time. Real-time coding refers

to the method of observing and coding the dassroom events simultaneously; the

coding is completed while the researcher watches the live action in the

classroom. As stated earlier, this observation scheme is based on an analysis of

transcripts made from videotapes of the groups. Therefore, the observation

scheme for this study is not done with real-time coding.

23.4.2. Summary of the Observation Scheme

In summary, the observation scheme has two parts. The first part deals

with teaching strategies intended to provide target language input, aid students'

comprehension and/or elicit student responses. It has categories for extended

and limited information questions, extended and limited display questions,

requests/commands, comprehension checks, classroom management/

disciplinary actions, asides, beginning a word or phrase for a student, translation,

repetition, correction, and encouragement to speak. In the second part of the

observation scheme, 1 make note of student language production. The categories

here consist of incidents of student-initiated utterances and whether they are

fully student-initiated, partiaily student-initiated, or non-student initiated as

well as student darification requests.

Each instance of the above-mentioned strategies is counted, and tallies of

each teaching strategy and each type of student utterance are compared for the

groups involved in this study. This permits me to determine whether there are

variations in teaching strategies between the different dass formats. Results of

achievement and atatudinai testing from Lapkin, Harley and Hart's (1995) study

are reviewed for the two applicable groups. In groups where the teacher may

have varied her teaching strategies significantly and where performance and

attitudinal results differ between the groups, the discussion focuses on the

reiationship between these strategies and the differences in outcome.

23.5. Intemiews

In March of 1994, the teacher involved in the study was intervieweci about

her impressions of the study, her perceptions about the performance of the

various groups, her impressions of the chosen pedagogical material, and her

teaching style. The interview was conducted in an office at the teacher's school

during her non-teaching h o w . Due to technical problems, this interview was

not properly audio-recorded. Immediately following the interview, the teacher's

responses were reconshucted in a written format. By mutual agreement between

the teacher and researchexs, a second interview date was set for May 1%

As it was intended to confirm the responses reconstructed from the first

intenriew, the second interview covered the sarne topics as the first The second

interview was conducted while the teacher was attending a professional

conference at a hotel in downtown Toronto. The responses provided during the

second i n t e ~ e w did not differ substantially in content from those of the f i s t

interview. They did differ slightly in tone as the teacher adopted a more formal

October 1993

approach to responding to the interviewer's questions.

The interview ptovided qualitative background information on the

teacher's experiences, teadiing style and strategies. The i n t e ~ e w responses

could be compared to data collected during dassroom observations.

2.4. Procedurd Overview

This section presents a brief history and general xhedule of events rdated

to the Carleton case study and the present study.

July 1992 a proposai by Glenn Campbell for "Assessing the h p a d of

Compact Core French Programs", a papa submitted as a

course requirement for Sharon Lapkin's OISE graduate

course on Research Themes in Canadian FSL Education

Lapkin, Harley and Hart begin to discuss the possibility of

conducting this study with Nancy Halsall of the Carleton

Board of Education

cooperative prinapal and core French teacher are found

Spring 1993 parents of students at the school where the study is to be

conducted are informeci of the purpose of the study

Sumrner 1993 students are assigned to their groups by the school's

guidance counseilor

September 1993 the 40-minute control group begins its (regda.) program of

study

the pre-test is administered to this group

the CAT is administered to all Grade 7 students

the 150-minute intensive group begiw its program of study

November 1993

December 1993

Jan. 1420,1994

February 1994

April 1994

May 1994

May 29,1994

June 1994

September 1994

October 1994

9 the pre-test is administered to this group

the 150-minute intensive group is observed and videotaped

the 150-minute intensive group ends its program of study

and the immediate post-test is administered to this group

the 80-minute group begiw its program of study

sections of the videotapes from the 150-minute group are

transcribed

the 40-minute control group is observed and videotaped

creation of the delayed post-test begins

sections of the videotapes from the 40-minute control

group are transcribed

the 80-minute group is observed and videotaped

the classroom teacher is interviewed for the first time

attempts (aii unsuccessful) are made to transcribe the

videotapes from the 80-minute group

pilot-testing of the delayed post-test begins

the teacher is interviewed for a second time in Toronto

the immediate post-test is administered to the 40-minute

control group

the delayed post-test is administered to students from the

three groups

the writing of this papa beginç

resdts are analyzed and interpreted by Lapkin, Harley and

Hart

January 1995 Lapkin, Harley and Hart produce draft version of their

Report to the Carleton Board of Education and Canadian

Heritage entitled Revitaiizing Core French: The Carleton Case

Study

March 1995 Lapkin, Harley and Hart release final study

1995 to 1999 completion of this document

25. Summary of Methodology

This study is an extension of Lapkin, Harley and Hart's (1995) Carleton

case study. Approximately 90 Grade 7 core French students were divided into

three heterogeneous classes so that there would be few differences in academic

ability and behavioural history between the groups. Each dass experienced one

of three treatments that varied the amount of their daily exposure to French but

not their overail annual time spent on core French. My study, however,

considers only two of these three groups. The cornparison group received 40

minutes of core French instruction each day for the fuil school year. The other

(experimental or intensive) group received 150 minutes of core French

instruction for approximately onequarter of the school year.

The principal data for this study were gathered through the observation

and videotaping of the classes. Each of the dasses was observed and videotaped

at the same point in th& respective programs. The videotapes were transcried

and analyzed according to a specially adapted observation scheme. This

observation scheme had categories for teaching strategies like asking extended or

limited information questions, asking extended or Limited display questions,

making requests or commands, doing comprehension checks, conducting

disciplinary actions or managing the classroom, and making asides. Other

categories include encouragement to use the target language, translation,

repetition, correction, and beginning a word or phrase for the students.

Clarification requests made by the students and their utterances and whether

they were fully student-initiated, partiaily student-initiated or non-student-

initiated are also recordeci on the observation schexne. A taily of the incidents in

each category was kept and statisticaiiy analyzed in order to relate these totals to

the achievement and attitudinal outcornes from the Lapkin, Harley and Hart

(1995) study.

Because only a limited amount of dassroom observation and videotaping

could be done, the participating teadier was asked to keep a journal to note her

impressions of the three dasses. Interviews with the teacher were also conducted

in order to gain more background information. These sources provide the study

with some qualitative data.

Ail of the data are used to determine whether there are variations in the

use of strategies by this partidar teacher in the classes of differing lengths.

Chapter 3

Findings

This chapter presents both quantitative and qualitative results from my

stud y.

Quantitative results are presented in section 3.1. Tallies for the various

teaching strategies and each type of student utterance in both groups are

statisticdy anaiyzed and shown in table form.

Qualitative data is outlined in section 3.2. This section features qualitative

data from an interview with the participating teacher, the teacher's journal, and

my observations of some of her dasses. The data here focus on the way the

teacher implemented the Élans program in the different dass formats as weil as

her impressions of the different groups and the students in them.

3.1. Quantitative F i n d h g s

In this section, 1 present the quantitative findings from the observation

scheme. These findings are derived from a comparison of the tallies of the

different teaching strategies and types of student utterances in the 40-minute and

150-minute groups. First, 1 briefly describe how the selected teaching strategies

and types of student utterance were coded, and 1 outline the inter-rater reliabiiity

of the obsenration scheme. Second, 1 o u t h e the statistical process used for

analyzing the data, and 1 explain the required level of significance. Third, 1

present the data in table form and describe the comparisons.

As explained in the previous chapter, the groups were videotaped and

transcripts were made ftom the videotapes to facilitate the coding of the

observation scheme. 1 coded each complete distinct utterance (not induding

sentences that were read from the course materials) as being one of the seleded

teadiing strategies or types of student utterance. The total number of instances of

each teaching strategy and each type of student utterance in each group was

calculated. These totals and the2 percentages relative to a i l occurrences of

teachirtg strategies and student utterances for each group are presented in Tables

3.1 and 3.2.

A random excerpt, comprishg ten percent of ail transcribed utterances,

was coded by another observer in order to estimate inter-rater reliability. W e

agreed on 90.4% of our codings. Differences between my codings and those of

the other rater occurred mainly with the types of student utterance, i-e. when

indicating whether it was fully initiated, partiaily initiated or not initiated by the

student. (Each type of student utterance in the two groups was statisticaiiy

analyzed separately; however, î n order to take into account the differences in

coding between the second rater and myseif, 1 also grouped these categories for

comparative purposes.) Other differences in coding occurred, I believe, because

the other rater based her coduigs on the transcript alone. She did not watch the

videotapes and, therefore, was not able to see the actual flow of dassroom

discourse.

Tallies for each type of teaching strategy and student utterance in each

class format were analyzed statisticaiiy in order to present an objective

cornparison of data from the two groups (Talmage, 1976). For example, the

number of occurrences of information questions prompting an extended

response in French in the regulat %minute group was compared to that of the

intensive 150-minute group. A drisquare (n*) "goodness of fit" test (Popham

and Sirotnik, 1973) using the exact statistics module of Minitab 12 for Windows

(version 12.21) for tests of independence was chosen for the analysis, because the

nominals (or tallies) were, in general, very low. The chi-square test checks the

disparity between frequencies: the greater the difference between the two

nominals, the higher the ~2 value and, consequently, the greater the probability

of significance (Le. the lower the resulting p value which indicates a lesser

probability of an event occurring by chance). This analysis was approached by

testing the n d i hypothesis i-e. that there is no difference between the total

number of occurrences of one type of strategy or student utterance in the two

class formats. A rejedion of this nuii hypothesis (Ho) wouid indicate that the two

numbers would not likely occur together and, therefore, are significantly

different (Seliger and Shohamy, 1989; Hatch and Farhady, 1982; Popham and

Sirotnik, 1973).

Becaw the tallies are, in most cases, quite low (refer to Tables 3.1 and 3.2),

a relatively strong level of sipificance (i-e. a low p value) is requited (Hatch and

Farhady, 1982). (in fact, due to the difficulty of analyzing low nominal values

with confidence, the Minitab chi-square procedure alerts the user to frequencies

of or below five.) Sudi a procedure ailows for a strong level of confidence in

interpreting the resdts of statistical tests. For this reason, 1 have set the level of

significance at pe0.01 (Hatch and Farhady, 1982; Popham and Sirotnik, 1973).

Table 3.1 presents the number and percentage of occurrences of the

various teadiing strategies in each group. Table 3.2 presents the number and

Table 3.1. The Number and Pexcentage of Occurrences of Each Teadhg Shategy in the Two Group.

REGULAR REGULAR GROUP

P VALUES m on Nu* of

Occur- rences)

N u m r d Occurrences

Porcentago of

Occurrences Infoma?h Questions:

Extendeci in Fmnch Extended in English Limited in French Limited in English

Disphy Questions: Ekended in French Extended in English Limited in Frecich 1 FitedinEnglish

R uestslCommands Comprehension

Direct Encouragement to Speak in:

French English

Phrase Correction V

459 piaces.

TOTAL 1

* Total not 100% d

Table 3.Z The Number and Pacentage of Occurrences of Each Type of Student Utterance in the Two Grmips.

percentage of occurrences of each type of student utterance in each program

format. The final column in both tables presents the p values from the

cornparison of the number of occurrences of each individual teaching strategy or

student utterance in one group with that in the other group. These figures

indicate that there are no statistical cornparisons that meet the set level of

significance (p ~0.01). This is perhaps not surprising considering the number of

low totals and similar tallies between the two groups (Hatch and Farhady, 1982).

In addition to testing for statistical ciifferences in individual teaching

strategies and types of student utterances between the two groups, five other

STUOENT UlTERANCES

REGULAR GROUP

N u h r of Occurrences

REGUUR GFIOUP

Percentage of

Occurrences Fu@ lnaialed f

5.67 7.80

mfierich i n ~ l g ~

INTENSîVE GROUP

N u h r d ûccurrences

8 11

INTENSIVE GROUP

Pemntage of

Occurrences

6 2

Partiatiy lnitiied n Fiiecich iiEngM

Non Student Initiated in French iiEi~#dl

CIarifkat ion Requests hFierich mErgCGh

TOTAL -

* Total not 100% due to tmcating/rounding of decimai places.

5.3l i .n

16 13

56 18

1 2

113

14.16 11.50

48.67 15.93

0.88 1 -77

99.99'

14 9

61 29

4 5

141

9.m 6.38

4326 20.57

2.84 356

100.00

cornparisons were made using the same testing procedure desaiid above.

Because the p value for the comparison of the number of occurrences of

partial translation in the two groups (p=0.014) closely approached my

previously set level of signiôcance (p<0.01), I analyzed al l translation done in

both classes. By doing so, 1 wanted to determine whether there was a significant

statistical difference for tanslation between the two groups I added together the

number of occurrences of partial translation and fùll translation in each group

and statistically compared them (see Table 3.3.). The p value for combined

partial and full translation @=0.015) also dosely approaches but does not meet

the set level of significance. Popham and Sirotnik (1973) stress the importance of

maintaining previously established levels of significance. For this season, 1 must

find that the number of occurrences of translation (partial and full) in the regular,

40-minute group is not significantly different from that in the intensive, 150-

minute group.

The number of occurrences of questions of an extended nature (regardles

of whether they were information questions or display questions) in French and

English as weii as those in French only were compared for the two groups (see

Table 3.4). This meant that, in the fist case, a total of 59 for the repuiar group and

a total of 48 for the intensive group were statisticaily compared. No significant

difference was found (p=0.243). In the second case, totals of 57 and 47 for the

regular and intensive groups respectively were statisticdly compared. Again,

no sigxuficant difference was found @=0.281).

As shown in Table 3.5, the fourth additional comparison that was made

was done for the total number of student utterances and student clarification

Table 3.3. The Number and Pacentage of Occurrences of All Translation Donc in Each Group.

