Another area explored by the questionnaire was the command of different
styles. The first item states that the students writing style was
“pretty much the same” whether they were writing a friendly letter or a
formal essay. The second and third items stated respectively that “I wouldn’t
know the right style to talk in formal situations such as meeting a visiting
teacher from France” and “to talk to French teenagers.” Students
were asked to agree or disagree with these statements. On both the preand
post-visit questionnaires, most of the students in all groups claimed
to be able to use the different styles involved in writing a friendly letter
versus a school essay. Only in the case of immersion students is the postvisit
majority notably larger. The question of formal and informal speaking
styles, however, provided different results. On the pre-visit questionnaire,
students in core groups were much less confident about mastery of
formal style than the majority of immersion students. On the second item,
just over half of both core French groups agreed that they didn’t know
how to talk to French teenagers, and just over half of immersion students
indicated that they did. Post-visit responses are dramatically different.
About two-thirds of core French students and 86 % of immersion students
disagreed that they would not know how to talk in formal situations.
Virtually all students, regardless of program, now indicated that
they know how to talk to French teenagers. Based on these studies it
appears that the gains in sociolinguistic competence during the stay in
Quebec were significant. So the initial hypothesis that students with initially
lower French language proficiency will make great gains as a result
of submersion in a French environment was supported.