Elementary School First Graders’ Acquisition of Productive L2 French Grammar in Regular and CLIL Programs

Abstract

This study presents productive L2 French grammar data obtained at the end of grade 1 from 186 elementary school children learning French in bilingual (CLIL) or in regular school programs in Germany. The children completed a picture description task to assess their productive oral L2 French grammar skills and two standardized cognitive tests on nonverbal intelligence and sustained attention. The results did not indicate any significant effects of the cognitive tests or of child-internal variables (in this case gender, language background and educational background). However, children in the regular French program unexpectedly outperformed their peers in the bilingual French program. Classroom observations and information provided by teachers suggest that this finding may, at least in part, be due to the fact that in grade 1 there were only minor differences between the two programs in terms of L2 exposure time and teaching methodology.