The Effect of Two-Way Immersion on Students\u27 Attitudes Toward Education, Other Cultures, and Self-Esteem

This research compared students who participated in a two-way French/English immersion program to students who participated in an English-only program to determine whether there was a statistically significant difference in their perceptions of: (a) education, (b) attitudes towards other cultures, and (c) self-esteem. The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study was to identify the differences in attitudes toward education, other cultures, and self-esteem between students enrolled in a two-way French/English immersion program and those enrolled in a traditional English-only program to test the theory of linguistic interdependence. This study is important because English language learners are the fastest growing subpopulation in United States schools. The participants included 84 students in Grades 9–12, who had been in the program for a minimum of two years. Items from three surveys, Self-Esteem, Attitudes toward Academics, and Attitudes toward Other Cultures, were used to determine student perceptions. The collected data were collated and categorized, and an independent sample t-test was used to determine the presence of any statistically significant differences between the two groups. The results from this current study did not show a statistically significant difference between the students in the English-only program and those in the French immersion program. Recommendations for future research include studies with larger sample sizes, ones that focus on long-term language acquisition, and studies that specifically consider French/English programs