Background characteristics, opinions and attitudes of parents electing an early French immersion programme for their children

• Main Author: Sheppard, Wade Austin
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Memorial University of Newfoundland 1980
• Subjects: Gardner; Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://research.library.mun.ca/7616/; https://research.library.mun.ca/7616/1/Sheppard_WadeAustin.pdf; https://research.library.mun.ca/7616/3/Sheppard_WadeAustin.pdf

This study focused on the parents of children being enrolled into kindergarten French immersion in the school year 1979-80 in Cape St. George, Newfoundland. Three aspects were investigated in the study. First, selected background characteristics of the parents and home were investigated. Second, a survey of parental opinion respecting various aspects of immersion French education and biculturalism was conducted. Third, parental attitudes with respect to biculturalism were measured. The purpose of the study was to discover if differences on these factors could be found between the groups of parents who elected to place their children in the immersion French stream and the group electing to place their children in the regular English stream. -- The sample for the study consisted of 19 fathers and 30 mothers of children entering kindergarten in September, 1979. The parents were divided into two groups, depending upon the kindergarten stream chosen by them for their children, and compared in the analysis on the various measures. All the data for the study was obtained during one to two hour interviews with each parent included in the sample. Background characteristics were investigated by a series of questionnaires developed by the researcher, while an opinionnaire was designed to gather information on parental opinion. Parental attitudes with respect to biculturalism were determined with the use of an attitude questionnaire comprised of five subscales designed by Jokobovits (1970), based on scales originally developed by Gardner and Lambert (1969). The major statistical procedures used in this study were analysis of variance, or chi square test for independence, and a factor analysis. -- Significant differences were found in all of the three main areas of investigation. The two groups differed in areas such as French speaking proficiency and various other language related background factors. Experience with immersion French, educational level of parents, and parental aspirations for their children all proved to be ...