Sudbury researchers aim to improve francophone vocabulary in preschool children

Roxanne Bélanger has been a speech-language pathologist for more than two decades.

Bélanger and her colleague, Chantal Mayer-Crittenden with the School of Speech-Language Pathology at Laurentian University in Sudbury, are conducting a research project that focuses on strategies for parents and educators to teach children vocabulary skills.

"If we look at children who are preschoolers and we look at their vocabulary skills, what we find is that those levels -- whether they're good or weaker -- can predict future language skills and even academic success," Bélanger said.

"So children who have a bigger vocabulary, they will go on to succeed, to have better success at school, become better readers and writers in general."

The research is being done in partnership with Carrefour Francophone de Sudbury, the francophone daycare provider in the city.

"We will be going into daycares and doing some reading activities with children and we're going to be using different strategies while we're reading books with them," Bélanger said.

"And then we're going to assess their ability to learn the new words that we've been targeted and trying to determine which strategy or which combination of strategies works best.”

Roxanne Bélanger and her colleague, Chantal Mayer-Crittenden with the School of Speech-Language Pathology at Laurentian University in Sudbury, are conducting a research project that focuses on strategies for parents and educators to teach children vocabulary skills. (Photo from video)

She said it can be difficult for francophone families to gain exposure to the French language since it is a minority in the city, something this mom of two knows all too well.

“All the after-school activities and swimming lessons and piano lessons, it's very hard to find any music lessons in French," said Andrée-Michelle D’aoust-Messier, Francophone parent.

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"So that's something that my kids have not had yet. We want our kids to be able to participate with other kids where they can communicate. We are thankful that Science North has Francophone camps, Dynamic Earth, Carrefour Francophone also has some good, summer camps. But after a few years, they sometimes get bored of the same summer camps."

The research will be conducted in the next two years through funding from the Centre national de formation en santé.

Belanger said the hope is that the outcome can be something that applies to those learning English, as well.