The Effect of Functional-Analytic Teaching on Aspects of French Immersion Students' Sociolinguistic Competence

This study investigated the effect of functional-analytic teaching on aspects of French immersion (F1) students' sociolinguistic competence at the Grade 8 level. A set of functional-analytic materials, entailing the study and practice sociostylistic variation, was implemented in three F1 classrooms by their respective teachers during French language arts classes over an average period of five weeks. A pre-test, an immediate post-test, and a delayed post-test were administered to the experimental group as well as to a comparison group in order to compare classes on three measures of sociolinguistic competence (defined as the ability to recognize and produce socially appropriate language in context). The study demonstrated that functional-analytic teaching substantially improved aspects of F1 students' sociolinguistic competence in at least three ways: (1) by significantly increasing their ability in oral production appropriately and accurately use vous informal situations; (2) by significantly increasing their ability in written production to appropriately use vous in formal letters, and, in the short run, to use polite closings in formal letters; and (3) by significantly increasing their ability to recognize contextually appropriate French.