Early immersion (foreign-language instruction)

The roots of early immersion in light of acquisition of foreign languages can be traced to a school in Saint-Lambert, Canada, during the 1960s. French, as a language, possessed popularity within the cultural context of the region. This, however, was not adequately translated in terms of the capability of certain sections of the population to speak the language. The language was rapidly gaining importance in the legal and social realm and its educational dimension as simply another subject in school was proving to be insufficient. Hence, in light of these developments, the parents in this region advocated for a shift towards inclusion of French as a medium of instruction to boost the children's abilities in the same. The adoption of this demand serves as a pilot programme and starting point in an understanding of early immersion. This scheme labelled English and French as 'L1' and 'L2' and used an integrative approach wherein 'L2' served as the base language for teaching other subjects just like 'L1'. == Underlying phenomena ==

Why and how language is acquired The ability to acquire languages and comprehend its nuances such as grammatical complications is an innate one that young children possess. It is believed to have developed as a consequence of the convergence of years of social learning wherein cues are effectively transmitted across cultures and evolutionary pressures, i.e. circumstances in response to which our mechanisms and physicality develop. According to Noam Chomsky, there exists a 'language-acquisition device' as an explanation of the process by which people learn languages. This model elaborates on a generalised framework for the same and is widely supported. It is said to be most proactive in the initial phase of life. Two types of bilingualism and second language learning People who have the ability to communicate using two languages, i.e. bilinguals can be classified as 'sequential bilinguals' and 'simultaneous bilinguals'. The former learn two languages in a specific order or one after the other, whereas the latter adopt both languages in tandem with each other, early in life, at an equal magnitude. The former have a tendency to display greater ability in the language they developed first whereas the latter are more likely to attain equal levels of competence in both languages. Critical period hypothesis Demarcations of timeframes within the human lifespan within which individuals are most susceptible to absorbing or developing different 'faculties' is very common when it comes to breaking down several phenomena. These absorbent 'critical periods' or 'sensitive periods' extend to the realm of 'language acquisition' wherein it is argued that this ability is stronger during particular stages of life. Most often, early childhood is identified as that stage in the above context. Various theories have been purported as to why early childhood is the "easiest" time to learn a language – the developmental period when language seems to be "absorbed" as opposed to "learned". However, much debate still remains as to how the brain acquires language, including why the brain seems to have the easiest time with it in early childhood. == Impact assessment ==

Benefits of early immersion In a 1994 paper of the University of California, Berkeley, Fred Genesee drew on existing research and experiences relating to early immersion in terms of learning languages to depict the key themes that can be ascertained within this field. He found, based on his own past research, that this learning technique produced greater language capability than any other language instruction methods. For example, that of memorising grammar rules for the sole purpose of writing an exam to prove proficiency in that language itself. According to him, this tendency can be explained by the fact that learning the language is made more appealing to the students since it can serve as a means of self-expression and be interesting. Thus, learning the language itself is not the end goal. It was also found, based on Genesee's past research, that engaging in learning a second language through the early immersion technique does not have a detrimental impact on the children's capacity for attaining proficiency in their first language. Criticisms It has been found that, in contrast to the positive side of early immersion discussed above, there also exist numerous criticisms that must be kept in mind while thinking about it as a language acquisition technique. For instance, in 'The Pellerin and Hammerly Study' that was aimed at evaluating the abilities of children who had learnt languages through this technique for a prolonged time period, beginning early in life, it was found that even among such children there exists a potential for significant inaccuracies while speaking the foreign language. Additionally, through the 'Spilka Study', wherein the proficiency of native speakers and early immersion students was compared, it was found that children who learnt through the early immersion path still displayed considerable patterns of error in their speech when compared to native speakers of the language. ==See also==