STRATEGY REGULAR GROUP

REGULAR INTENSIVE INTENSIVE G W P GROUP GROUP

Number d Occurrences

Porcentago of

Occurrences

Partiai Translation

Full Translation

Partial and Full Translation

Total Teaching Strategies

Table 3.4. The Numba and Percentage of Occurrences of Extended Questions in Each Group.

INTENSIVE 1 EXTENDED REGULAR REGULAR GROUP

P VALUES m-d on Nu* d

Occur- rances)

0.243

GROUP GROUP

Number d Occurrences

Pe rcentaga of

Occurrences

Nurrbr d Occurrences

in French & English

in French

Total Teaching

requests made in French between the two classes. cornparison was made,

because - as noted earlier in this chapter - the inter-rater reliability in

determinhg the types of student utterance was slightly lower than the overall

inter-rater reliability for aii student utterances and teaching strategies. For the

purpose of statistical comparison, differences in the coding of student utterances

are irrelevant when the various types of student utterances are combined.) A

total of 87 such student utterances in the regular group was compareci to the total

of 78 such utterances in the intensive group (using each group's respective total

number of clarification requests and student utterances directed to the teacher to

complete the chi-square test). This comparison, too, did not produce a

significant statistical difference @=0.224).

Table 3.5. The Number and Pacentage of AU Student Utterances in French in Each Group.

teacher. Comments made (inhglish) by students to one another recorded on tape were not counted.

* Indudes aii darification reauests and student utterances directed to the

REGULAR GROUP

Percentage of

Occurrences

61 .?O

- - -

STUDENT UTERANCES

in French

Total Student Utterances'

P VALUES W2-d on Nu* d

Occur- - rences)

0224

1

- -

- INTENSIVE G F W P

N u m r d Occurrences

70

113

REGULAR GROUP

Number of Occurrences

87

141

INTENSIVE GROUQ

Percentage of

Occurrences .

69.m

_ -

81

The fSth additional compatison dealt with the teacher's use of Engiish in

each dass. I counted the nuniber of times the teacher used English during the

lessons. An English utterance may have been a complete sentence such as 'We

were looking for a blind spot" [150-59-29], a sentence partialiy in Engiish such as

"Do you know somebody qui est aveugle?" [40-36.751, or a minimal utterance of

simply a word or two like "Enough!" [15û-60-181. (Ocmences of "okay" were

not counted at dl.) Each distinct utterance made in French was counted

regardless of its length. The teacher used 59 English utterances and 1494 French

utterances with the 40-minute group and 58 English utterances and 1413 French

utterances with the 150-minute group. (See Table 3.6.) The chi-square test

described above was applied in order to compare the number of utterances

made by the teadier in one language (English or French) to the total number of

utterances (French and English) in each group. No significant difference was

found (p=0.838) between the groups in the teacher's use of English (or French).

Table 3.6. The Number and Pacentage of Teacher Utterances in French and in English in Each Group.

TEACHER UTTERANCES

REGULAR INTENSIVE REGUîAR GROUP

in French

in English

TOTAL

Porcontago I N u W r d of Occurrences

ûccurrsnces Occurrences

1494

58

1-

INTENSIVE GROUP

Porcentago of

Occurroncos

P VALUES 0)a-d on Nu* d

Occur- roncar)

82

None of the statistical cornparisons between the two groups provided

evidence of differences in the numbers (frequencies) of occurrences of the

various strategies or student utterances at the p<0.01 level of significance. In ai i

cases, the numbers of occurrences of each teaching strategy or student utterance

in the two groups were found to be similar, and the n d hypothesis, thetefore,

couid not be rejected. In other words, no sipifkant difference was found

between the groups with respect to the t k h h g strategies or student utterances.

3.1.1. Summary of Quantitative Findings

In the preceding section, my quantitative data were presented. Each

occurrence of a certain category of teaching strategy or type of student utterame

recorded on the transcripts of the dassroom videotapes was tallied. Another

rater and 1 agreed on over 90% of our coduigs of these strategies and utterances.

In addition to taiiies, 1 calculated the percentage that each teaching

strategy represented as a part of the total teaching strategies occuning in that

program format group. 1 did the same for each type of student utterance in both

groups. These percentages and the tallies were displayed in table form.

To determine whether there were differences in the teaching strategies and

types of student utterances between the two program format groups, 1 performed

chi-square tests for comparative purposes. These statistical analyses determined

that there were no siiificant or practical differences in the frequencies of any of

the teadiing strategies or student utterances between the two groups. However,

the data for partial translation and partial and full translation combined almost

produced statisticaily significant differences between the two program formats.

There was no significant difference in the number of English utterances made by

the teacher in the two groups.

The quantitative data indicate that the teadier used similar amounts of

each teaching strategy with each group and that students in each coup

produced similar amounts of student utterances. No variations in teadiing

strategies were found between the two program formats.

3.2. Quaiitative Fin-

This section presents qualitative data gathered for my study. This

qualitative data is derived kom an intewiew with the partiapating teacher, from

the journal that she kept while teaching that d o 0 1 year, and from my notes

while observing some of her classes. In this section, 1 describe various issues that

arose kom the three qualitative sources.

3Z1. Interview Data

The participating teacher was first interviewed at her school in March

1994. At that time, she had completed the 150-minute program and was about

halfway through the IO-minute program. Due to technical problems, the

interview had not been properly audio-recorded and, thus, could not be

transcribed. Imrnediately after the interview, 1 made notes of the teacher's

responses to my questions fiom memory. The teacher was shown these notes and

she agreed that they seemed to match her opinions Nevertheless, out of courtesy

to the teacher, for purposes of darity and for reasons of reliability, the interview

was redone at a later date. In April 1994,I met with the teacher whiie she was

attending a conference at a downtown Toronto hotel. 1 believe that the content of

this interview is virtually identical to that of the eariier interview. The only

difference between the two interviews is in their tone; the teacher seemed to

adopt a more formal tone for the second i n t e ~ e w .

My questions ranged over a variety of topics which induded her

impressions of the study, the classes and the course material as weil as her

feelings about language learning in general. A number of issues of potential

interest to my study emerged from her responses. In this section, 1 wiu outline

five major issues that may have had a beating on her deiivery of the different

program formats. First, the participating teacher's own experiences in language

learning will be briefly mentioned. Second, her beliefs about language learning

will be outlined with speehic reference to teacher chaiacteristics, grammar and

pronunciation, her use of English in the dassroom, and smaîi group and pair

work. Third, her implementation of the Élans materials in her dassroom will be

addressed. Fourth, 1 will touch on her consistency in lesson planning for the

three groups. Finally, changes or improvements that she would Iüre to make to

her lesson planning will be described. AU quotations are from statements this

teacher made during the second interview.

331.1. The Teacheis Language Lelming Experiences

During her childhood, the participating teacher's family Lived in several

countries overseas. She began school in Germany where she leamed German.

Several years later, her family moved to (the former) Czechoslovakia where she

attended a French school administered by the French embassy. With little or no

previous exposure to French, she was submersed in the language in content-

based subjects each school day. Her problems with quickly acquiring the

language understandably caused her to have difficuities mastering the content of

her courses. Nevertheless, as she looked badc on the experience from an adult

perspective, she claimed that it was the "ideal way" to leam French. Being

forced to try to communicate, with little formal instruction, in order to play with

her French-speaking dassmates made her learn the language.

Later, she attended a private high school in Canada and studied Gerrnan,

Spanish and French before going on to major in French and German at

university. Her latest language leaming efforts had been about eight years prior

to our interview. At that t h e , she had participateci in an immersion experience

intended to improve the French skills of teachers. She spent four months

studying and living with a famiiy in northern Quebec and four months receiving

special post-service training from the University of Ottawa in order to prepare

herself to teach histoire and géographie in a French immersion program. Again,

she described her own immersion experience as the "very, very, very best way"

to learn French. She felt that as far as she was concerneci, that was "the only real

way to leam a language". When 1 asked her if it would be the best way for her

students to leam, she emphaticaily replied, "Oh, absolutely." In general, it

seems that this teacher feels that the realistic communicative demands placed on

a learner in an immersion environment rather than simple classroom study

provide the best conditions to acquire a second language.

3.2.1.2 The Teadrde Beïiefs about Language Teaching

During our interview, a number of the paffiapating teacher's beliefs about

language teaching arose. She had strong feelings about the characteristics of

good elementary core French teachers, the personal importance she placed on

proper pronunciation over correct graxnmar as students learn the language, her

use of English in the dassroom, and the value of group or pair work.

When 1 asked her about her strengths as a teacher, she felt that the

diffidties that she had had in school helped her to relate to some of her students

and that she was able to explain things well. She also believed that she was

h y . This teacher felt that it was important to be "a little aazy", dynamic, to be

an actor. She stated that core French teilchers would do better not to be strict

disciplinarians, that they had to be more tolerant of the noise created by the

communicative exchanges arising from "a very loosey-goosey kind of program"

like Élans. According to her, flexibility in coping with new teadiing approaches

and in dealing with the students was one of her assets. Finally, she believed that

ail of these characteristics-the ability to provide dear explanatiow, a sense of

humour, a flair for fun, tolerance and flexibility-made students want to go to her

French classes.

This teacher expressed some strong beliefs about studentsf ability to speak

acceptably weil by emphasizing the relative importance of pronunciation and

gramrnar for language learners. In her opinion, proper pronunciation was more

important than correct grammar for those Ieamuig to speak a Ianguage. When

trying to communicate with learners, she felt more bothered by those who had

difficulty with their pronunciation than by those who had poor grammar. She

desaibed this as her "pet peeve about pronunciation and hashing the language

to death". She did not want her students to be able to speak French but

pronounce it badly- She indicated that she wanted students to communicate in

full sentences, but she realized that they had to this point, not had enough

opportunity to acquire an adequate vocabulary or sufficient grammatical

knowledge to interact well by themselves on an informal basis. For this reason,

she was not bothered by students who got words "a little backwards". By having

better pronunciation, she felt, learners would sound better.

She described improving her students' pronunciation as her "focus". She

felt that the textbook did not provide enough opportunities for the students to

practise their pronunciation and intonation, so she had them read "everything"

in it aloud. She did admit, however, that the students' fiuency and their ability

to communicate was the ultimate goal. Nevertheless, she also revealed that

opportunities to practise pronunciation and intonation in an expliat way were

not the only opportunities that the students did not have to a great extent. She

stated that what she had managed to do with her dasses, particularly the 80-

minute group, was to have "at the very least each student in the class say

something in French every period. And on good days they get to say two

things". It seems that students did not have extensive opporhinities to freely

produce output regardless of the teacher's intended focus or goal.

During the interview, this teacher mentioned her use of English in the

classroom. She felt that Élizns was good at forcing her to speak as much French as

she possibly could with the students. She admitted that she might have spoken

more English if she had not been involved in the Carleton case study. Her energy

level and the students' behaviour could have been factors in a decision to speak

in English. She also admitted that she had to speak "a lot of Engiish" with the 40-

minute group that was scheduled for the end of the school day otherwise she

would "be hanging off the rafters". It seems that she found her use of English in

class acceptable, because it made difficult situations more bearable for her and,

consequently, the shidents.

1 asked this teacher directly about her feelings about group work and pair

work. She understood the theory behind group work and agreed that it should

work; however, she doubted that the students' French was good enough to gain

any benefit from it. She dearly stated, "1 think it's great, but they're going to

speak English. And that's just the reality of it" She said that she did try to place

students in rnixed-ability groups so that they would help each other. She found,

however, that students could not speak French the whole time, so "there's going

to be English. There can't not be any English" From her experience, this teacher

felt that students could not work dectively in French when placed in groups,

and she, therefore, preferred to have them try to learn to cornxnunicate in French

independently.

By sifting through the interview data, these four personal beliefs of the

teacher-the quaiities of a good teacher, her preference for proper pronunciation

over correct grammar, her use of Engiish in dass, and her disiike for smaiî group

and pair work-were evident. They may have been discussed only briefly, but

her strong feeLings about them were dear.

321.3. The Teachefs Implementation of the Élans Materiab

A thisd major issue that arose from the interview data was her

implementation of the Élans materials in her classes. Because this teacher had

previously taught in a French immersion program, 1 asked her if she found

parallels between the immersion approach and the communicative/experientiai

basis of the program she was using. In general, she did not see any great

sîmilarities. Othet than the fact that there was communication going on in the

immersion dassroom, she perceived it to be "very much one-way. Teacher-

student, student replies. You know, teacher-directed. Teacher-centred".

Because students in immersion dasses were not communicating in French

amongst thernselves without the teacher's intervention, this teacher did not t .

that that type of dassroom was particularly communicative. She felt that the

cornmunicative/experiential orientation of Élans was much better and more

advanced than the lecturestyle of immersion.

Men the teacher described her own classes, however, she revealed that the

level of the Élans materials did not always facilitate effective communicative/

experiential lessons. She explained that, because the É h s material was often too

difficult for the students, her dass "ends up that, although ifs communicative,

there are times when ifs more of a one-way communication with the kids either

presenting to the dass or the teacher asking the question and the kids responding

as opposed to kids asking kids questions in French". This was one example of

her classes being (on occasion) teacher-directed or teacher-centreci.

Another example of this is seen in how she would have her classes work

through workbook or textbook exercises. She indicated that she knew she was

supposed to allow the students to work independently or with a partner to

complete theh awwers. However, she often felt that the exercises would not get

done efficiently that way especiaiiy with the %minute group in the afternoon.

