Langues, identités et francophonie chez des étudiants universitaires issus de l’immersion française à Vancouver, au Canada

Abstract

Abstract: Canada's federal policy of multiculturalism within a bilingual framework (1971) means that in British Columbia French remains a modern language with a certain degree of privilege. While in BC only 1.3% of the population describe their first language as French (Statistics Canada, 2006), French immersion education is growing, with 7.6% of children studying in French immersion schools between kindergarten and grade 12 (BC Ministry of Education, 2010). Many studies have analyzed the learning of French in Canadian French immersion schools (Cummins, 1983; Dagenais & Day, 1999; Dagenais & Moore, 2008; Heller, 2001, 2006; Swain, 1974, 2000). However, there has been a lack of research into the language and literacy practices of French immersion graduates enrolled in anglophone universities. We address this issue by presenting data from an ongoing three-year longitudinal study, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, into the language and literacy practices of French immersion graduates studying at an English-medium university in Vancouver, Canada. In this context, the study focuses on the complex interaction between language practices, processes of identity construction, and discourses around the French language which the participants in the study encounter in their social and educational spaces.