SAbboud Assignment #1 1

Intensive French as a Constructivist Second-Language Learning Program

Submitted by Sheena Abboud
23939101
Instructor: Diane Janes
ETEC 530 65B
March 3
rd
, 2013






SAbboud Assignment #1 2
Intensive French as a Constructivist Second-Language Learning Program

The development of the Intensive French program arose from the need to
redevelop the ineffective Core French program that is being taught in schools across
Canada. In order for a child to be an effective French as a Second Language learner,
they must be afforded authentic and contextual language learning situations. In the
Intensive French model, these communicative tasks are constructivist in nature as
students draw upon their maternal language in order to construct new skills in their
target language. Through a set series of teaching strategies, the learner is guided to
develop implicit competencies in the target language. The teacher leads students as
a whole class through these activities with the common goal of personalizing their
responses to meet their communicative needs. Having students work through this
process together makes the learning cooperative as they work towards the common
goal of developing communicative skills in French. As tasks are meaningful and set
in authentic contextual situations, the Intensive French program exemplifies the use
of situated learning methods as well. This essay will explain how the Intensive
French model of second-language learning exemplifies theories of constructivist,
and situated learning techniques.

The Intensive French Program

In their article Intensive French in Canada (in press), Dr. Joan Netten and Dr.
Claude Germain identify unsatisfactory results of the Core French program based on
various studies conducted across Canada. Students in Core French programs receive
approximately 30-40 minutes of instruction in French per day in between Grades 4
to 6. Even after approximately 360 to 450 hours of French instruction, 98% of
students interviewed were unable to communicate in French. Since students do not
experience success in the program, motivation to study French declines and
attitudes towards learning French become negative. (Netten & Germain, in press, p.
1). The Intensive French program attempts to re-conceptualize the Core French
program in order to meet the communicative needs of students.
SAbboud Assignment #1 3

The Intensive French method is to be incorporated in to the Core French
program at the beginning of Grade 5 or 6 (students are age 10 to 12). During the
initial 5 months of the program, 70% of students day is dedicated to French
language learning. During these 5 months, the remaining 30% of the students
schedule is dedicated to mathematics and other specialist programs which are
taught in English. For the remaining 5 months, students return to their regular
timetable with core subjects being taught in English and with only 10% of their
curriculum being dedicated to French.

The Intensive French program is constructed to develop oral competencies
first, followed by written competencies in hope of eliciting the development of
implicit grammatical knowledge. There are four teaching strategies employed in this
model (Netten & Germain, in press):
Modeling: Teacher provides verbal model of structures depending on the
communicative intention.
Use and re-use: Teacher asks questions allowing students to use to modeled
structure while adapting it to their own situation. Student is not repeating
the modeled form, but rather is replying using the same form but his or her
own information.
Corrections: If the student makes an error in the use and re-use phase, it is
essential that the teacher provide the correct form immediately to ensure the
error does not become fossilized in the students repertoire. In order to
eradicate the error, the learner must develop implicit competence in using and re-
using the utterance accurately. (Netten & Germain, in press, p. 5)
Making links: Teachers and students are encouraged to use complete
sentence in the beginning stages of communication. This allows students to
make grammatical connections between communicative structures and to
develop his or her internal grammar.

SAbboud Assignment #1 4
Netten and Germain (in press) state [the] use of these four strategies is essential to
the development of an implicit competence in the second language that is both accurate
and fluent. (p. 6). Once the skill has been developed and understood verbally, it is only
then that students work to transfer the competency to writing and reading. Students are
drawing upon their implicit language knowledge and thinking more explicitly about how
to adapt it to a different communicative task. In this process, students are also drawing
upon language competencies in their maternal language (L1) as they evaluate, adapt and
transfer these skills to their target language. This aspect of the program was influenced by
the work of Jim Cummins and his Interdependence Hypothesis.

Constructivist Bilingualism

The Interdependence Hypothesis, as
proposed by Cummins (2001) suggests
that while there are distinct surface
features (syntax, phonology, etc.) of
both the learners maternal language
(L1) and target language (L2), there
are common underlying proficiencies,
which the learner draws upon in
developing further fluency in both languages. These proficiencies include general literacy
skills such as reading and writing. In terms of bilingual education, Cummins suggests
that, while the learner is constructing his or her L2 communicative skills based on the
common proficiencies, the learner is continually developing his or her L1 skills. [It]
has been hypothesized that the cognitive/academic aspects of the L1 and L2 are
interdependent and that the development of proficiency in L2 is partially a function of the
level of L1 proficiency at the time when intensive exposure to L2 begins (Cummins,
2001, p. 118). Cummins refers to this balance as additive bilingualism: when learners are
developing fluency and proficiency in in both their L1 and L2 simultaneously. This
hypothesis is based in constructivism as it sees learners constructing new language skills
that are based on pre-existing proficiencies.
Cummins Interdependence, or dual-iceberg, Hypothesis (2001, p.118)

SAbboud Assignment #1 5

Constructivism in Intensive French

The process of second-language learning is constructivist to its core. Leaners
must acquire new language competencies, determine their intent based on prior
communicative skills, and adapt their new knowledge to meet their communicative
objectives. Through this process, students are actively constructing meaning in their
target language, rather than receiving knowledge that is being transmitted by the
teacher. In order to facilitate this process, Matthews (1994, p.143) cites Driver and
Oldhams (1986) model for delivering constructivist instruction. This model consists
of five elements: orientation, elicitation, restructuring of ideas, application of ideas,
and review.

