Speaker: Fred Genesee (McGill University)
Title: “Teaching and Learning in Immersion Programs: Lessons from 45 Years of Research”
Location: Porter Hall
Time: Thursday, March 22nd, 7:30 pm
Abstract:
Since their inception in Montreal in 1965, French immersion programs have been the focus of extensive evaluation and research. In this presentation, I will discuss key findings from this research. Findings from research will be used to answer the following questions: How effective are immersion programs in promoting students’ proficiency in French? Do students’ English skills or academic achievement suffer? Are immersion programs suitable for students with learning challenges? Is it better to start immersion early? Are current immersion programs working? What can parents do to promote the second language development of their children?
Speaker Biography:
Fred Genesee is Professor in the Psychology Department at McGill University, Montreal. He has served on the TESOL Board of Directors for 7 years, including as President. He has been a member of the Executive Committee of AAAL, the ACTFL Foreign Language Standards Steering Committee, the TESOL ESL Committee on Performance and Assessment Standards, and the National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center. He has served as an consultant on second/foreign language and bilingual education in countries around the world, including Japan, Spain, Germany, Estonia, Hong Kong, Latvia, Russia, and Italy. He has conducted extensive research on alternative forms of bilingual and immersion education; his current research interests include language acquisition in pre-school bilingual children, cross-language adopted children, and the language and academic development of students at-risk in bilingual programs. He is the author numerous professional and scientific research reports and books, including Learning Through Two Languages: Studies of Immersion and Bilingual Education (Newbury House, 1987), Educating Second Language Children (Cambridge, 1994 ), Classroom Based Evaluation in Second Language Education (Cambridge, 1996), Beyond Bilingualism: Multilingualism and Multilingual Education (Multilingual Matters, 1998), Dual Language Instruction: A Handbook for Enriched Education (Heinle & Heinle, 2000, with Nancy Cloud and Else Hamayan), Trends in Bilingual Acquisition (John Benjamins, with J. Cenoz), and Dual Language Development and Disorders (with J. Paradis & M. & M. Crago, Brookes, 2004).