What Does French Language Proficiency Mean in the Context of FSL Teaching? A Conceptual Framework

The French as a second language (FSL) teacher shortage crisis has been a longstanding issue in Canada. In this paper, we examine the links between teacher agency, autonomy and identity in light of findings about marginalization, deprofessionalization, and/or difficulty in developing a strong sense of identity. Taking these findings into account, we propose an FSL teacher preparation model rooted in social justice and well-being which centers identity development through four pillars for success: language proficiency, intercultural competence, pedagogical knowledge and skill, and collaborative professionalism. We examine the implications of taking such an approach in FSL teacher preparation and argue that applying a social justice lens to identity development sets FSL teachers up for effective professionalization and a sense of well-being that can lead to long-term retention in the field. Keywords: French as a second language, language teacher identity, teacher retention, social justice, well-being

The purpose of this study was to examine the self-efficacy beliefs of novice elementary French as a second language (FSL) teachers. A mixed methods approach was used to investigate self-efficacy appraisals of core French (n = 14) and French immersion (n = 13) teachers in delivering instruction in FSL programs. A questionnaire was administered that explored teachers’ self-perceived efficacy in four categories: general teaching methodology, second language pedagogy, language proficiency, and cultural knowledge. Findings revealed that both groups of participants did not perceive themselves to be particularly confident in delivering instruction upon completion of their teacher education programs. The self-perceived confidence in FSL teaching abilities of both groups increased with classroom experience. However, French immersion teachers reported a higher sense of efficacy than their core French colleagues in all four categories. Implications of the findings for core French and French immersion programs as well as FSL teacher preparation programs are discussed.

In Canada, French as a second language (FSL) teachers have indicated a lack of professional learning opportunities adapted to their needs and interests. In order to support their ongoing development, more research is needed to study professional learning models that address their unique set of knowledge and skills, such as language proficiency, intercultural awareness, pedagogy, and collaborative professionalism (Masson et al., 2024). To respond to this need, this study implemented a four-month professional development series for FSL teachers in an Ontario school board based on a community of practice (CoP) framework. Data was collected through pre-/post-questionnaires and participant interviews and analyzed through Wenger et al.’s (2011) cycles of value creation. The results show that while the CoP initiative created immediate and potential value for participants, it did not necessarily lead to an applied value, or reported changes to the FSL teachers’ practice.

This study examined the role of corrective feedback in the context of an English as a second language (ESL) and French as a second language (FSL) eTandem chat exchange involving Grade 6 students. The students were enrolled in intensive programs in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario and had an elementary to low- intermediate level of language proficiency. Tasks were completed on a weekly basis over a 9-week period. Six tasks completed by 13 pairs were retained for analysis. The analysis showed that the ESL and FSL students provided three types of feedback: explicit feedback, recasts, and negotiation of form. Unlike the study by Morris (2005), which involved Grade 5 second language (L2) Spanish students, the preference in this study was for explicit feedback. This difference was attributed to the tandem approach which emphasizes training in how to give feedback as well as school culture. Differences between the amount of feedback provided during the ESL and FSL exchanges were also observed. Here, too, the influence of school culture appears to have been a factor. The ESL students appeared to be more positively oriented to L2 learning, reflected in a higher appreciation of the tandem learning exchange. Implications for teaching and the need of future research are discussed.

This paper offers detailed descriptions and illustrative examples of processes used by 10 French as a Second Language (FSL) instructors to teach vocabulary to adult FSL Learners in Vancouver, reporting qualitative analyses of classroom transcripts and pedagogical materials the instructors used to teach their lessons. Two main findings of the study are that these teachers emphasized semantic aspects of lexis over all other aspects of vocabulary knowledge, and that lexical instruction in analytic and experiential classes was characterized by similar features. Pedagogical implications and directions for further research are suggested.

Even though variation is an inherent element of language and its different aspects have been the subject of numerous studies, its didactization in Second Language classrooms remains, in general, marginal. The context of teaching variation in a French as a Second Language (FSL) classroom in Ontario (Canada) is even more complex. What kind of French to teach: European or Canadian? What is the place of local varieties of Canadian French? This paper investigates the sociolinguistic variation in the speech of first-year FSL students in a Canadian university who have learned their second language primarily in an educational context. A range of social factors that influence sociolinguistic competence are explored. Pedagogical implications of observed results are discussed. Designing didactic materials that value work on varieties of spoken French is emphasized. The role of CEFR-oriented professional development in FSL teaching is highlighted.

