Youth Bilingualism in Canada

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Mary Allen1
Centre for Education Statistics
Statistics Canada

Bilingualism at age 21
Language schooling
Relationship between language schooling and bilingualism
Bilingualism and the extent of French-immersion schooling
Conclusion

Under Section 41 of the Official Languages Act, the Government of Canada is committed to (a) enhancing the vitality of the English and French linguistic minority communities in Canada and supporting and assisting their development; and (b) fostering the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society. This commitment is implemented through the Official Language Support Programs of the Department of Canadian Heritage.

An important part of the Government of Canada Language Support programs is support for language education. This takes the form of minority-language education and second-language learning. These programs are carried out in cooperation with the provincial governments through the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada. The Canadian government has provided support for second-language education since 1970, with the aim of supporting bilingualism in Canada, or more specifically, fostering the recognition and use of both languages.

Canadian schools provide a wide variety of models of second-language education. At the basic level, most Canadian students receive some form of core French or English training for at least part of their schooling. In addition, some students participate in more enhanced language training such as immersion, extended, or intensive courses. These enhanced programs vary considerably and have been continually evolving with changes in policy and new approaches to language learning.

While there are numerous studies and evaluations on different approaches to language learning,2 there is little statistical information on the overall impact of different language programs in Canada. The Census has information on bilingualism for various age groups, but no information on the type of language education received. The Canadian Youth in Transition Survey (YITS) is one of the few sources of information on language of schooling and a wide variety of other student characteristics for Canadian youth. Previous research using YITS looked at the characteristics and academic performance of 15 year-olds in minority-language schools and in French-immersion programs.3

The Youth in Transition Survey collected information on a cohort of 15 year-olds in 2000. Information was collected on mother tongue, language of school system (at age 15) as well as information (from parents) on whether and when students had been enrolled in some form of immersion, extended, or intensive language program. Youth were interviewed again at two-year intervals. These interviews included information on the self-rated ability to converse in French and English. The most recent data were collected in 2006, at which point the youth were 21 years old. The 2006 Cycle 4 data include schooling information on a total of 17,142 respondents. Of these, the sample of youth who were ever enrolled in a second-language immersion program is 3,016.

This article provides a starting point for looking at bilingualism and language learning. It uses information from YITS to answer three basic questions:

  1. How many youth are able to converse in both French and English by age 21?
  2. How many youth have received different types of language education?
  3. What is the rate of bilingualism for youth with different types of language schooling?

Box 1:
Definitions of key concepts

Language of schooling:

Language of school system (majority or minority) is based on the school in which the student was enrolled at age 15. Information on minority school systems is only available for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba, where there were sufficiently large populations of youth in minority-language systems for survey purposes. In these provinces, the survey was designed to collect information from all 15 year-olds in minority-language school systems.

Ever enrolled in immersion or intensive French or English:

Information on enrolment in immersion or intensive language programs was provided by parents when youth were 15 years old. Parents were asked, "Was {child} ever enrolled, in an English school, in a program where 25% or more of instruction time was in French, such as French Immersion?" and "Was {child} ever enrolled, in a French school, in a program where 25% or more of instruction time was in English, such as English Immersion or "bain linguistique"?" They were then asked to identify in which grades their child was enrolled in such a program.

This question may not be entirely consistent with how individual provinces define immersion or intensive programs. However, a standard question was used because of the difficulty in classifying and comparing the various programs offered by different provinces. Outside Quebec, most enhanced French programs are French immersion, but there also various other forms of extended French programs as well.

No information is available from the survey on the type of program or teaching method (immersion, extended, intensive, etc). Although students may have been only enrolled in some form of extended French, positive responses to this question are referred to as enrollment in "immersion" in the text. It should be noted that recently introduced Intensive French programs would not have been available for the youth surveyed.