To keep the students focused, she would lead the completion of the exercise at

the bladcboard. Students would give their response oraiiy and she would write

it out in a complete and correct sentence for ai i to see and use as a model. She

admitted that this was not true communication, but she beiieved it helped

students by providing them with necessary vocabulary. In her opinion, this was

a better way of compleüng the exercise whiie maintaining (disciplinary) control

of the dass. She did not believe that it was the best way to aid the students in

their language leaming, but she exdaimed that "they canft do it" othenvise.

This teacher liked the philosophy behind Éhns, but she had to be realistic

with her students. Because, as she believed, Élans was designed for the best

students of French, teachers would have to adjust theV expectations of theù own

students. She felt that ody the best students could do the activities the way that

the Élans teacher's manual suggested. According to her, the textbook authors

had overestimated studentsf ability in French and the size of their vocabulary.

This assumption made it difficult to implement the program the way it had been

intended.

In general, it seems that this teacher found that the course materials made

it difficult to get the students using the target language on their own. As a result,

she often ended up leading the dass-a situation which, she realized, detracted

from the communicative intent of the program materials.

3.2.1.4. The Teachds Consistency in Lnsson Planning

The fourth issue that arose from the interview pertains to the teacher's

Lesson planning for the three groups. The teacher had to cover the same material

in the same overall amount of time; however, the formats for the classes varied

from the traditional daily, 40-minute approach to a more intensive format.

Nevertheless, the teacher was not necessarily expected to plan her lessons for

each group in the same way. When I asked the teadier if she was doing anything

differently with the 40-minute group as compared to the 80-minute group and

the 150-minute group that she had finished teaching, she replied, "1 think I've

91

tried to keep it f a ~ l y consistent-"

It appears that this teacher tried to keep her lessons the same regardles of

the dass format. Her earlier experiences with the 150-minute group prepared her

to make adjustments to her teaching when dealing with the 40-minute group.

When she knew an activity was going to be diffidt to carry out as it had been

intended she would do it "a iittle bit differently", by doing it together on the

blackboard, for example. She realized that this reduced the amount of work

students were doing independently, but such a procedure ensured that students

completed the activity.

Some of her other comments indicate why she might not have wanted to

make significant changes to her lessons plans for the different groups. First, she

may have felt it was best to follow the recommendations in the teacher's manual.

She stated, "Élans had prepared a program so 1 don't have to prepare the lessons;

they're done. Which is why I Like it." By adhering to the provideci lesson plans

as closely as she could, the teacher may have felt she was implementing the

program in the best possible way. Second, she may have beiieved that she was

supposed to maintain consistency in her lesson plans between the different

groups for the purposes of the study. When she commented that she used the

materid slightly differently with one group, she made a point of saying that she

didn't think that that difference was "going to mess up the study". in her first

interview (for which there is no verbatirn transccipt), she had indicated that she

had to do everything the same because this was part of an experiment

For whatever reason, this teacher believed that she carried out the lessons

for the different groups primarily in a consistent manner. (It is interesthg to note

that, despite consistenaes in her lessons, this teacher indicated a preference for

the 80-minute format-)

3.21.5. The Teachds Suggestions for Future Changes to Her Teaching in a Simila Context

The fifth major issue from the i n t e ~ e w that bears noting for this study

deals with the changes or improvements the teacher would have liked to make to

her lessons. This teacher indicated that there were four general changes she

would have liked to make. These changes concem the teaching of grammar, the

use of a notebook, giving the students more freedom to communicate, and

expanding the program for the 150-minute group.

The teacher stated that she tended to want to teach some grammar in her

classes, but it was diffidt to find in the Élans books. She felt that if she did more

forma1 grammar lessons with her students, they would do better on the

evaluation materials that were part of the ÉLms program.

She indicated that she would have the students keep a notebook the next

time she taught the program. By maintainhg a notebook, students would be able

to copy notes off the blackboard. Although she admitted that a notebook was not

part of the Élans philosophy, she believed that it could be a valuable resource for

the students.

The teacher found that she could have given her students more &dom to

try to use French for their own communicative purposes. She admitted thaï she

was "stili not great at turning the kids loose and allowing some English and yet

one or two words of French" which is what this particular program would like

teachers to do. She knew that "that requires the teacher to be a littte brave" when

allowing students to possibly fail in their attempts to produce the target

language. However, she realized that it could be a necessary step in helping

them acquire French

With regard to the 150-minute group, the teacher expressed some ideas for

possible altemate lessons She said that she would add a novel to the 150-minute

format program. The story could be related to one of the themes in the textbook

and thereby complement the requïred material. She also thought that doing a

play or a skit was another good possibility with 150-minute dass. She felt that

students found it tedious to stay in the same book ali the tirne. She believed that

the students in the 150-minute dass wanted to use the time to do something

different iike geography in French. The teacher felt that by expanding on the

course rnaterials, she would maintain more interest during the long dass period

and extend the possibiüties for students to l e m Frendi.

This teacher had thought about ways to adapt and expand the Élans

program to suit her needs and perhaps better serve her students. She felt that

more grammax, a notebook, more opportunities for free communication, and

using a novel or skit or a lesson on a speualized topic could improve the

learning experiences in her dasseç.

3.2.1.6. Summary of Interview Data

To surn up the interview data, I have presented five pertinent issues culled

from the teacher's comments. These issues dealt with the teacher's background

with regard to language learning, her beliefs related to language teaching, her

implementation of the teachhg rnaterials, her consistency in lesson planning, and

dianges she would make to her lessons. There seem to be some contradictions in

her statements. This teacher said that she showed fiexibility in her teaching;

however, she was adamant in her belief that students had to have proper

pronunciation over correct grammar in order to be understood. Despite this

teacher's daimed flexibility in her teaching, she was not willing to try to do smail

group or pair work more than a few times with her dasses She said that she did

not iike group work, because the students ended up speaking in English.

Nonetheless, she was able to justify her own use of English with the students.

Despite her belief that an immersion-type experïence is the ideal way to learn a

second language, she did not create such an environment in her class. This

teacher said that she believed in the communicative orientation of the course

materials, yet she controiled and directed much of the communication in the

dassroom in order to complete the activities in the course materials. F M y , the

teacher was consistent in planning her lessons for the various formats, yet she

expressed some regret for not doing things (or not being able to do things)

differently .

3.2.2. Teacher Journal Data

The second source of qualitative data is the teacher's journal in which the

participating teacher had been asked to keep an account of her experiences with

the dasses during the study. She was given no explicit direction as to what she

should record in the journal in order to ailow her to express hesself as freeiy as

possible. The 45-page (typed) journal she submitted contained entries ranging in

length from just one line to dense paragraphs. The teacher usuaily recorded her

experiences with each class separately and in an informal style. Her entries

induded her impressions of eadi dass and certain students, work done that day

and reactions to it, her feelings about the study and the different dass formats,

speual evenh and various concerns. When the joumal is read as a whole, it

provides an interesthg account of the unfolduig of this teacher's year on the job.

When the journal is scruanized, recurring issues corne to light.

There are five main recurring issues with some salient related issues that

will be discussed in this section. First, the participating teacher kept an account

in her journal of the work that she finished with each dass and she mentioned

ways which she thought would be better to do the vanous exertises. With

evidence from het journal, I will show how she implemented materials from her

chosen course program. Second, the teacher's use of English will be outlined.

Third, the 150-minute morning dass and the 40-minute late aftemoon dass

represented two very different teaching environments. 1 wiil desaibe how the

teacher provided, intentionally or inadvertently, two contrasting pichires of

these groups. Fourth, the positive feelings about the experimental group will be

mentioned. Fifth, a matter of concern for this teacher was the loss of time due to

interruptions in her dass. Her feelings about these interruptions WU be detailed.

3.2.2.1. The Teacheis Implementation of the elans Materials

The fist main issue arising from the teacher's journal entries is the way in

which she implemented the course materials. As stated earlier in this thesis, the

flans program is based on a communicative/experiential approach to language

teaching and learning. The philosophy behind Élans is that students will leam

the target language by learning how to communicate when they share their ideas,

experiences and opinions with their classrnates. Materials are designed

principally to expose students to situations in which they must use French in real

ways rather than manipulate forms of the language. It is up to the dassroom

teacher to implement these materials in ways which ensute that students acquire

communicative skilis. According to the teacher journal, this participating

teacher completed the materiais to the best of h a (and her students') abîiity;

however, it is necessary to look at how she accomplished this. First, I will

describe how the teacher referred to the materials Next, 1 will outline how she

had students work with the materials and how she orgMzed her lessons.

The teacher's journal is peppered with references to page numbers in the

textbook and student workbook. These references appear throughout the entire

journal. For example, at various points during the school year, the teadier wrote:

"1 only managed to get to 2C page 10 of Unite [sic] O" [p. 21, 'We worked on page

24,25 in the textbook and page 40 in Workbook" [p. 111, and 'We did lots today-

pg. 22 to 25 in the Workbook and 2 pages in the text" [p. 171. (The numbers in

square brackets refer to page numbers in the teacher's journal.) At times, page

references to materials finished in dass on a particular day comprise an entire

journal entry. For example, the teacher wrote, "Finished pg 85. in cahier and pg

53 in text" [p. 281 on Febniary 28 and "Did 2A and ai i the rest of pg 104" [p. 331 as

her complete entry for April 14. This form of j o d keeping is not significant in

itself; the teacher was informing the researcher of the Pace at whidi she was

working with a particular dass. However, this kind of entry may provide an

indication of the teacher's teadung.

A portion of the entry for October 27 reads, "Managed to pg 16 in

Workbook" [p. 111. The word "rnanaged" may suggest that the teacher is trying

to cover the material rather than to exploit it for its communicative intent. It may

not be enough for the students merely to do the tasks put forth in the course

materials; the teacher may have to ensure that students' skiils and linguistic

knowledge are developed while completing them. When providing these page

references, the teacher did not make any statement as to what she had wanted

students to gain or what she felt the students had gained from that patticular

task.

On October 13, the teacher wrote, "1 was r edy womed this morning. The

dass started to drag almost immediately. I watched kids looking at their watches

and yawning loudly. 1 began to panic, cold sweat etc. Moved quiddy through

the Ex on page 10, 11 of Cahier hoping the next exercise would be better - No luck

- Exeruse 2A on page 12 was the same kind of thing. 1 survived and made it to

pg 13 of the Cahier which thankfully sparked more interest" [p. 71. This teacher

was understandably concerned about how the students would receive each ta&;

however, she was progressing through the course material page by page. She

realized that merely going through the materials was not motivating the students,

but she does not Say if the students had learned anything. She does give

indications in the journal, however, of the ways in which she implemented the

Élans program in order to cover the material and (perhaps) benefit her students,

and I wiii outline some of these now.

Because the Élans material is based on a communicative/experiential

approadi, its airn is to have students use the target language as much as possible

in realistic contexts. In order to give students as many opportunities to speak as

possible, É h s recommends that teachers have students work with a partner or in

smali groups. As noted in the teacher's journal, the teacher participating in this

study did use these techniques on a few occasions. She wrote that she "[hlad the

desks in groups of 4 which didn't work, so we spent the time lefi moving desks

badc. It was the worst dass I've had with [the 40-minute] dass so far" [p. 41. Even

several months later, this teacher was not wiiling to try to have this dass work in

smaii groups. "They are supposed to do this [task] with two friends but 1 know

they won't speak French. 1 still feel that they wiïl be forced to speak more if it is a

guided activity. There are 16 dues so 16 kids got a chance to speak. In fact more

did because 1 had some read the due and others answer in a full sentence" [p. 371.

Although this teacher selected the Élans materials, she dearly had her doubts

about some of the recommended techniques. The authors of the program

materials believe that it is better for a l i students to try to express themselves

freely in French (i.e. create genuine output) than for a few students in the dass to

use the language and others to read the written text aloud. This teacher, on the

other hand, seemed to believe that she has more control of the quality of the

students' language if she guides the activity. She wrote that the class "worked

together on a stmctured, teacher directed lesson on pg 6, 7, 8. Wiii separate

desks if necessary. They reaiiy can't do this SM alone. They get bogged down,

lose interest, and then the problems begin. At least when we do it together they

have to read orally and make full sentences" [p. 371. It seems that this teacher

could monitor students' behaviour and French output more easily when they

did not work in groups.

The teacher's concem for maintainhg proper behaviour in her dassroom

and her desire to preserve her French language standards among her students are

genuine. However, it is ironic that she wrote, "I don't think that the program

(Elans) ailows the kids to converse enough The opportunity is there but the

situations are too complex with difficult vocabulary" [p. 91. This teadus se&

to compensate for the complexity of the tasks by directing the dass. For example,

she noted, "1 worked on pg 5 of the workbook and changed the activity slightiy

because it was too difficult - 1 simply had [students] desaibe themseives using

ideas they generated off the board [p. 41. Although the program materials

encourage communication between students, this class appears to be teacher-

centred. Much communication in the dass happened through the teacher; much

action in the dass was guided by her; most opportunities to experiment with the

language happened through her; most language use in the dass was approved by

her. In this dass, the teacher was the focal point for ail language leaming. For

exarnple, when a student in the 150-minute group complained that she was tiring

of this format, the teacher wrote in her journal, "mt student] made a comment

about finding the novelty wearing off a bit She fin& it difficult to concentrate

and is one of the weaker ones. If she would look at me more often she wouldn't

miss so much of the acting that 1 put into things" [p. 121. Students did not have

many opportunities to leam from each other without the teacher's influence.

Opportunities to learn independently were limited by the teacher's direction.

Possibly Mdvertently and contrary to her goal, this teacher has created a

teacher-centred classroom.

