CARLA Publication Series: Struggling Learners and Language Immersion Education; Research-Based, Practitioner-Informed Responses to Educators' Top Questions (review)

Given the popularity and interest in French immersion programs across Canada, the question of the suitability of language immersion for all students is relevant for educational practitioners: Are language immersion programs appropriate for all students? Authors Tara Fortune and Mandy Menke address the most pressing questions about children enrolled in language immersion programs who struggle with language, literacy, and learning. Fortune and Menke ground their work in research findings and real stories provided by language immersion educators. By combining information from both researchers and practitioners, the authors have created an indispensable resource for all language immersion educators, including classroom teachers and school-based and school district administrators.

The handbook is divided into two main sections: 'Program Suitability and Learner Disability' and 'Best Practice at the Classroom- and Program-Level.' Each chapter is organized around a series of key questions concerning struggling learners and language education programs. Each question is grounded in 'real stories' provided by language immersion educators. The authors draw meaningful connections between research and practice by connecting the real stories in immersion settings to findings from research.

In Part One, 'Program Suitability and Learner Disability,' the authors discuss the types of students for whom immersion programs may or may not be appropriate and also recommend ways in which to assess struggling learners in immersion programs. Grounded in key research from a variety of contexts in both Canada and the United States, the authors maintain that there is a place for struggling learners in language immersion programs: 'under the right circumstances, all children, even those with language impairment, are able to acquire and learn in two languages' (p. 11). Children with special needs will succeed in a language immersion program just as well as they will succeed in a regular program, assuming that they receive the necessary help - that is, the same help that they would receive in an English language program.

In Part Two, 'Best Practice at the Classroom- and Program-Level,' the authors focus on instructional strategies that teachers can implement to meet the needs of struggling learners. For the classroom teacher, the authors describe and recommend five adaptations and strategies for classroom teaching: differentiated instruction, multi-modal teaching and learning, strategy-based instruction, five standards of effective pedagogy, and cooperative learning. These classroom practices and teaching strategies are useful not only for struggling learners; rather, all learners benefit from a classroom teacher whose practice is grounded in these instructional approaches and strategies. In chapter 6 of Part Two, the authors outline how to provide additional support for struggling learners and in what language to do so, concluding that bilingual intervention might be best practice. In chapter 8, which addresses communication with the parents of immersion students, the authors suggest strategies for parents to help support a child in a language immersion program. This chapter also addresses the issue of when/if transfer out of a language immersion program is an appropriate decision and presents ways in which to measure the costs and benefits of such a decision for a struggling learner.

In Struggling Learners and Language Immersion Education, Fortune and Menke have provided an essential handbook for all language immersion practitioners. The strength of the book lies in its' thorough grounding in both research and practice. The authors have drawn extensively on research on language, literacy, and learning in both the United States and Canada. However, the practical element of the book is skewed to the US educational system. Of the eight 'real stories' in the handbook, six are from Spanish immersion programs and two from French immersion programs offered in schools and school districts in the United States only. Nevertheless, the issues, concerns, and questions raised by the teachers and administrators in these stories resonate with the Canadian educational framework, which has a similar student community...