For the purposes of this analysis, youth were categorized into three types of language schooling based on the available information:

  • Majority-language school with no second language immersion - youth enrolled in a majority-language school system at age 15 (i.e. French language school system in Quebec, English outside of Quebec), who have never been enrolled in an immersion type program;
  • Minority-language school – youth who were enrolled in a minority-language school system at age 15 (and who may or may not have been previously enrolled elsewhere in an immersion program). This applies to school systems in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba;
  • Ever in second-language immersion – youth enrolled in a majority-language school system at age 15 who are reported to have been enrolled in an immersion-type program in any grade. This does not include youth enrolled in a minority-language school at age 15.
    • Immersion (or intensive) schooling is further broken down as follows:

    • Early immersion: Ever enrolled before Grade 4 (including kindergarten);
    • Later immersion: First enrolled in Grade 4 or after;
    • Elementary only: Only ever enrolled in Grade 6 or earlier (including kindergarten);
    • Some secondary: Ever enrolled after Grade 6 (note that information on language schooling was collected at age 15 and does not include the last period of high school); and.
    • Years of immersion: Up to 6 years; More than 6 years.

Mother tongue:

Information on mother tongue was provided by parents in the 2000 questionnaire. They were asked "What is the language that this person first learned at home in childhood and still understands?"

Bilingualism:

Ability to converse in both French and English: Respondents were asked at age 21, "In what languages can you speak well enough to conduct a conversation?" This question is consistent with information on bilingualism collected by the Census. Information on ability to converse was also asked of youth at ages 17 and 19. This information is self-reported and is therefore subject to personal interpretation. Information on language ability at age 15 was provided by parents and was not considered to be an adequate measure of bilingualism for this analysis (especially given the uncertain ability of unilingual parents to evaluate the bilingualism of their child).

Rated ability in French and English: In addition to asking about their ability to carry on a conversation in French or English, the survey asked youth to rate their ability in French and English (How would you rate your current ability to speak English/French?). For the most part, the percentage of youth who said their French (or English) was good to excellent reflected the separately measured "ability to carry on a conversation."

This analysis looked at those youth who reported fair to excellent ability to converse in a minority language. While this may be an ambiguous rating, it may provide a measure of the population with a sufficient base in the other official language on which to build. In some cases, these may be individuals who have not used their French (or English) for a number of years, but whose abilities might improve quickly when they are exposed to the language again.

Bilingualism at age 21

At age 21, 29% of Canadian youth surveyed by YITS reported that they were able to carry on a conversation in both French and English (Chart 1). This differed considerably by mother tongue: 65% of Francophone youth in Canada reported that they were bilingual, while only 18% of non-Francophones did so.4

Chart 1
Percentage of youth able to converse in both French and English at age 21, by region and mother tongue, 2006

Chart 1: Percentage of youth able to converse in both French and English at age 21, by region and mother tongue, 2006

Source: See Appendix Table A.1.

Outside Quebec, the vast majority of Francophone youth (91%) reported being bilingual, compared to 15% of non-Francophone youth. However, in Quebec, rates of bilingualism were considerably higher for non-Francophones. While 61% of Francophone youth in Quebec reported that they could carry on a conversation in both official languages, fully 90% of non-Francophone youth said they could do so.

Youth were also asked to rate their ability to speak French or English. Outside Quebec, 28% of non-Francophones rated their ability in French as fair to excellent. In Quebec, this number was considerably higher, with 85% of Francophone youth rating their ability in English as fair to excellent.

Language schooling

Community context, family background and exposure to language are strong determinants of bilingualism, but schooling is also an important means of introducing youth to a second official language. Youth were first surveyed at age 15 while attending either French or English language school systems. For the most part, these systems reflect the mother tongue of students. In addition, some youth have experience in various forms of intensive or immersion program in a second official language. The Youth in Transition Survey identified youth who had ever been enrolled in a program where 25% or more of instruction was in the second official language of the school (for example, French instruction in an English school system). This definition includes French-immersion programs where a substantial amount of course work is carried out in French. In addition, it may include intensive programs in Quebec that supplement core language education with intensive exposure, generally in Grade 5 or 6. It may also include extended French programs where one or two additional classes are available in French. Recently-developed intensive French programs, however, would not have been available for the youth in this survey.