Authentic materials is one of the best materials that can be used in teaching and learning process in classroom in order to enhance the learners’ language skills and proficiency. The aim of this study is to identify the use of authentic materials in the language classroom and its effects on ELF learners’ language skills and proficiency. Two types of questionnaires were designed for the students and the teachers in the English language department as a research tools to collect data, besides classroom observation was implemented. This study was conducted during the first semester of the academic year (2022- 2023). The total sample of this study was (50) respondents, (10) English language lecturers and (40) female students from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Hail – Shimli Branch. An analytical descriptive approach was used. The findings of the study indicate that authentic materials are more appropriate for enhancing English language proficiency, also they can engage and motivate students and associating them to real world of using language.

The results of a within-subject cross-language study of text comprehension in adult second language (L2) learners are presented. Text comprehension and sentence reading time measures were obtained for matched narrative and procedural texts in English and French from adult learners of French as a second language (FSL) at two levels of French proficiency. The language of the text and readers' L2 proficiency affected reading times, while text type did not. The recall data, however, were more complex. In general, the participants recalled more information from the texts they read in English and more information from the descriptive narrative texts than from the procedural texts. Analyses of the recall performance suggest that, while linguistic proficiency may limit the representation that an individual can construct of a text, the constructed representation reflects the individual's conceptual base as well as strategic processing. These results are consistent with a multilevel model of text comprehension.

The results of a within-subject cross-language study of text comprehension in adult second language (L2) learners are presented. Text comprehension and sentence reading time measures were obtained for matched narrative and procedural texts in English and French from adult learners of French as a second language (FSL) at two levels of French proficiency. The language of the text and readers' L2 proficiency affected reading times, while text type did not. The recall data, however, were more complex. In general, the participants recalled more information from the texts they read in English and more information from the descriptive narrative texts than from the procedural texts. Analyses of the recall performance suggest that, while linguistic proficiency may limit the representation that an individual can construct of a text, the constructed representation reflects the individual's conceptual base as well as strategic processing. These results are consistent with a multilevel model of text comprehension.

Abstract: A survey of research on French as a second language (FSL) education in Canada suggests that French immersion (FI) students enjoy significant linguistic, academic, and cognitive benefits. We organize our summary of the advantages of FI around these three themes, comparing students’ proficiency in French and English across various FI programs, and assessing their overall academic achievement. Our review shows that FI programs enable students to develop high levels of proficiency in both French and English, at no cost to their academic success. Cognitive research associates bilingualism with heightened mental flexibility and creative thinking skills, enhanced metalinguistic awareness, and greater communicative sensitivity. Because cognitive benefits are contingent on a bilingual learner's proficiency in both languages, it may be that FI programs, which promote heightened proficiency in both French and English, foster in their students an underlying cognitive advantage.

Abstract: A survey of research on French as a second language (FSL) education in Canada suggests that French immersion (FI) students enjoy significant linguistic, academic, and cognitive benefits. We organize our summary of the advantages of FI around these three themes, comparing students’ proficiency in French and English across various FI programs, and assessing their overall academic achievement. Our review shows that FI programs enable students to develop high levels of proficiency in both French and English, at no cost to their academic success. Cognitive research associates bilingualism with heightened mental flexibility and creative thinking skills, enhanced metalinguistic awareness, and greater communicative sensitivity. Because cognitive benefits are contingent on a bilingual learner's proficiency in both languages, it may be that FI programs, which promote heightened proficiency in both French and English, foster in their students an underlying cognitive advantage.

French as a Second Language (FSL) is not often a popular subject among Canadian elementary and high school students. Negative attitudes and low motivation for learning French contribute to attrition at the high school level. In this article, an alternative teaching approach is applied to the Canadian FSL context at the elementary school level in the province of British Columbia. This action research study conducted in 2010 investigated the outcomes of using a drama-based approach to instruct Core French to 12 year-old students at a Montessori elementary (public) school in British Columbia, Canada. Ten students worked with a teacher/researcher twice a week over a six-week period, using drama strategies and improvisational activities to practice and improve their French language and literacy skills. The use of drama strategies proved motivational for the students who participated with enthusiasm and expressed a desire to continue learning French through drama. The action research approach allowed the students a greater degree of autonomy as their feedback was used to develop lesson content. Engagement in their own learning contributed to improved student attitudes towards attending French class. Ways of further implementing this teaching approach in elementary classrooms needs to be the subject of future research.