The teacher did consider the needs of her students. In some ways, she did

not limit herself to using oniy the Élans materials in the ways that were

recommended. For example, she wrote in her journal that "the game we played

yesterday involved reading orally and most of the pronunciation was not very

good. 1 decided to review the game as an oral reading ex. to work on some

phonics - probably not the correct Elans approach" [p. 91. Here, the teacher

recognized that her students were having difficulty with a particular aspect of

their laquage Leaming, so she tried to modify her program to take thw needs

into account. On at least three other occasions, she mentioned that she was trying

to help her students develop their reading skills [p. 8, p. 9, p. 101. The teacher

had also found that the students had only a limited vocabulary. In addition to

the occasion mentioned above, she noted in her journal at least two other t he s

[p. 10, p. 101 that she might adjust her program to reinforce their vocabulary. She

also recognized that her shidents needed more review of grammatical concepts.

On two occasions [p. 9, p. 111, she mentioned in her j o d that she deveioped

tests to reinforce those points. It is dear that this teacher considered the needs of

her students and modified her program accordingly.

Although the teacher made changes or additions to the program due to

her studentsf needs, it is not evident that she made modifications to her classes

due to the program format. There are no major differences in her treatment of the

groups desuibed in her journal. in fact, the teacher noted that she could reuse

the lesson plans she developed for one group with another group. At the

beginning of the school year, when she taught only the cornpaison group, she

wrote, "I'm glad that 1 wiii have had a few days to get used to the program befote

starting [with the 150-minute gcoup]. My lessons wili be planneci for [that dass]

until of course it overtakes the 140-minute] group" [p. 31. From a statement iike

this, one would assume that this teacher would also use her lesson plans from the

150-minute graup with the 40-minute group when the intensive group overtakes

the cornparison group. She seemed to be indicating that the activities wouid not

change from one dass to the other. Based upon the (scant) evidence presented in

her journal, one is led to believe that the program format was having no effect on

how she implemented hei program.

3 2 2 2 The Teaches Use of English

The second issue that is apparent in the teadier's journal is her use of

English in dass. When h a entries for the 15Gminute group and %minute group

are compared, there is a large difference in the number of times the teacher

comments on her use of English There are two entries in which she admits to

using English with the 150-minute group, but there is at least four times that

number of simiiar entries for the %minute group.

In her journal, the teacher explained why she used English with the 150-

minute group. On the first occasion, she found that the students had difficulty

understanding a French text, so she switched to English to aid the5

comprehension [p. 81. On the second occasion, she indicated that she used

English when the students were not partaking in the lesson and were lacking in

motivation to try to use the target language [p. 111. These incidents occurred

during this group's ninth and seventeenth (150-minute) sessions, on October 15

and October 27 respectively, which were about one-sixth and one-third into its

program. These entries also indicated that the teacher did not like to use English

to a great extent with these students.

In the entries for the 40-minute group, the teacher also expressed het

dislike of her use of English with this das. Reasons that she cited for this use of

English were similar to those given above: the lessons were moving too slowly

without it [p. 5; p. 111, the students were not trying to understand her French

lesson [p. 81, the students were restless [p. 131, and the students were having

difficulty understanding the French lesson [p. 321. On another occasion, she

wrote that the "[elxplanation of the test was done mostiy in English They

worked weil and 1 ciidn't help them once they were started" [p. 36). The teacher

also provided another expianation for her use of English that does not have

anything to do with the students, theh ability, or their motivation. in her entries

for November 18 to 20, she admits that she used quite a bit of "English today. It is

directly proportional to how tired 1 am" [p. 151.

In one journal enhy, the teacher expressed frustration at her need to use

English with the 40-minute group. On November 8, she wmte, "1 tried to speak

only French to them today, but it is really dificult for them. They reaily aren't at

the same level as the [150-minute dass]. [...] It is almost as if they were at a

different grade level" [p. 131. It is important to remember that the students in the

150-minute group were about two-thirds through their program while those in

the 40-minute group were only about one-quarte through theirs.

The teacher seemed to understand the importance of using French in the

classroom. (See section 4.3.2 for a brief overview of other research findings

suggesting this importance.) When she commenteci on the progress made by the

150-minute dass, she expressed fear that the students would lose their French

over the following months. She wrote, ' n t they reaiiy need is immersion" [p.

181. One wonders why she did not &y to create more of an immersion

environment by restricting her use of English if she felt that it was so important to

her students' language acquisition process.

The teacher did indicate one way in which she tried to restrict h a use of

English with the &minute group. She wrote, "Pve skipped some of the harder

exercises so that they don't get bogged down and I can avoid spealcing English

[p. 161. One is to assume that the studenh benefitted more from not dohg the

more difficult exercises than they would have had they done them whiie hearing

the teacher speak Enghsh, Despite what may seem to be a somewhat limiteci

exposure to spoken French in the dassrwm, the students in the 40-minute group

did eventuaiiy begin to speak the target language. The teacher reported that

"[tlhey are starting to use full sentencesf'[p. 271 on February 23-over haifway

through their program.

With regard to the overd effect of her use of English with the two groups,

the teacher expressed more concem for the 40-minute qoup. She wrote, "In 40

minutes 1 find 1 use English to get them on tradc and for explanation in order to

accornplish something in the time. With the [150-minute] group it didn't matter

if it took 40 minutes to get started and explain things slowly 'en francais' [sic]

because we stül had lots of time to get some work done" [p. 211. Based on these

qualitative findings, it seems that this teadier tried to adiieve =me sort of

balance between exposing her students to oral French and having them cornpiete

exercises from the course materials in the dlotted time.

3323. Impressions of the I0-Minute and 150-Minute Classes

The third major issue from the teacher's journal is how the teacher

describes her impressions of and experiences with the two classes. For the most

part, it seems to a reader of the teacher's journal that each dass stood in contrast

to the other. The following examples are taken from entries made on the same

day or on consecutive school days.

While teachurg the intensive and regular groups at the same aine, the

teacher's impressions of the 150-minute group were positive for the most part,

while those for the 4û-minute group were expressed largely in negative terms.

She wrote that the students in the 150-minute dass "are exated about going on to

a new book. We are moving much faster and they seem willing to give up their

games to work harder" [p. 151. However, the next day, she describeci the 40-

minute group as "still plodding along" [p. 161. Similarly, that dass is

"struggling along" [p. 161 while the students in the 150-minute group "are

working without any breaks now" [p. 161. Students in the intensive group had

"[tlwo marathon sessions. . . . [Wle covered a great deal. They were great" [p. 151,

but those in the 40-minute group "really find the program dificuit" [p. 151. It

seems that the intensive group adjusted to the Élans program more easily than

the 40-minute group. From the teacher's impressions, aptitude may be a factor in

the perceived success of one group oves another. About students in the 40-

minute group, she reported, 1 have a horrible feeling that they are regressing"

[p. 181 whereas she stated, 1 strongly believe that about 10 [students] of the 1150-

minute] group would be easily capable of going into LFI [late French immersion]

and handling it with relative ease" [p. 181.

Student motivation may be another reason for the contrasting impressions

the teacher had of each group. Of the 150-minute group, the teacher -te, "We

did lots today [...] ïhey are keen to keep going" [p. 17J. However, on the very

same day, she reported, Y don't see the same work habits in this 140-minute]

group" [p. 171. The teacher had another similar negative experience with the

reguiar group. "Last period on a Friday afternoon before a long weekend yu&.

They were OK because 1 bribed thern with the 'Chair Game' half h m of work =

10 min. of game" [p. 7J. However. the 150-minute dass continued to impress this

teacher. On the same day, she reported another positive experience with that

group. "1 canft believe the kids are stiil k e n ! We worked for about an hour and

a half [...] Only three kids asked to go to the washroom[.l 1 thought that they

might start to use the washroom as an excuse to have a break. bu t so far no

problem" [p. 61. Whether it was due to motivation or aptitude, this teadier seems

to have had positive experiences with the intensive group and negative

impressions of the regular group.

It is unlikely that the respective reactions of each dass to this teacher were

a factor for these contrasting experiences. The supply teacher, who filied in

several times throughout that school year, reported experiences similar to those

recorded by the participating teacher- On two occasions, the supply teacher

commented that she had enjoyed the 150-minute dass but had found the 40-

minute class difficdt [p. 11, p. 151. On another occasion, the supply teacher had

enjoyed the intensive group so much, she shared her impressions with other

teachers at the school. The participating teacher noted that the supply teacher

had "said that they worked realiy hard and that they were great. One of the other

Core French teachers overheard mer] raving about this class. She said that it

must be a first for a Supply Teacher to be enthusiastic about teachïng Core

French] not to mention 160 min. [The 40-minute group] on the other hand was

diffïdt. [The supply teacher] reaiiy finds them hard to motivate" [p. 171. Based

on ai l of these entries, the 150-minute group seems in general to be "good" and

the 40-bute group to be "bad" from a teacher's perspective.

One may speculate that negative student behaviour in a particular dass

couid have been the reason for such a stark contrast between the two classes. The

participating teadier only mentioned behavioural problems on a few occasions.

Perhaps surprisingly, the teacher mentioned more problems with certain

students in the "good intensive group than in the "bad" regular group.

According to the teacher's journal, the negative behaviours of certain students in

the intensive group did not seem to have an adverse effect on the performance of

the group as a whole. Fewer specific behavioural problems in the 40-minute

group are mentioned in the journal; however, the teacher does not have the

impression that this dass was performllig weli. Therefore, it appears that

behavioural factors for the contrasts can be iniled out.

A more iikely reason for such great contrasts is the way in which they

appear in the journal. The teacher's conhasthg impressions appear on the same

day or on consecutive days. Conditions affecting the students (for example, the

weather, the teacher's energy level, special events, etc.) on these days may have

been similar; however, program conditions at the same üme were quite different.

The contrast between the two groups is apparent only on days when the teacher

had both classes. The teacher based her cornparisons of the two group on times

when they were at different points in th& respective programs. The students in

the 150-minute group had almost always been further ahead in the2 program

than those in the 40-minute group; therefore, it shouid be expected that they

would perform better than their regular counterparts. The iduence of her daily

positive impressions of the "advanced" intensive group may have made the

107

teacher feel that the slow but steady progress of the regular group was poorer

than it actuaily was.

Although the teacher had quite a bit of praise for the 150-minute group

(beginning aLmost from the start of that program), she recorded a fair number of

positive impressions of the 40-minute group. After the completion of the

intensive program, the teacher began to make note of good work quaiity and

overail good behaviour in the 40-minute dass. In fact, there are about 20 jounial

enhies made between January and June that îndicate that this group had begun

to perform weli. At this time, these students were about halfway through their

program-a point at which they could have been expected to show appropriate

dassroom behaviours and satisfactory French skilis. The teacher had almost as

many positive experiences with the 40-minute dass as she did with the 150-

minute clas. However, her positive experiences with the 40-rninute dass were

distributed over ten months and, therefore, to the reader, did not seem to be

equivalent to the daily positive experiences the teacher had with the compact

gr OU P.

In summary, the contrasts between the two groups that c a n be seen in the

teacher's journal are not as great as they fkst appear to be. Entries about the two

groups made on the same or consecutive days seem to indicate that the 150-

minute group was performing very well and that the 40-minute group was

making very little p r o p s . However, when one considers comments the teadter

made during the entire length of each program, there is little ciifference between

the two groups in the overail number of positive comments about the students'

behaviour and work quality.

3.2.2.4. Favourable Attitudes towud the 150-Minute Program Format

The fourth recurring issue evident in the teacher's journal is the positive

feelings about the experimental program format. As this teacher volunteered to

participate in this case study, it is perhaps not surprishg that she was exated by

the experimental dass formats. First, she expressed apprehension about her

ability to "survive" a 150-minutelong dass. After a particularly challenging 40-

minute dass, she wrote, "ï'm exhausted after 40 min. of acting out the general

meanhg - 1 can imagine what it will be like after 160 min" [p. 31. However, & a

successful first session with the Wû-minute group, she wrote in her journal, "I'm

actually looking forward to the [150-minute] dass tomorrow" [p. 51. Her

enthusiasm for this group must have carried on throughout the program, as she

stated, "1 feel very satisfied with the whole experience and 1 would do it again"

[P 201-

Interestingly, the teacher notes in her journal that she is not the only one

who has had positive feelings about the 150-minute group; the parents and the

students also showed some enthusiasm for this particular program format.

During parent-teacher interviews, some parents of studenb in the &minute

cornparison group had wished "their kids could have been in the 1150-minute]

group and why didn't they have a choice?!" [p. 161. These parents seern to feel

that their children are missing out on something speüal. The students, too, may

have felt that belonging to the 150-minute group was something special. Before

the beginning of the experimental program, one student did something unusuai.

The teacher noted she "received a letter from a child in the [15û-minute] group

[...] saying how much she was looking forward to her French classes that will

begin in October. We must have done a realiy good job presenting the study to

the kids" [p. 21. Positive feeiings among the students about the 150-minute

format continued thtoughout the program. A few days d e r the completion of

that expesimental program, the teacher noted, "I've been stopped in the hall by

several students from [the 150-minute ciass]. They are stiil smiling and positive

about the experience" [p. 201.

In general, as evidenced by entries in the teacher's journal, the teacher, the

students in the 150-minute group, and th& parents seem to have a high degree of

enthusiasm for the special experimental program format.

3.2.2.5. The Loss of Teaching T h e

The fifth issue arising from the teacherfs journal is the number of

interruptions to her French dasses. The teacher expressed her concern about

interruptions, because she noted that the Élans program discouraged

interruptions. Some interruptions such as conducting tesüng for the Carleton

case study were necessary and unavoidable, and the teacher managed to work

her lessons very weli around these scheduled disruptions. These were

interruptions that o c ~ e d in ail of her French dasses. Nevertheles, she seemed

to have to deal with an unusuaily high nurnber of interruptions.