Outside of Quebec, about 17% of non-Francophone youth had ever been enrolled in an immersion program (Table 1). Of these, 63% had been first enrolled at some point prior to Grade 4 (early immersion). About two-thirds (66%) of youth had been in French immersion at some point after Grade 6 (some secondary). Given the variety of patterns of entry and attrition in French-immersion programs, we also calculated the number of years that youth were enrolled in some kind of immersion. By age 15, almost half of the youth who had ever been in immersion (45%) had had over 6 years of immersion schooling.

Table 1
Language schooling of youth at age 15, by mother tongue and region, Canada

  No second-language immersion Minority language school Ever in second-language immersion
Percent Standard error Percent Standard error Percent   Standard error
Outside Quebec
Non-francophone 82.7 0.8 0.7 0.1 16.6   0.8
Francophone 71.6 3.4 25.6 3.5 2.8 E 0.5
Total 82.3 0.8 1.6 0.2 16.1   0.7
Quebec
Non-francophone 18.3 2.0 50.2 4.1 31.5   3.0
Francophone 87.1 1.2 1.6 0.3 11.3   1.2
Total 77.4 1.6 8.5 1.2 14.1   1.1
Canada
Non-francophone 79.9 0.8 2.8 0.3 17.2   0.7
Francophone 85.3 1.2 4.5 0.6 10.2   1.1
Total 81.1 0.7 3.2 0.3 15.6   0.6
E use with caution
Source: Statistics Canada, Youth in Transition Survey, Cycle 4, 2006.

In Quebec, 11% of Francophone youth had ever been enrolled in an immersion (or intensive) program in English. In addition, close to one-third of non-Francophones reported having been enrolled in some kind of French immersion.

Relationship between language schooling and bilingualism

Outside of Quebec, most youth are exposed to French through their schooling. Except in areas of New Brunswick, Eastern Ontario, and some smaller communities in other provinces (such as St. Boniface and the surrounding area in Manitoba), most youth do not have the opportunity to use French in an everyday context.

Over 80% of non-Francophone youth outside Quebec had never been enrolled in extended or immersion French. Of these, only 6% reported that they could carry on a conversation in French at age 21 (Chart 2) and of those, 19% rated their ability in French as being fair to excellent.

Chart 2
Percentage of youth able to converse in both English and French at age 21, 2006

Chart 2: Percentage of youth able to converse in both English and French at age 21, 2006

Source: See Appendix Table A.2.

However, youth who had been exposed to French in an extended or immersion school environment were much more likely to be bilingual -- 57% of all youth who had ever been enrolled in immersion reported being able to carry on a conversation in French, and 70% rated their French ability as fair to excellent.

In Quebec, while a notable proportion of Francophone youth were bilingual, perhaps because of their exposure to English and proximity to English-speaking populations (especially in Montreal and Western Quebec), those who had had intensive English schooling were also more likely to report being bilingual than those who had not received intensive English schooling. Among youth who had had intensive English language education, 86% reported being bilingual at age 21, compared to 57% of those with no intensive English education.

Bilingualism and the extent of French-immersion schooling

While enrolment in intensive or immersion French at just about any stage of schooling was related to higher rates of bilingualism, the number of years of French immersion also had a clear impact. Three-quarters of youth with over 6 years of immersion reported that they could carry on a conversation in French (Chart 3) and 86% of those rated their French ability as fair to excellent (Chart 4). In comparison, 41% of those with 6 years or less of immersion reported being bilingual, with 57% of those rating their ability as fair to excellent.

The effect of duration of French immersion is also seen in terms of when youth were enrolled. Almost two-thirds of those enrolled prior to Grade 4 (early immersion) reported being bilingual at age 21, compared to 45% of those first enrolled in later years. Also, those youth who were able to continue their enhanced French education into secondary school (after Grade 6) were significantly more likely to report that they were bilingual (66%) compared to those who had only had immersion in elementary school (40%).

Chart 3
Percentage of youth able to converse in both French and English at age 21, by type of French immersion, non-Francophones outside Quebec, 2006

Chart 3: Percentage able to converse in both French and English at age 21, type of French immersion, non-Francophones outside Quebec

Source: See Appendix Table A.3.

Chart 4
Percentage of youth rating their ability to have a conversation in French as fair to excellent at age 21, by entent of French immersion schooling, non-Francophone youth outside Quebec, 2006

Chart 4: Percentage of youth rating their ability to have a conversation in French as fair to excellent at age 21, type of French immersion, non-Francophone youth outside Quebec

Source: See Appendix Table A.3.

