ABSTRACT
In many parts of the world, bilingualism is a fact of life. In North America, however, bilingualism on a wide-scale tends to be limited to minority language groups who must learn English in order to function within the dominant English-speaking majority. Second or foreign languages have been taught to English-speaking students, but, in general, such teaching has had little success in developing a bilingual citizenry. This lack of success has concerned many an English-Canadian who, over the last decade, has become acutely aware of the French ‘fact’ in Canadian life. And among some parents and educators in Canada, the situation has led to a concerted effort to improve the outcomes of French as a second language (FSL) instruction (see, for example, Lambert and Tucker 1972; Stem et al. 1976; Swain 1978a).