Experienced teachers like the one partiupating in this study may be used

to dealing with interruptions and cancellations; however, some of the

dismptions to this teacher's d a s e s seemed more lü<e intentional intrusions. For

example, she wrote, "More the end of dass, 1 was intemipted three thes! The

science teacher came and used the last 5 min of the class to talk about homework

that the kids had not done for ha. There is an impression that it is only core

French so its [sic] OK to interrupt and pull kids out of class for various things"

[p. 41. Another incident made it appear that her French classes had an unusually

high number of these intrusions On December 6, the teafher wrote that a student

in the 150-minute group "came badc today after being away 5 days. This

translates to 20 [&minute] periods which is equal to about a month of French. . . . Many other teachers wanted her for various things, testing etc. and naturally it

was French that they felt she could sacrifice. 1 said 'no' and it was not the way to

make friends and influence people" [p. 17.

The teacher did not so much mind the distraction from French that these

interruptions imposed as she regretted the lost dass t imcin particular with the

40-minute group. For exampie, the teacher noted that this group "was 10 min

late from the gya By the time I got them settled down 1 had half an hou left" [p.

71. This dass, held in the late afternoon, seemed to have a disproportionate

number of interruptions or canceilations. Class time for this group was lost for

various reasow induding an assembly [p. 351, a Valentine's Day dance [p. 261,

winter activity day meetings [p. 241, and a canceliation of school due to extreme

heat [p. 421. The teacher condudes with exasperation that she "completed one

less unit of work with [the 40-minute group] than the other two groups. The main

reason for this 1 am sure is that the afternoon classes really suffer from

interruptions (assernblies etc.) Forty minutes [...] is a total waste of time and

finally the kids are not as motivated in the afternoon" [p. 431. Interruptions

seemed to annoy the teacher and take her students away from precious class

t h e .

3.2.2.6. Summary of Teacher J o d Data

There are five major issues that arise from a carefd reading of the teacher's

journal. The first issue deals with the way in which the participating teacher

implemented the course materials. She seems to have worked through the Élans

textbook and workbwk page by page. This can give one the impression that she

is merely coverulg the rnatetiaL rather than considering the linguistic aims of the

activities and the principles of their communicative/experientiai orientation.

She does, however, consider the students' needs by focusing on certain skills or

structural concepts for which they require additional practice. Through her

disLike for srnail group and pair work, she has created a teacher-directed

learning environment- Although the communicative orientation of the Élans

materials is intended to have the students communkate with one another, most

activities in the dassroom are channded through this teacher. It appears that the

teacher has been consistent in her approach and in her use of activities with the

different groups. In other words, she did not vary her basic lesson plans due to

the length of the dass.

The second issue of note is that the teacher was concerned about her use of

English. in her journal, she recorded more instances of concern for her use of

English with the 40-minute group than with the 150-minute group. She

remarked that she only used English to her students' advantage or to her own

benefit Nonetheless, this use of Engiish-espeüdy with the 40-minute dass-

dismayed the teadier. She felt that she was using much more English with the 4û-

minute group than with the 150-minute group. However, she was making her

cornparisons when the two classes were at different points in their respective

programs.

The third and fourth issues are related; they both pertain to favourable

attitudes toward the intensive program format. First, it seems that the teacher

always commented on the 150-minute group in positive terms while the remarks

about the %minute group were cast in a negative light. These teacher attitudes

may have been noticeable to the students on those dasses. Nevertheles, after the

completion of the 150-minute program and after the halfway point of the regular

format, the teacher began to make positive comments on the &minute dass. It

may have been in comparing the two groups on a daily basis-where one group

was further ahead in its program than the other-that the teacher felt there was

one "good group and one " b a d group. Finally, it is nonetheless important to

note that the participating teacher, the students and their parents seemed to feel

that there was something special about the intensive program format.

And last, the fifth issue emerging f'rom the teacher's journal is the loss of

class time due to interruptions. The teacher generaliy felt that there were too

many interruptions to her core French dasses. It appears that her 40-minute dass

suffered more lost class time than her 150-minute class due to the need to tend to

administrative details on a daily basis.

3.23. Ciassroom Obmation Data

The third source of qualitative data is from classroom observation. In

Mardi 1994 1 was able to observe one dass period of the 40-minute group and

two dass periods of the 80-minute group. Due to the nature of their respective

programs, the 40-minute group was ahead of the 80-minute group, and it was not

working on the activities that had been specificaily videotaped and transcribed

for this study. Because the 150-minute group had already completed their

program by this tirne, 1 do not have dassroom observation notes for it. This

section briefly outlines some general observations 1 made while observing the

teacher in action

The 40-minute group was scheduled for the end of the school day from

2:20 to 3:W psi . On that particuiat day, the tacher began the dass at 225 by

asking for the date in French. She then referred (in French) to the students'

"points" and the reason why they would not be counted the foliowing day. (The

"points" referred to a reward system used by this teacher since the beginning of

the school year whereby student accumulated credits for participation, good

work and proper behaviour in order to eam prizes at the end of a certain period

of tirne.) The teacher tried to lead the students in a general French discussion on

the foiiowing day's special school event. About ten minutes into the scheduled

period, one student required reprimanding, because he was being overly active

and takative which had distracted some students. The teacher changed the

subject by reintroducing the theme of the new unit and by asking students to

provide examples in French.

At 254, students began an activity in their workbook. A student read the

instructions aloud and other students read individual questions aloud in tum.

The class did the exercise together-that is, as a group, students progressed

through the questions at the same tirne-but each student wrote their own

responses to the personal questions in the workbook exercise. Two students

asked the teacher questions (one in English, the other in French) about the

exercise, and the teacher explaineci or led the students to a possible response in

French. She even commenteci that she found it "un peu stupide" that there was

virtually no difference between two questions posed in the exercise. During this

activity, the disruptive student was again warned about his behaviour. The

teacher told him (in French) to speak in French if he wished to speak. 1 suspect

this takative boy was a weaker French student and that the teacher had hoped to

prevent him from distracthg his dassmates by requiting him to speak in French-

At 2:50, the dass was interrupted by a few general announcements over the

school's public address system. After the announcements, the teacher asked the

students to taiiy their points and to dose their books. The teacher then began a

mostly one-sided discussion in EngLish about the points system, scoring points

and winning prizes with their point totals. These dassroom management details

lasted until the end of the period.

The length of time spent on various procedures in this dass bears noting.

On that particular day, five minutes out of the total of 40 minutes offer no

opportunities at ail for French input or output. The teadier spent about nine

minutes getting the students "warmed up" - getüng them prepared for the

lesson by having them begin communicating in French. About 16 minutes were

spent on a communicative written exercise. This activity was carried out alrnost

entirely in French. Oniy a smaii amount of dass time was spent on disciplinary

actions. Finaily, administrative or dassroom management procedures took up

ten minutes of dass time that day.

Although the 80-minute group is not induded in my study (due to

technical difficuities with the video-recording of that dass and the subsequent

impossibility of the intended trzmsmption of the lesson), some observations from

this group make interesting points of cornparison with the &minute group.

The longer dass time of this program format aliowed this group to cover

several communicative/expeiiential activities from the workbook or textbook as

well as a short teacher-led grammatical lesson during both periods that 1

observed. As with the 40-minute class, students usuaily read the activity

instructions and/or questions. Except in one instance of pair work, students

completed the adivity as a dass. When students had difficulty understanding

what was expected of them, the teacher provided an appropriate explanation by

means of a short demonstration or bnef transiation.

More Engiish was used with the 80-minute group than with the %minute

group on the days that 1 observed those dasses. At times, the teacher seemed to

let English slip out; at other times, she seemed to use English words or phrases

deliberately. Students knew they were supposed to speak in French, but when

they were hesitant to express themselves, the teacher encouraged them to say

what they could in French whiie giving them the option to speak in English In

cases where students had difficulty speaking in French, the teacher would assist

them in completing an acceptable French sentence.

As was the case with the 40-minute group, students in this group were

involved in the lesson They participated in the activities; they raised their hands

to offer answers; they asked questions, and they offered cornments. The teacher

had to take disciplïnary action on three occasions in oniy one of the two ciasses

that 1 observed.

In the 80-minute group, both dasses that 1 observeci started iate or began

with administrative details before the general warm-up. The first 11 minutes of

one class and the first seven minutes of the other were spent on these things

before progressing to the formal lesson. In both dasses, the formal part of the

lesson ended earlier than the end of the period. The teacher instructed students

to collect the books 16 minutes before the beil in one class and six minutes in the

other. On both occasions, the teacher continued with an appropriate French-

language game and/or administrative detaüs.

Although the experimental, (IO-minute group was not part of the focus of

my study, 1 have induded these obsevations because they reveal conditions in a

dassroom with a lengthened format and they may approximate the dassroom

situation of the intensive, 150-minute group for which 1 have no first-hand

dassroom observation data.

3.23.1. S u m n u g of Clasmom Observation Data

In summary, there are more similarities than differences between the 40-

minute and 80-minute groups. In both dasses, the teacher seerns to have a good

rapport with the students, and the students are, in general, responsive to her

lessons. The general procedure for doing an activity in the workbook or

textbook is that a student would read the instructions or a question and the

teacher wouid provide any necessary explanations for them to complete that

task. The students wodd complete their own answers while the teacher lead the

class through the activity, often by writing mode1 answers on the blackboard.

Although students made comments or asked questions, both classes were

teacher-centred. The teacher did a great deal of t a l h g in both dasses; she

directed the discussions and she expected students to foliow dong.

The lessons for both groups that 1 observed had a communicative/

experiential focus. However, more English was used in the 80-minute dass than

in the 40-minute c l w on the days that 1 observed. It is not dear why this would

be the case as the students in both groups seemed to be more or less academicaily

equal. With regards to behaviour, both groups required the same amount of

disciplinhg or warning .

Finaily, both groups lost tirne at the beginning and end of each dass. This

time was usually spent dealing with administrative or dassroom management

items.

3.2.4. Summary of Qualitative Findings

With the three sources of qualitative data-the interview with the teacher,

the teacher's journal, and my observation of her classes-there is a possibility for

triangulation of data. An issue from one source may emerge from the other

sources to give it greater credence. Five main issues have surfaced; some

appeared in all three qualitative sources, others in one or two sources. The major

findings are briefly describeci below.

One issue that 1 noted in ail three sources was the way in which the teacher

implemented the course materials Although the Élans program was created for

a communicative/experiential approach, the teacher seemed to have abandoned

an important element. This teacher did not like to have the students work in

srnaIl groups or with a partner. Consequently, students were not communicaüng

with one another a s much as they could have during class time; their

opportunities to create French output were diminished. This teacher seemed to

adopt a traditional teacher-directed approach in her lessons. AU students

completed their work through her. In this way, the teacher codd control the

accuracy of the language used in the dass.

During her i n t e ~ e w , in her journal, and from my dassroom observation, 1

noticed that the teacher used English to some extent in her dasses despite her

expressed belief that the best way to l e m a second language was to be immersed

in it. She was disturbed by her use of English, but she admitted that she used it

to aid students' comprehension and facilitate the completion of the lesson. In her

journal, the teacher expressed concem that she was using too much English with

the 40-minute dass; however, 1 am unsure whether this usage was considerably

higher than in the 150-minute dass. The quantitative data do not confirm the

teacher's impression.

Another concem for this teacher was the loss of dass üme she experienced

due to interruptions and administrative details. in her journal and from my own

observation, it was apparent that a fair amount of time was spent each day on

taking care of matters that did not necessady pertain directiy to the leaming of

French. Interruptions for a variety of reasons reduced the overall time that

students had ta receive French input and produce French output. The teacher

felt that the loss of dass time due to interruptions and administrative details was

greatest in the &minute dass as she was not able to complete as many units in

the course book as she was with her other classes.

A major issue arising from her interview and from her journal was her

consistency in leçson planxüng- Not ody did she seem to foilow the course book

(if not the teacher's manual) closely, she does not seem to have vaned her

teaching activities (which rnight Iead to the use of different teaching strategies) in

the different groups. Regardes of their format, the lessons for one group were

very similar to the lessons this teacher used in the other groups.

Another important issue emerged only from the teacher's j o u d . There

seemed to be a great deal of favourable attitudes expressed toward the intensive

group format. The teacher praised the 150-minute dass, but at the same tirne,

found Little to comxnend in the 40-minute dass. Through my analysis of her

journal, however, 1 noticed that the teacher did begin to comment positively on

the cornparison group once the intensive group had completed its program.

Nonetheless, the teacher may have indirectly cornmunicated her continuous

pleasure with the 150-minute group and initial disappointment with the 40-

minute group to the students in those dases. The teacher was not the only

person to display favourable attitudes toward the 150-minute group. Before the

intensive program began and after ik completion, students expressed exatement

about being part of that particular dass. The parents of students in other classes

had expressed dismay that their diildren could not have been placed in the

intensive group. It seems as if people felt there was something special about the

150-minute program format.

The five issues outLineci here wiil be dealt with in the following chapter

where 1 discuss the answers to my research questions and try to explain the

reasons for my results.

3.3. Summary of Findings

The quantitative data allowed me to compare the frequency of certain

teadung strategies in one group with those in the other. The tables also

presented the percentage that each teadiing strategy represented relative to all

teaching strategies used in each group. 1 was also able to compare the types of

student utterance produced in each group. Relative percentages for these

student utterances were also shown in table form. The analysis revealed that

there were no signincant Merences in the number of teadiing strategies or types

of student utterance used in the two groups. This cornparison showed that both

classes received similar treatments through the same teaching strategies and that

similar types of student utterances were produced in both dasses.