Conclusion

These findings indicate that enhanced second-language schooling has a longer-term impact on (self-reported) bilingualism. And more years of second-language exposure leads to higher rates of bilingualism.

At the same time, it is important to note the limitations of this analysis. Because the YITS data do not provide objective measures of language ability, the analysis is based on self-reported levels of the ability to converse in a minority official language. Further, the ability to effectively self-assess one's second language ability may itself be affected by exposure to that language. For example, youth in Montreal who are exposed to both languages on a regular basis may have a different sense of their ability to converse in their second language than Anglophones in Western Canada who have little regular opportunity to use their French and, as a result, may feel unable to assess their current ability.

Further research on bilingualism in Canada would benefit from a more objective assessment or test of language ability. It would also be informative if more detailed information were available on the nature of French-language training youth had received (type of program, hours of exposure, etc). Finally, it is important to know about exposure to second languages in the community and other opportunities to use and improve one's second language (for example, at work and through media, local associations, arts groups, courses and other available venues of language learning).

Notes

  1. The analysis reported in this article was undertaken with the support of the federal Department of Canadian Heritage.

  2. A recent report on Intensive French programs provides an overall summary of some of this research. See MacFarlane, Alina, 2005. An Examination of Intensive French: A Pedagogical Strategy for the Improvement of French as a Second Language Outcomes in Canada. Ottawa: Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers. http://www.caslt.org/pdf/IF.pdf (accessed Sept 22, 2008).

  3. Allen, Mary. 2004. "Reading achievement of students in French immersion programs." Education Quarterly Review. Vol 9. No. 4. March 2004. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 81-003-XIE. p. 25–29.

  4. According to the 2006 Census, 23% of 20 to 24 year-olds reported that they were bilingual (able to converse in both French and English). The difference between the Census information and YITS is influenced by a number of factors including age and population coverage. In particular, the target population for YITS excludes youth from the northern territories, Indian reserves, Canadian Forces bases and some remote areas.

Appendix Tables

Table A.1
Ability to converse in both French and English at age 21, by region and mother tongue, 2006

  Unilingual Bilingual
Percent   SE Percent SE
Outside Quebec
Non-francophone 84.8   0.7 15.2 0.7
Francophone 9.4 E 1.7 90.6 1.7
Total 82.1   0.7 17.9 0.7
Quebec
Non-francophone 9.6 E 1.8 90.4 1.8
Francophone 38.9   1.8 61.1 1.8
Total 34.8   1.8 65.2 1.8
Canada
Non-francophone 81.6   0.7 18.4 0.7
Francophone 35.3   1.6 64.7 1.6
Total 71.2   0.7 28.8 0.7
E use with caution
Source: Statistics Canada, Youth in Transition Survey, Cycle 4, 2006.

Table A.2
Percentage of youth able to converse in both English and French at age 21, 2006

  Quebec Outside Quebec
Francophone Non-francophone
Percent
Majority schooling only 57.1 6.0
Ever in Immersion 86.4 56.8
Minority language schooling 99.3 97.7
Total 60.5 15.2
Source: Statistics Canada, Youth in Transition Survey, Cycle 4, 2006.

Table A.3
Bilingualism by type of French immersion, Non-francophones outside Quebec, 2006

  Percent
Percentage able to converse in both French and English at age 21  
Enrolled prior to Grade 4 64.1
First enrolled in Grade 4 or later 44.9
Enrolled only in elementary (up to Grade 6) 39.5
Enrolled in secondary (Grade 7 or after) 66.1
6 years or more of immersion 75.8
Total ever in immersion 57.0
Percentage rating their French as fair to excellent at age 21  
Enrolled prior to Grade 4 73.7
First enrolled in Grade 4 or later 63.7
Enrolled only in elementary (up to Grade 6) 52.2
Enrolled in secondary (Grade 7 or after) 79.1
6 years or more of immersion 85.9
Total ever in immersion 70.0
Source: Statistics Canada, Youth in Transition Survey, Cycle 4, 2006.