Majority Learners Acquiring a Minority Language in a Bilingual Community

• Published in: The international journal of communication and linguistic studies 2014, Vol.11 (2), p.1-13
• Main Authors: Robillard, Manon, Mayer-Crittenden, Chantal
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bilingualism; Children; English language; Ethnolinguistics; French as a second language; French as a second language learning; Immersion programs; Language; Language acquisition; Minority languages
• ISSN: 2327-7882; 2327-8617
• DOI: 10.18848/2327-7882/CGP/v11i02/43625

Children who learn a language in a linguistic minority context often have limited opportunities to use it outside the home and school. This is the case for English speaking children who learn French in Northern Ontario, Canada, where the majority language is English. However, these children learn their native language without great difficulty. At the outset, different linguistic contexts in which both majority and minority language learners dwell will be examined for a comparison. Very little research has demonstrated how bilingual English-French children learn French as a second language (L2) in an English dominant context. It is important to specify that these children are not learning French in an immersion program but rather through a French school system. Parents chose to enroll their children in French schools in order to provide them with the opportunity to become bilingual, even though they themselves often only speak English. An ethnolinguistic practical model has been proposed for empirical validation to better account for the individual and societal influences on second language acquisition in a bilingual community.