Personal insights on a postsecondary immersion experience: Learning to step out of the comfort zone

Authors

  • Jérémie Séror
  • Alysse Weinberg

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18192/olbiwp.v6i0.1135

Keywords:

French immersion, university-level immersion, student perceptions, risk management, implementation of immersion programs

Abstract

Postsecondary immersion programs reflect a growing demand for educational programs designed to allow learners to develop advanced levels of literacy in a second language through content and discipline-based language interactions. Little is known about the impact of these programs on students. Drawing on data collected through individual interviews and focus group interactions, this paper focuses on the insights and personal reflections of students at the University of Ottawa, site of the largest tertiary French immersion option in Canada. The data gives voice to firsthand accounts of what it means to study in these programs and offers a
valuable glimpse at the challenges, risks and distinctive incentives associated with the completion of one’s undergraduate education through the medium of a second language. Implications focus on recommendations for the design of successful university immersion programs.

 

References

Allen, H.W. 2010. Language-learning motivation during short-term study abroad: An activity theory perspective. Foreign Language Annals, 43, pp. 27–49.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2010.01058.x

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Published

2015-05-19

Issue

Vol. 6 (2013): French immersion at the university level

Section

Research

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