Abstract
More and more, Canadian educators are being told that literacy development can occur across subject areas of the curriculum. Few studies have focused on whether this applies to core French as a second language (CF). This article reports on a study investigating the literacy teaching practices of Ontario primary core French teachers (n = 3), focusing mainly on the practices of Christine, whose activities, strategies and perspectives highlight the potential for CF instruction to echo literacy principles taught in homeroom English (L1) classrooms, and for both languages to benefit. Context-specific constraints identified by all participating teachers will also be discussed.
Highlights
In recent years, Canadian educators have become increasingly aware of the potential for language and literacy development to occur across subject areas of the curriculum (e.g., Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network, 2009)
When considering the significance of interdependence and transfer in the context of the Canadian core French3 (CF) program–a program where French is taught as a subject for one period each day or a few times a week, beginning at various elementary grade levels across Canada–it is important to take into account the relevant threshold hypothesis (Cummins, 1979), which suggests that transfer across languages is most likely to occur when literacy skills are well established in one language
We introduce two noteworthy activities that Christine introduced in her class which we feel exemplify the possibilities for literacy teaching in the CF context
Summary
Canadian educators have become increasingly aware of the potential for language and literacy development to occur across subject areas of the curriculum (e.g., Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network, 2009). The reported success of Canadian French as a second language (FSL) programs like French Immersion (FI) (e.g., Wesche, 2002) and Intensive French (IF) (e.g., MacFarlane, 2005) have been due in part to this skill transfer Support for this concept comes from studies showing that learners‘ first (L1) and L2 language skills can be enhanced as a result of the cross-linguistic transfer experienced in both of these contexts (Carr, 2007; Germain, Netten & Movassat, 2004; Turnbull, Hart & Lapkin, 2000). Research in CF contexts has shown this principle to apply well to English language learners who entered CF with developed literacy skills in their L1 performing well (Calman & Daniel, 1998) or better
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