Resumen de Testing the cultural autonomy bilingual education model for linguistic minorities

Rodrigue Landry, Réal Allard

• This study employs structural equation modelling (SEM) to test the Cultural Autonomy Bilingual Education (CABE) model. CABE is implemented in official francophone language minority schools across Canada, excluding Quebec. Francophones represent a small minority (3.5% overall) in nine provinces and three territories. The SEM model assesses the impact of French and English enculturation in five domains (family, schooling, media, social networks, linguistic landscape) on various aspects of bilingual development: engaged identity, subjective linguistic vitality, oral competencies, and reading comprehension. Control variables included socioeconomic status, non-verbal intellectual aptitude, demographic vitality. SEM results demonstrate that CABE model hypotheses have a strong ‘fit to the data.’ As hypothesized, students in French high schools situated in low French vitality contexts achieve results in English reading comprehension equal to or exceeding those of their English-speaking peers in English high schools. These results were observed although they were taught all content courses in French, with English instruction limited to language arts courses. The findings support the fundamental principles of Cummins’s linguistic interdependence theory. The study’s conclusions advocate for recognizing CABE as a legitimate ‘strong type of bilingual education’ and challenge the traditional definition of bilingual education, highlighting the importance of employing both languages for content instruction.