The qualitative data that are related to the findings above deal with the

type of teadiing and lesson planning in both dasses. The findings suggest that

both groups were taught with a teacher-directed approach. Little pair work and

small group work was done in either dass. Exercises were taken up on the

blackboard as a dass. This type of teaching produced only a few opportunities

for individual expression. The teacher indicated that she was consistent in her

lesson planning; she did not change her lessons when the program format

changed. These findings indicate that there was no difference in the treatments

(and, therefore, probably in the teaching strategies) given to the two groups.

One major contradiction between the qualitative data and the quantitative

data concerns the teacher's use of English. The qualitative data suggest that the

teacher used English to a greater extent with the reguiar, 40-minute group than

with the intensive, 150-minute group. The quantitative data, on the other M d ,

indicate an almost identical use of Engiish by the teacher in both program

formats. The qualitative data are based on the participating teacher's own

observations noted throughout the "year" (Le. the respective program formats) in

her journal. The quantitative findings corne from my trawcripts of videotapes of

a series of activities from one part of a unit.

121

When the findings from the quantitative data are taken together with those

from the qualitative sources, the overail findings (with the possible exception of

the teacher's use of English) strongly suggest that there was no ciifference in the

teadiing strategies used in the two classes.

Chapter 4

Discussion

in this chapter, 1 answer my two original research questions and discuss

possible reasons for the findings. 1 also try to offer an explanation for the

differences in outcomes on post-tests between the two groups in the original

Lapkin, Harley and Hart (1995) case study. Finally, 1 discuss the limitations of

my shidy, its implications for theory and practice, and directions for future

research.

4.1. Interpretation of Findings

In this section, 1 return to my two original research questions. 1 first

answer each question before sumxnarizing the quantitative and qualitative

findings that provide evidence for my responses.

In Chapter 1,I posed two questions which guided the research for my case

study:

(1) Do different formats of a program (Le. its compactness) affect the

teaching strategies employed by this particular second language teacher?

(2) If yes, could the variations in teaching strategies selected for

observation be responsible for different linguistic or attitudinal outcomes?

To answer the first question, 1 selected a number of teaching strategies to

focus my research. In order to obtain quantitative data, I statisticdy compared

tallies of each of these teadiing strategies in two ciasses with different formats. 1

also Looked at possible variations in student utterances to see whether students

produced more output in one program format or the other. The analysis

revealed that the totals obained for each strategy were not statisticaliy different

from one another. Not one signifïcant difference was found in the teaching

strategies or types of student utterance between the two program formats. These

results indicate that there are no variations in the teachïng strategies employed

by this second language teacher in the different program fonnats.

Nonetheless, the quantitative data above provide only one source of

information that can be used to answer my first research question. One must also

consider the qualitative data that 1 gathered from an interview with the teacher,

the teacher's journal, and from my observation of some of her classes. The

journal, which outlined the dassroom events each day, provided the teacher with

the best opportunity to indicate potential variations in her teaching strategies

with the two groups. In her journal. the teacher did not make note of her use of

questions, induding the icind of questions (i.e. information or display) or their

nature (Le. extended or limited), or with which group they were used. Her

journal notes also did not indicate whether she felt she did more or less

translation (either partial or full) or correction or repetition or made more or

fewer comprehension checks, or asides with one group than the other. She made

no indication in her journal that she began more words or phrases for students in

one dass than the other or that she gave more or less direct encouragement to

students in the different program formats to participate oraily in French. Enghsh,

or bot . languages. (It should also be noted that this teacher did not indicate a

use of any particular practice techniques or activities such as compositions, doze

passages, dictées, or reading with one group but not the other.)

One impression that the teacher mentioned several times in her joumai

124

dealt with her use of English The teacher indicated that she felt she had to use

English often with the students in the &minute dass. She believed that these

students were not grasping her lessons in French and that they were not able to

produce as much French as the students in the 150-minute group. The teacher

was concerned that she was using fat more English with the regular program

group than with the intensive program format group. (My quantitative results

contradicted this qualitative finding; however, I cannot say which set of data, if

any, should be considered more reliable.)

There is no dear mention in the teacher's journal that the students in one

class produced more utterances of any kind than the students in the other dass.

Becaw students did not work extensively in small groups or with partners - as indicated by the journal, interview, my classroom observation, and the

videotapes -- one must exclude the possibility that students produced much

French output other than that which was intended for the whole dass and

recorded on videotape.

The overall qualitative data suggest that neither the teacher's use of

strategies nor the types of student utterances differed between program formats.

This is not surprising considering that the teacher had written in her journal that

she would use the same lessons with the 150-minute group that she had already

conducted with the 40-minute group. Although this indicates that she had not

intended to change her teaching activities or techniqpes, using the same activities

may lead to the use of similar teaching strategies For example, the teacher had

indicated in her interview and in her journal that she did not like to use group

work or pair work activities because she had found that students wasted their

time by not speaking French. Had this teacher tried to use more group work or

pair work activities with one dass, she may have found herself using more

disciplinary actions or more direct encouragement to use French or more

comprehension checks or more commands. Similarly, had the teacher used

different activities with one group, the students' use of French, i.e. number of

student utterances in French, may have increased or decreased. In 0th- words, I

believe that changing the teaching activity potentiaily alters the teaching

strategies that a particular teacher rnay use because the context in the dassroom

is different. In her journal, the participating teacher did not mention any

instances where she made a conscious effort to Vary her teaching strategies

between the two program formats.

Based on these qualitative and quantitative findings, it is dear that there

was no significant variation in teaching strategies for the different formats in this

case study with the possible exception of the teacher's use of English

Becaw the answer to my first research question was negative, rny second

question camot be answered. As no strategies were found to be used more in

one dass than the other, there are no leads to investigate a possible relationship

between frequent usage of a particular teaching strategy and variations in

linguistic or attitudinal outcornes.

4.2. A Possible Explmation for the Results

As suggested by Carroll (1990) and Stem (1985) and shown by Carroll

(1994), Canady and Rettig (1993), Turner et al. (1993), and Jorgensen (1993),

differences in a program's format may lead to the use of more and better teaching

approaches. This suggestion implies that there would be differences in Me

126

teaching done in dasses of different lengths. One might, therefore, expect a

teacher to use different teaciring activities and/or different teaching strategies. (1

have already stated my belief that a variation in teadung acüvities could lead to

the use of different teaching strategies.) However, the evidence from m y case

study indicates that this teacher altered neither her teaching activities nor-more

pertinent to my thesis research-her teaching strategies.

1 asked myself, after others have demonstrated that differences in program

format can lead to variations in teaching, why did this teacher not change her

stsategies. The data from the teacher's journal and her interview indicated that

this teacher was "fairly consistent" in planning her Lessons for the different

groups. Why wodd she deiiberately try to foilow the same lesson plans for such

different program formats? 1 believe the answer to this question lies in brief

comments that she made durùig the interview and in her journal.

The teacher wrote, Y may give them the odd homework assignment. S U

ask [the principal researcher] if it will mess up the study" [p. 141. During the

recorded interview done in Toronto, the teacher discussed how she adapted the

Élans materials by not foilowing the recommended procedure in the teacher's

manual. She added quiddy that "1 don? think [this] is going to mess up the

study". These comments suggest that this teacher was concemeci about affecting

the study by being inconsistent. One 0th- comment may explain her concem. 1

had asked her if she had changed her teaching for the different groups when 1

conducted her initial interview (for which 1 do not have a recorded, verbatim

version). According to my reconstructed notes, her response was 7 do the same

things. This is an experiment, so we have to do the same thing in each group. Or

at least as dosely as possible as time dlows'. The teacher appeaa to have

believed that she should not alter the treatments she was giving to the different

groups out of fear that she would adverseiy affect the study.

1 believe that this teacher deliberately did not Vary her teaching strategies

because she thought she was not supposed to do anything differently with her

classes. The researchers, in fact, had anticipated variations in "pedagogical

approach", "teaching style" or "teaching strategies" in each model (Lapkin,

Harley and Hart, 1995, 7-8); however, the teacher had never been explicitly told

that she could or should change her teaching strategies with the various program

formats. Based on the research ated above, 1 had always assumed that she would

alter her strategies without being told that she could do so. Nevertheless, as

stated in her interview, this teacher was trying to aid the researchers in theû

conducting of the case study by being consistent in her teadiing.

4.3. Possible Explanations for Differences in Group Outcornes

The intent of my case study was to research variations in teaching

strategies that could occur in different program formats. If there had been such

variations, my intent was to try to identify which teaching strategies might

reasonably account for the difierences in achievement scores on post-tests

administered to the two groups. Regardles of the fact that significant differences

were not fomd in the teadiing strategies the particïpating teacher employed in

each class, 1 must nevertheless try to account for other factors that could have

influenced the leaming outcomes.

In this section, 1 outhne six factors whidi could be responsible for the

differenca in outcomes between the two groups. First, I suggest that the teacher

may have vaned teaching strategies that 1 did not observe. Second, I examine the

teacher's use of English in eadi of the hvo core French progam formats. Third,

the unexpected loss of dass time in one program format could have affected

those participants' second language learning and, cowequently, their

achievement scores. Fourth, possible differences in the composition of the

groups vis-à-vis the partïapants' level of general ability rnight be a factor

responsible for differences in outcomes- Fifth, the higher scores achieved in the

intensive format may be due to a reactivity problem in the experimental group.

(The expression "reac tivity problem" r efers to unintended effects afising from

participants' reactions to the presence of researchers or to the ongoing research

itself rather than to the experimental controls. The Hawthorne effect is one such

reactivity problem in which the participants' knowledge that they are in an

experiment causes them to modify their behaviour. Çee Welch and Stemhagen,

1991; Diaper, 1990; etc. for a complete discussion.) Finally, 1 consider the

intensive nature of the half-day program as a factor contributing to the

differences in outcomes.

Each one of these factors is an attempt to explain the difrences in group

test scores in the absence of variations in t e a d h g strategies between the two

formats.

4.3.1. The Effect of the Variation of OUia Teaching Strategies

My findings indicate that there were no significan-t differences in the a d

teaching strategies and the number of occurrences of these strategies between the

two program formats. Despite the similarity of the interaction in the two classes,

there were differences in the learning outcomes between the two groups. If

teaching strategies play an important role in student adiievement, it could be

possible that the teadter varied teaching strategies that 1 did not examine. For

example, the teacher may have used "paraphrasing" of student utterances or

"choral repetition" of a reading passage. The use of teadiing strategies like these

with only one dass might conceivably be a factor contributing to the different

leaming outcornes of the two groups.

4.3.2 The Effect of the Teachds Use of Engïish

The use of English by the teacher - or the la& of it - could have had an

effect on the students' adiievement scores on post-tests of their French skilis.

Many researchers underline the importance of the use of the target

language in the classroom. Swain (1985) believes that students require

appropriate target language input before they are able to produce acceptable

output. It is also through th& output in the second language that they are able

to acquire it. Wong-Fillmore (1985,35) writes that "the amount of exposure to the

new language that students get varies enomously, dependuig on whether they

take advantage of oppominities to interact with the teacher. How well they learn

[the target language] may weU depend on theK ability to make the most of

limited input." By providing more (and better) target language input, teachers

are perhaps aeating more opportunities for second language learning. The use

of the LI- in this case, English - may actuaiiy hinder the students' progresS.

A number of studies provide evidence to support these theories.

Ln an evaluation of the teaching of French in the primary schools in Britain,

Burstail (1970) distinguished between "highly fluentf8 and "les fluent" dasses.

Highly fluent classes tended to offer students "greater opportunities for

individual practice in speaking French and allowed ai I members of the dass [to

take] an active part in the French lesson" (Burstail, 1970, p. 77) as well as have

teachers who used "no En@& at ail" (Burstall, 1970, p. 78). Less fluent ciasses,

on the other hand, were those which provided students with little opportunity to

practice speaking French except in large group situations and where English was

"occasionally" or "frequently" spoken by b o t . the teacher and the students

(Burstall, 1970, p. 78). Visiting inspectors frequently rated the highly fluent

classes more highly than the l e s fluent classes.

In a comparative study of foreign language programs in eight different

countries, Carroll (1975) investigated the factors affecting students' levels of

achievement in French. Each of the programs was characterized by short daily

periods of French instruction (similar to the most common format of core French

programs in Canadian primary schools). Carroll found that the teacher's use of

the target language was an important factor idiuencing the students' French

proficiency. (The teacherfs profiaency in French was a h a contributing factor;

however, Carroll determined that the amount of instructional t h e was the most

important factor influencing student levels of achievement.) in a continuation of

Carroll's (1975) study, Wolf (1977) did a further examination of the data from the

United States. Based on a regtession analysis of teacher variables, Wolf

concluded that the percentage of dassroom activities in French had a positive

correlation to sbdent achievement on tests of French reading and listening

comprehension whereas the frequency of speaking English in class had a

negative influence on students' achievement.

Research findings like those above may encourage teachers and

curriculum developers to consider the use of the target language in the French

class. With the aim of improving students' communicative ability in French,

members of the National Core French Study recommended that French be the

preferred medium of interaction between the teacher and the students in core

French classes across Canada Cfremblay, Duplantie and Huot, 1990). The teacher

m u t encourage students to speak French by spealaing French with them.

As outlined in the previous chapter, my quantitative findings did not

indicate a significant difference in the teacher's use of English (and, converseiy,

of French) between the two program formats. in fact, the number of English

utterances in each group and their respective percentages were almost identical.

However, a review of the qualitative data suggests a difference in this teacher's

use of English between the two groups. Entries in the teacher's journal indicate

that the teacher was concemed about her seemingly frequent use of Engiish with

the #minute group.