The orientation stage motivates students to make a connection to what they
are learning. In the Intensive French program, this is accomplished by having
students determine their communicative needs. Since the objective of the Intensive
French program is to offer to students an authentic language learning experience,
this stage is accomplished as students learn to have meaningful conversations with
their peers in the target language. As students deem the learning as purposeful, they
experiment with the language in the elicitation stage. In the Intensive French
program, this takes the form of the teacher modeling a grammatical structure in
context of what is being discussed in class. The learner then adapts that structure by
making the appropriate substitutes to meet his or her own situation.

The restructuring stage consists of three parts: clarification and exchange of
ideas, construction of new ideas, and evaluation of new ideas. In the Intensive French
program, this stage is accomplished with use and re-use strategy when students are
adapting, testing, and evaluating newly learned structures to meet their
communicative needs with their peers. According to Matthews (1994) this is the
heart of the constructivist lesson sequence (p. 143) as it emphasize[s] the
engagement of the students in the learning process and the importance of prior
SAbboud Assignment #1 6
knowledge or conceptualizations of new learning. (p. 144) The Intensive French
strategy of corrections would also take place during this stage. The application stage
is aligned with the Intensive French making links phase as it allows for learners to
identify their communicative needs and draw upon previous knowledge to apply
their new learned structure accurately.

The final phase of this model is the review stage, and one that Matthews
identifies as the highly important but commonly overlooked. It is during this
metacognitive stage that students reflect on what has been learned and how their
knowledge has evolved. A similar strategy, however, is missing from the Intensive
French model. It is crucial for students to have the opportunity to reflect on their
learning, as students should at the same time be learning something about the
process of effective learning (Matthews, 2004, p. 143). While the Intensive French
program contains many constructivist proponents, it does not account for the need
for students to reflect or become aware of their learning process.

Community of Practice in Intensive French

The foundation of the Intensive French program is that students develop an
implicit corpus of linguistic knowledge in their L2 while they are engaged in
communicative tasks. Students acquire skills in their target language by engaging in
contextual conversation with their peers as they develop grammatical and
syntactical understanding. According to Lave and Wenger (1991), this context-
based, co-construction of knowledge defines a situated learning environment. Lave
and Wenger emphasize the importance of participation within a community of
practice (in the case of Intensive French this is the learners class of peers) rather
than simply being a receiver of information. [Rather] than learning by replicating
the performances of others or by acquiring knowledge transmitted in instruction,
we suggest that learning occurs through centripetal participation in the learning
curriculum of the ambient community. (Lave & Wenger, 2002, p. 116) Through
conducting skits, presenting contextualized content of core subject matter, or
SAbboud Assignment #1 7
engaging students in casual conversation, the teacher in the Intensive French
classroom provides to students authentic language-learning contexts in which
knowledge is being constructed. Social interaction and collaboration become key
elements as students are learning through conversations with their peers.

Conclusion

The Intensive French program structure encompasses many components of
constructivist and situated learning models. By engaging in authentic, context-based
communicative tasks, students are developing L2 competencies as they draw upon
previous knowledge of their L1. Through modeling appropriate structures and
evoking students to adapt and personalize the structure, teachers guide students to
develop an implicit grammatical knowledge of the L2. In order for this program to
be truly constructivist, however, the students must have the chance to reflect on the
evolution of their L2 development in order to better understand their learning
process. Despite the lack of this metacognitive component, the Intensive French
program provides a rich and engaging alternative to the Core French program of the
past and one that is conducive to authentic language learning.













SAbboud Assignment #1 8
References:

Cummins, J. (2001). The entry and exit fallacy in bilingual education. In An
Introductory Reader to the Writings of Jim Cummins. C. Baker and N.H. Hornberger
(eds). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, pp. 110-138.

Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (2001). Chapter 7: Legitimate peripheral participation in
communities of practice. In Clarke, J., Hanson, A., Harrison, R., & Reeve, F. (Eds),
Supporting Lifelong Learning: Volume 1: Perspectives on Learning. New York, NY:
RoutledgeFalmer, pp. 111-126

Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991) Situated Learning. Legitimate peripheral participation,
Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press

Matthews, M. R. (1994). Chapter 7: Science teaching: The role of history and
philosophy of science. New York, NY: Routledge

Netten, J., & Germain, C. (in press). Intensive French in Canada. In M. Dooly & D.
Eastment (Eds), Teachers' Voices on Innovative Approaches to Teaching and Learning
Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholar Press.

Netten, J., & Germain, C. (2005). Pedagogy and Second Language Learning: Lessons
Learned from Intensive French. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics/Revue
canadienne de linguistique applique, 8(2), 183-210.

Netten, J., & Germain, C. (2004b). Intensive French: Introduction. The Canadian
Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes, 60(3), 263-
273.