Subjects
The subjects for the present study included 43 eighth grade students (27 boys and 16
girls) in two intact classrooms in a French-language school, grades 7–12, situated in a
Canadian prairie province. The students were all taught by a teacher who had volunteered
to participate in the study. Most of the students were from families with similar culturaland linguistic backgrounds: They were Franco-Manitoban and francophone (group which uses French as a first language). The socioeconomic level of these students ranged from
lower middle-class working families to upper middle-class professional families. The
school has a good academic reputation with over 70% of students continuing their education
at the postsecondary level.