With regard to the teacher's use of English, my quantitative findings

contradict my qualitative data. The quantitative data were derived from tafies

of codings from the transcripts of a videotaped lesson based on various activities

from a unit in the course materials. As this lesson had been (for all practical

purposes) randomly chosen, it could be considered to be representative of this

teacher's typical lessons and reflect the usual classroom interaction. The

qualitative data corne from the teacher's journal in which she recorded her

impressions and experiences throughout the entire length of each program

format. If her observations of her usage of English with the 4û-minute dass are as

accurate as they are consistent, her use of English may have regularly exceeded

132

the 3.80% of total utterances that I calculated for this group based on the

transcripts.

The teacher in this study felt that she had to resort to using more English

with the regular group than with the intensive group. nie teacher seemed to

believe that her students in the regular dass needed greater support in English to

help them progress in French. In turn, students may have been more reluctant to

express themselves in French during the course and, thus, may not have

developed their skills as fully as might have been possible (Wong-Fillmore, 1985;

Swain, 1985; Burstaii, 1970). Results from the pst-tests show that the gains made

by thiç groüp on the tests of reading and writing skilis were significantly lower

than those made by the half-day dass (Lapkin, Harley & Hart, 1995).

Because the lower adiievement outcomes of the regular program format

group are consistent with the findings of Burstd (1970), Carroii (1975) and Wolf

(1977) described above, 1 suspect that this teacher did use more English with the

40-minute dass when her lessons were not being videotaped. However, whether

the teacher's possible greater use of English with the &minute group adverseiy

affected its test results or that her possible lesser use of Engiish with the 150-

minute group inaeased the achievement scores cannot be determined here.

Although my quantitative data did not indicate a difference in the

teacher's use of English between the two groups, the qualitative data do not

allow me to condude that the teacher's use of Engiish was not a factor in the

ciifferences in achievement outcomes between the two program formats.

4.3.3. The Effect of the bss of Class Time

Interruptions to the &minute dass may account for outcomes lower than

those adueved by the 150-minute group, because they represent time away from

the learning task and diminished opportunities for students to receive and

produce French input and output.

Each group received approximately 120 hours of core French instruction

in its respective program format. m e control group received minutes a day

for the duration of the school year, while the intensive group received 150

minutes every day for about t e . weeks.) However, the amount of time actuaily

spent on tasks appropriate to the course objectives may have varied significantly

between the two groups. Each group rnay have had the same amount of core

French instruction from an administrative perspective only, yet in real terms, one

group may have spent more time on French learning tasks than the other.

As noted in the previous drapter, the teacher made reference in her jounial

to nurnerous interruptions dishubing her 40-minute dass. These interruptions,

whether brief or prolonged, were enough to make the teacher note them in her

journal. She indicated that she felt interruptions were a detriment to the students

in that particular dass. When totaiied over the course of the year, these

interruptions may have amounted to a substantid l o s of dass time. The result

may have been that this cornparison group did not receive as much real core

French instruction as the intensive group. Evidence of a loss of instructional

time is noted in the teacher's journal. She indicated that she completed one less

unit of work in the Élans program with the &minute group than with the 150-

minute class.

Research in second language acquisition (see, for example, Stem, 1992;

Cummins & Swain, 1986; Krashen, 1985; Krashen, 1982; and Krashen, 1981 among

others) indicates that the length of the expoçure (as weli as its intensity) to the

target language in formal instruction is a factor in developing second language

proficiency. The interruptions to the 40-minute dass diminished the intensity

and deaeased the students' overaii exposure to French as compared to the 1M

minute group which experienced (from indications in the teacher's journal)

fewer interruptions. Therefore, it is reasonable to suggest üiat the deaeased time

on task in the control group may account for its lower achïevement outcornes on

tests performed after the completion of the program.

4.3.4. The Effect of Differences in G m p Composition

In their study, Lapkin, Harley and Hart (1995) suggestecl that there were

differences between the two groups. Although partiapants were assigneci to a

group on a random basis (while allowing for flexibility in scheduling certain

classes), the groups did not obtain similar scores on the Canadian Achievernent

Test before their respective experimental treatments began.

Mean CAT scores were lowest for students in the 40-minute group and

highest for students in the 150-minute gtoup. These results "were simply not

due to a few exceptionally gifted students in the half-day" dass (Lapkin, Harley

& Hart, 1995, 18). These researchers were concerned that this finding indicated

that participants placed in the intensive group were, on the whole. better

students from the outset. For that reason. they controiied for differences in their

statistical analyses where possible. Nonetheless, they were able to condude that

students in the 150-minute goup did better, on average, on tests evaluaüng the

skilis of reading and writing in Fr&

Although these results were adjusted for differences of English language

proficiency between the two groups, the dasses were different perhaps in

another way. Entries in the teacher's journal indicate that the students in the 150-

minute group may have been more motivated or had better attitudes about their

dass than those in the @minute group. The teacher began to praise the students'

good work and theh positive behaviour ("keenness") almost from the beginning

of their program. The teacher did not begin to praise the students in the 40-

minute group until much later-at about the halfway point-in their program.

Even the supply teacher commented on how good the students in the half-day

group were. The amount of praise heaped on the students in the intensive group

may have helped motivate them and encourage them to concentrate more on

their lessons as weil as given them a more positive self-image as speakers of

French. (The possibility of the regular and supply teachers as weii as the

partiupating students being influenced by the Hawthorne effect is discussed in

the following subsection on Reactivity Problems.)

This evidence may suggest that students in the 150-minute group had

better attitudes toward learnhg French or were more positive about their

learning context than those in the 40-minute group. Many researchers have

pointed out the role of attitude in successful second language acquisition. In a

survey of research on attitude and language learning, Krashen (1982) states that

motivation and self-image (dong with low anxiety) are powerful affective factors

related to successfui second language acquisition. In one study of learning

French as a second language in Canada, Naiman, Frohlich, Stern and Todesco

(1978) found that students' general attitude toward learning that language in th&

partïcular situation was the greatest predictor of their success. Burstall (1970)

136

reports similar findings for primas, and secondary level students of French in

Britaui. Lapkin, Harley and Hart (1995) had students in the 150-minute group

complete a questionnaire on their experience with the longer format- A majority

of students in the 150-minute group responded that they liked "having more

time each day to learn French". More than 60 percent of the students in this

group responded "No" to the statement "1 don't think I'm leaming French any

better in the longer periods". These findings indicate that students in the half-

day dass were favourable to the intensive format. Their positive attitude to the

class along with the encouraging praise from the teacher may have motivated

these students to try hardes and do well in t . French learning. This factor may

have contributed to the differences in gains this dass made on French reading

and writing tests over the Wminute dass.

The composition of the 40-minute and 150-minute groups appears to be

different in two ways. Fust, the students in the intensive group were better than

those in the regular group based on their CAT scores. Second, evidence suggests

that students in the half-day group may have received more encouragement and,

thus, had a more positive attitude and been more motivated than those in the 40-

minute group. These two differences could account, to some degree, for the

differences in achievement outcomes between the two goups.

4.3.5. The Effect of Reactivity Roblems

Another possible explanation for the higher achievement scores and better

attitudinai outcomes in the two experimental groups in the Lapkin, Harley and

Hart (1995) study is that those students were infiuenced by some sort of subject

reactivity.

Elmes, Kantowitz and Roediger (1992) emphasize that "just telling

someone that he or she is in [an experimental study] may cause reactivity

problemç" (p. 204). Parents of aii partiapants in the Carleton case study had

given their consent for their chiid to participate; thesefore, ail students were

aware that they were part of a research project. It may be that the higher

achieving participants in the case study were hfiuenced by what psychologists

call the Hawthorne effect. This psychological phenornenon refers to the

unintended influence exerted by the presence of researchers and participants'

knowledge that they are being obsewed (Elmes, Kantowitz & Roediger, 1992;

Welch & Stemhagen, 1991). Researchers try to control for a number of

experimental variables, yet it is difficult to control for modifications that

participants make to their own behaviour due to the experimental procedure. In

my case study, 1 have focused on the dassroom kacher's strategies as a potential

variable to explain gains made by certain groups; Lapkin, Harley and Hart (1995)

considered the program format as another variable. However, as Welch and

Sternhagen point out (1991), "it seems unlikely that the only effects of evaluation

upon a system would result from actions initiated by, and subject to, the direct

control of an evaluator. . . . in much the same way, it seems likely that the

presence or existence of program evaluation would exert influence upon a

system even if an evaluation report was never prepared" (p. 121). Elmes,

Kantowitz and Roediger (1992) explain the Hawthorne effect more simply by

stating that "experiments may not only examine behavior, they may also produce

it" (p. 204).

The participants, their parents, and the participating teacher were

138

certainly aware of the research being conducted. (Students in aii groups were

reminded of the research when tests were done periodicaily during dass time by

Carleton Board of Education staff.) However, it is not only the knowledge that

they are being observed that perhaps made the students in the experimental

groups obtain better outcomes. In her journal, the teacher noted, "It just

occuned to me that one reason [the 150-minute groupl is so keen is that they feel

special since they are part of a study" [p. 151. She may be correct. Diaper (1990)

explains that "[alpart from an awareness of being in an experiment and special

treatment or attention, other reasons [for the Hawthorne effect] are change in

routine or novelty, enthusiasm in trying something new, inaeased motivation

attributed to a number of causes such as prestige ftom being selected and the

elaboration the people who feel they are especiaily selected to show an effect

tend to do so, . . . improved morale together with the development of an esprit de

corps" (p. 262). %me students in the experimental program formats may fit one

or more of these explanatiow. As noted in the teacher's jounial, some parents

had tried to get their diildren enrolied in the 150-minute dass. Actions and

comments like this would have perhaps made that program format seem, in the

eyes of the students, desirable and members of that dass seem special. Students

already enrolled in the "desirable" program format could have consequently felt

special. The teacher's journal noted that at least one student had expressed

excitement about starting the 150-minute dass. The teacher's positive attitudes

about the 150-minute dass may have rubbed off on the students in this group. By

the end of the year-as noted in the teacher's journal-these students were stiil

positive about their experïence. These students may have developed a certain

esprit de corps or feeling of belonging to a special team which could have

improved their attitudes about the program.

Furthemore, Weber and Cook (1972) (in Elmes, Kantowitz and Roediger,

1992) suggest that some participants in a study might adopt a "good-subject

role". With an understanding of the reasons for the study, partiapants taking

this role may "do anything necesJary to validate the experimental hypothesis"

(Ehes, Kantowitz and Roediger, 1992, p. 207). The aims of the CarIeton case

study had been explained to the students and theh parents. Students in the

experimental program formats who had high achievement and better attitudinal

outcomes may have deliberatdy made more of an effort and taken more interest

in their core French class. This may be especiaily true-as noted in the teacher's

journal-as ai least one student in the 150-minute group had expressed exatement

about this format before her program began and some parents felt that the aims of

the case study were worthy of their attention. By working harder, some of the

high achieving students may have been fulfilling their own and thek parents'

expectations of the outcomes of the study as wdl as what they perceived the

expectations of the researchers to be.

The Hawthorne effect and the potentiaily ensuing good-subject role are

reactivity problems that are difficult for researchers to control. (See Adair,

Sharpe and Huynh, 1989 and Adair, Sharpe and Huynh, 1988 for a discussion of

this difficulty.) However, Diaper (1990) suggests that the idluence of the

Hawthorne effect may be diminished if a i i participants-inciuding those in the

conhol or comparison group-could be subjected to an "enthusiastic

involvement" (p. 266). In other words, if aU participants felt equally that they

were part of a special treatment, the Hawthorne effect on one group could cancel

out that influence on the other groups. Neither Lapkin, Harley and Hart (1995)

nor the Carleton Board of Education personnel nor 1 made a deliberate effort to

lessen the Hawthorne effect in this way. Furthemore and perhaps more

importantly, the participating teacher did not seem to b ~ g the stucients of the

40-minute cornparison group into "enthusiastic involvement". In her journal, the

teacher mentioned that on the fist day of the 40-minute program she had

explained to the students thaï "they were part of a study about Core French and

that it would be very exuting" [p. 11. However, as noted in my qualitative

findings, her seemingly negative attitudes towards this particular program

format (e.g. "Forty minutes . . . is a total waste of time" [p. 431) could have

permeated that dass and made the students feel that they were not part of

something special.

In short, it is likely that the students in the 150-minute group were

influenced by a reactivity problem known as the Hawthome effect Students in

this group knew that they were being observed and that there were expedations

that they might outperform the5 counterparts in the regular 40-minute program.

The teacher, the supply teacher, and the participants' parents showed great

interest in the students in the intensive group. In addition to this awareness, the

Hawthorne effect may have been increased by the participants' feelings of being

special due to their indusion in a novel program. Although the Hawthorne

effect ahost certainly played some role (at least with some students, if not aU) in

the higher learning outcomes and better attitudinal outcomes in the 150-minute

group, it is impossible to determine the extent to which this is bue.

4.3.6. The Effect of the Intensive Program Format

A final possible explanation for the ciifferences in outcornes between the

two groups is the program format of the classes. The intensive format could

provide the dass with an experience or put the students into a certain frame of

mind that the regular format does not.

Stem (1985) reports evidence which suggests that intensive program

formats featuring longer daily amounts of instructional time over a short period

of time are more effective than program formats offering shorter instructional

periods held over a longer time span. As mentioned earlier, Carroll (1990) feels

that such intensive programs provide more quality learning time than regular

programs. He believes that students are subjected to fewer distractions and that,

as a consequence, they can concentrate more on leaming the material in compact

programs.

Reports from schools wheie compact programs have been implemented

support Carroll's (1990) theory. Morris et al- (1993) indicate that students are

more focused in dass since the introduction of a compact timetable at one high

school in British Columbia. On questionnaires administered after the initial year

of introduction of a similar compact timetable at another high school, 90% of

students responded that they "leam more effectively" and that they "better

remember the material taught" as compared to their experience with a reguiar,

year-long timetable (Lindsay, 1993). Seventy-five percent of teachers at this same

school agreed with the statement that they now "teach more effectiveiyf', and 79%

said that they now "have more quaiïty instructional üme" (Lindsay, 1993).

