A STUDY OF EARLY FRENCH IMMERSION TEACHERS AS GENERATORS OF KNOWLEDGE

The purpose of this study was to identify the professional actions of early French immersion teachers in the classroom and to ascertain teac hers' judgment regarding the effectiveness of these actions. Critical Incident Technique was used to gather professional actions from teache rs and their school principals. The majority of professional actions i dentified by the immersion teachers referred to the management of voca bulary instruction through the use of systematic instructional strateg ies across the school curriculum. One of the implications drawn was th e need for a distinct teacher preparation program for teaching in a se cond language context. Sheltered programs for the preparation of prese rvice teachers in all areas of the school curriculum were suggested to upgrade their linguistic abilities in the various subject areas.