Similar results are reported by the teacher involved in my case study. The

teacher wrote in her journal that " [tlhere is much more immediate reinforcement

for grammar concepts and new vocabulary in the longer t h e period. Less

review is necessary. In 40 min there isn't enough time to reinforce what has been

introduced and part of the next 40 min. period is taken up with reteaching and

review" [p. 101. These observations indicate that the intensive program format

may have a positive effect on her teaching, if not the learning of French by the

students in that group. On a survey of student views, over 60% of students in the

intensive class agreed with the statement Y remember more of what I've learned

day to day now that we spend more time on French" (Lapkin, Harley & Hart,

1995) while only 2570 disagreed with it.

With the teacher believing that she was teadiing more effectively and

students feeling that they were retaining more in the 150-minute dass, it is

perhaps not surpnsing that students in this group made greater gains on the

French skills post-tests than students in the regular 40-minute group. The

intensive format must, therefore, be considered a probable factor in the

differences in outcomes between the two groups.

4.3.7. Summary of Possible Explanations for Differences in Group Outcomes

In this section, 1 have outlined several factors that might account for the

differences in outcomes between the intensive group and the regular dass.

1 have suggested that variations in the teaching done in each program

format may have had an effect on the outcomes. Differences in the teacher's use

of English with the two groups or variations in her use of teaching strategies not

examined for this study could have had an impact on students' achievement

outcomes.

Factors specific to the two fomiats have been addresseci. The intensive

nature of the half-day format may have assisted students in making significant

gains over their peers in the regular program on post-tests of their French

reading and writing skills. Students in the 40-minute dass may have suffered

from the loss of dass time from interruptions.

Differences in the students themselves shodd also be considered when

attempting to explain the differences in outcomes. There is evidence that

participants in the 150-minute group were better students than those in the 40-

minute group. Also, students in the experimental intensive group may have

benefitted from a reactivity problem known as the Hawthorne effect.

1 have not been able to determine which of the six factors that 1 have

discussed is responsible for the differences in achievement outcomes behven the

two groups. It iç possible that more than one of these factors cm account for the

differences. Of course, factors that 1 have not considered codd be responsible or

play a role in these differences as wd.

4.4. Shortcomings and Limitations of the Shidy

As with any type of research, my study had certain shortcomings and

limitations which affect the generalizability of the findings. The shortcomings

and Limitations of this study are discussed below in terms of (1) the sale of the

research and (2) the extent of the quantitative research.

The findings are based on a small-scale study of the teaching strategies

used by one teacher in two ciasses of different program formats. It is impossiile

to generalize the results of my research, because data from a greater number of

teachers may provide vastly different findings. Rather than being representative

of a great many or a i i teachers, the data obtained from the teacher in this study

may represent one extreme of a range of possible findings from vazious

individual teachers. Owing to the case study nature of th& reseawch, my research

question was not "Do teachers vary the5 teaching strategies in different program

formats of core French?" but rather "Does this teacher Vary her teachîng

strategies in different program formats of cote French?" If a simiIar study were

to be repeated, a greater number of teachers would have to be obsenred in order

to improve the generalizability of the results.

Another shortcoming arising from the smaii scale of this study is that only

limited observation was done of the teacher. One lesson of about 150 minutes in

length was obsemed and videotaped for each of the group formats. Data from

these observation periods may not necessarily be whoiiy representative of the

teachùig strategies used by this teacher in each of the group formats over a longer

term. For example, 1 discovered a contradiction between the qualitative data and

the quantitative data regarding the teacher's use of English. The teacher's journal

was a source of qualitative data providing her own observations and impressions

throughout the entire length of both program formats. The quantitative data

were based on the coding of transcripts of a videotaped lesson lasting less than

three hours. The short (videotaped) observation period may limit the reliability

of the findings. if such a contradiction between my sources of data could exist

for the teacher's use of Engiish, there codd be more such contradictions for other

teachhg strategies. These possible contradictions may not be apparent due to

the relatively short period of quantitative data gathering- If this study were to be

repeated, more observation of classes should be done. Perhaps as much as 20 to

30 hours of (videotaped) observation in each program format - about ten times

the amount done in my case study - could be done to reveal potentially

profound differences and be "a more reliable assessrnent of the instructionai

characteristics of the dassrooms" (Tumbd, 1998, p. 39).

45. Implications for Th- and Ractiœ

The findings of this study suggest some general implications for theory

and practice.

The findings reveal theie were no significant variations in the teaching

strategies used in the two dasses. 1 can condude from this that these teaching

strategies were not a factor in the differences in achievement outcomes in the two

program formats. However, the fïndings do not indicate that teaching strategies

could not have an effect on achievement outcomes. More study wiii have to be

done to prove or disprove the role that teadiing strategies play in affecthg

achievement outcomes.

Because, in this case study, no confirmed variations in teaching strategies

were found between the regular and intensive groups, 1 could not begin to

explore which particular strategies might have had a marked effect on the 150-

minute group's overaii higher achievement on reading and writing post-tests.

My study does not provide evidence of greater benefits of certain teaching

strategies. Therefore, 1 cannot presaibe the use of certain teaching strategies over

other ones. Before any such recommendation codd be made, more study would

have to be done.

The contradiction between the quantitative findings and the qualitative

data regarding the teacher's use of Engiish highlights the importance of obtaining

data from a variety of sources. 1 cannot judge the superiority of one type of data

(quantitative versus qualitative) over another for this study. However, my

research underscores the importance of attempting to "tnangulate" data from a

variety of sources (Johnson, 1992).

From a more pracücal perspective, my study perhaps has the potential of

raising core French teachers' awareness of the types of input and interaction

possibly occurring in their own classrooms. This, in turn, may lead these

teachers to reflect on their own teaching practices and use of teaching strategies,

and may entice some to begin a form of "action research" (Johnson & Chen, 1992)

in their own core French dassrooms. These practitioners could generate more

hypotheses about the role that teachers and their teaching strategies play in

second language education, much like Wong-Fillmore (1985) did in her study.

Inquiry Lüce this could contribute to the teachers' own development, their

students' improvement, and our understanding of the second language

acquisition process.

46. Diriections for Future Research

As 1 have aiready stated, more study would have to be done to further

investigate the theoretical and practical implications above. Ways to repeat this

study and suggestions for other studies are discussed in this section.

There is value in repeating this study; however, 1 would recommend

several major modifications. The limitations of the study inherent in its size have

already been diçcussed above. This study should be done on a larger s a l e with

a greater number of partiapating teachers. Data from other core French teachers

would provide us with a more accurate picture of the various teaching strategies

being used in dassrooms aaoss Ontario. Such a procedure need not be diffidt

if individual teachers were to conduct their own action research as suggested in

the previous section.

I would also recommend that teachers be very familïar with the course

materials More parficipating in a sImilar study in the future. The teacher in my

study selected the course materials herself based on their experiential-

communicative orientation; however, aside from receiving some training with

them, she did not use them with students before beginning the study. Both the

materials and the approach were relatively new to this teacher. Her faith in the

course materials was expressed in her strict adherence to completing the

textbook exeruses as outlined in the teacher's guide. By following the teacher's

guide so dosely, this teacher used the same lesson plans for each group. If this

teacher had had more experience with these course materials and their

organization of content prior to the study, she may have been able to be more

creative or adventurous with her lesson planning. When they have greater

experience with the course materials and their expectations, 1 believe teachers

would be more likely to Vary their teaching activities and techniques between the

different program formats and thereby create the context for the more varieci use

of teaching strategies.

Another recommendation to improve this study if it were to be conducted

again would be to expliutly ask the participating teachers to Vary their lessons

for each format. The teacher participating in my study had b e n given release

time from her board in order to allow her to prepare lessons for the different

program formats. It was believed that she would prepare different lessons for

each group; however, that belief tumed out to be a faise assumption of the

researchers working on the project. The partiapating teacher stated in her

interview that she felt she should not create different lessons for each group due

to her belief that it was necessary to be consistent behveen her ciasses during the

study. Nevertheles, she also indicated in the interview that she was willing to

change her activities and techniques if asked to do so for another study. This is

an important recommendation, because 1 believe that teachers are bound to use

different teadUng strategies if they Vary th& lessons by using different teaching

activities or techniques. By aeating new contexts (through the use of different

teadiing activities and techniques) in the different program formats, 1 believe our

chances of observing variations in teaching strategies inaeases.

My final recommendation for the improvement of future studies related to

this one is to attempt to eliminate the Hawthorne effect. It seerns that the students

in the 150-minute group in this study felt that they were part of something

special. Conversely, the students in the regular format group may have felt lefi

out of the excitement of the study. In future studies, it wouid be important for

researchers to minhize the effects of reactivity factors Iike this. 1 recommend

that the researchers and parücipating teadiers try to make students in ail groups

feel that they are involved and contributhg to the whole study. Students'

enthusiasm must be kept equally high in all groups by making them feel that

they are playing a valuable role in an exciting resarch project

In summary, 1 have made four recommendations for ameiiorating some of

the conditions of this shidy. First, research üke this should be conducted with a

greater number of participating teahers. A larger-scale study would allow for

the generaiizabiiity of the findings. Çecond, teachers experienced in using the

course materials should be used as participants. These teachers might possibly

be more apt to Vary their teadiing activities and techniques for the diffesent

groups. Third, participating teachers should be asked to Vary their lessons for

each program format. By dwging the teaching contact, the teachers may have to

vary their teaching strategies. Finally, teachers shouid make their students feel

enthusiastically involved in the research process.

From my observations of the instruction during this study, 1 have become

more interested in the teaching done in communicative-experiential core French

classes. In my study, the participating teacher was fairly new to the comrnunicative-

experiential approach in language teaching. By foiiowing the procedures

outhed in the teacher's manual for the course, this teacher beiieved she had

closely adhered to the phiiosophy behind commu~cative-experiential teadung.

However, her use of English, her encouragement of students to respond in

English if necessary, and her translation between French and English might

suggest that she did not follow the approach as dosely as she could have. From

this observation, 1 suggest two directions for future related research. First, the

communicative orientation of language classes and the teachers' perceptions of

their implementation of it should be explored more. Second, when experienced

practitioners step away front a certain approach momentarily during a lesson,

they should be asked for their rationale.

The National Core French Study proposed the implementation of a

communicative-experiential syllabus within a multidimensional curriculum

150

(LeBlanc, 1990; Tremblay, Duplantie & Huo~, 1990). The communicative

orientation of different language dassrooms has been investigated for quite some

time now (see Spada k Fr6hüdi, 1995; Frohlich, Spada & Allen, 1985; M e n ,

Frohlich & Spada, 1984 for detds). Through the application of the COLT

(Communicative Orientation of Language Teadung) Observation Scheme,

classroom tesearchers are able to identify the extent to which the tasks and

interaction in a certain classroom are communicative. To their credit, core

French teachers and textbook publishers in Canada have graduaiiy adopted a

communicative and/or experiential approach in their work. However, my own

experience tells me that some teachers believe their teaching follows the

communicative approach when, in fact, it could be more communicative.

As a direction for future research, 1 suggest that teachers be surveyed on

their understanding of the communicative approach They could also be asked

how communicative they believe their own language teadiing to be. Researchers

codd observe these teachers' classes in order to make them aware of the degree

to which their language teachtig fits the communicative approach. Such a study

would encourage teachers to reflect on their teaching and could possibly prompt

alterations to pre-service programs at faculties of education and improvements

to inservice training workshops. In fact, in order to explore French teachers'

understanding about a communicative-experientia~ curriculum, Lewis (1998)

interviewed nine teachers prior to and during their introduction of such a

curriculum to the5 primary- and secondary-level classes. She recommended

that teachers work collaboratively to examine their work and to better manage

the professional and personal diallenges facing them during such a process. She

151

aiso States that more documentation of teadiers' knowledge of and experiences

with the cornmunicative-experientiai curriculum must be made for research

purposes.

A second direction for further research arises from my first suggestion.

The evidence from my study indicates that teachers may use strategies that are

not considered to be the most communicative in nature- Researchers should ask

experienced practitioners what prompts them to do this. When the t e a k s stray

from the communicative approach, they could record their reasons in a journal.

Researchers could analyze these reasons for validity while, at the same t h e 8

gaining greater insight into what goes on in second language dassrooms. In this

way, practitioners and researchers can engage in a mutually benefiaal dialogue.

My study indicates that more research into the process of second language

teaching is required in order to better understand the product of second

language learning.

4.7. Conduding Remarks

My study has provided a snapshot of the interaction in two particular

language classes undergoing slightly different conditions. It also offers a

glimpse into the actions of one Grade 7 core French teacher. My findings

indicate that the obsewed teaching strategies do not change automatically when

the format of the dass changes. (My qualitative findings suggest that there was

not any variation in this teacher's use of praaice techniques or activities between

the two classes.) There were indications from previous research that these

teadiing strategies codd possibly diange if the teacher made a conscious effort

to Vary her use of them in the different program formats.

1 cannot prescrîbe certain teadiing strategies. My observations have

merely provided a description of the teaching strategies of a particular teacher

working in two different program formats. The value of the selected teaching

strategies for second language learning has not been proven. The la& of

evidence suggests that there k a need for more process-product research to ünk

various teadiing practices with leaniing outcornes.

It is my hope that continued research will make core French instruction

more effective. Continued research in and improvements to core French

instruction could erase the image of these programs being the poorer cousin of

immersion programs. With greater understanding of the factors involved in

student achievement in second language learning, core French programs couid

one day be an equaiiy respected alternative to immersion programs in Canada.

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