This article gives the perspectives of three teachers of intensive French (IF) as they adjusted their thinking to teaching in a French as a second language (FSL) classroom that was very different from the core French classroom and developed teaching strategies to facilitate effective learning of communication skills by the students. Four major differences from regular core French are presented: the increase in time and intensity; the enriched curriculum; the atmosphere in the classroom; and the role of the teacher. Eight teaching strategies for the IF classroom are then described: always communicating in French; creating interaction in the classroom; integrating language and the experiences of the students; developing literacy skills; balancing accuracy and fluency; teaching grammar implicitly; sequencing tasks; and the need for variety and flexibility in the teaching strategies used. The article concludes with a summary for the beginning IF teacher of the most important teaching strategies.

This study explores the development of linguistic competence and confidence of pre-service French as a second language (FSL) teachers enrolled in a teacher education program in New Brunswick, Canada. In addition to their regular program requirements, participants in the study engaged in a series of language support sessions. We collected French oral proficiency assessment results pre- and post-session, as well as focus group interview data. The analysis shows that participants’ language proficiency increased over the course of the sessions and the program. Interview data reveal professional identity-related themes such as confidence, and the importance of safe spaces for interaction and mediation. Implications for FSL teacher recruitment and retention are given, specifically with regard to teacher candidates’ need for certain types of support.

Proficiency in a host country language (L2) is crucial to immigrants’ structural integration into ‘core’ societal institutions, such as the education system and the labor market. In addition to being a valuable resource that shapes productivity or facilitates communication, language proficiency can also have a symbolic effect. For immigrants, a low proficiency in the host country language can signal a low affiliation with the host society, highlight their ethnic origin and increase the perception of ‘foreignness’. In addition, it can obscure the observability of relevant attributes, such as competences or attitudes, generating information deficits on whether less proficient immigrants do (not) possess certain traits, or if the lower language skills simply do not permit their identification. Against this background, lower L2 proficiency can be associated with different forms of discrimination. This dissertation addresses such processes on the labor market and in the education system within three separate studies. Regarding language-based discrimination on the labor market, I drew upon data from the National Educational Panel Study (Contribution 1) and examined whether immigrant groups associated with unfavorable attitudes receive lower returns to lower German language skills than groups facing more positive attitudes or the native population, and how large these discounts may be. I also investigated whether the size of these discounts varies with the amount of information available to employers to distinguish between different types of discrimination. Findings indicated that ‘unpopular’ immigrant groups receive discounts to lower L2 proficiency, irrespective of the amount of information available to employers. This was taken as an indication that, in addition to affecting employees’ productivity, lower L2 proficiency might also be associated with taste-based forms of discrimination. As the first contribution allowed only indirect inferences on the occurrence and roots of language-based discrimination, the second contribution took a more direct approach. It focused on a salient language cue, namely a foreign accent, and attempted to assess how it affects the labor market prospects of immigrants in Germany within a field experimental framework. In this design fictitious applicants (tester) called employers to ask about the availability of advertised positions. Applicants’ accents (Turkish, Standard German) and names (Turkish, German) were varied, information on job and firm characteristics was logged. In addition, context data from the Federal Employment Agency and the German General Survey was merged to the experimental set. Findings indicated that foreign-accented applicants were turned down more often than German jobseekers and accent-free applicants of the same origin. Here, too the reasons behind this disadvantage seemed to be linked to employer tastes. With regard to education, I examined only one outcome, namely the identification of special educational needs. More concretely, I examined how proficiency in the language of instruction relates to the identification of special educational needs (SEN) for language minority children in England (Contribution 3). Employing data from the Millennium-Cohort-Study, I examined if lower proficiency in the language of instruction fosters misidentification of special educational needs and if this affects all language minority students or only specific ethnic groups. I also examined how misidentification upon school entry affects children’s competences at the end of primary school. Results indicated that most minority children were more likely to be accurately identified when their English proficiency was low. For black children however, limited proficiency was associated with an over identification of behavioral needs. Overall, this dissertation has two main implications. One the one hand, it highlights the necessity to examine divergent processes between natives and different immigrant groups when linking resources to outcomes in theoretical and empirical specifications. On the other hand, it shifts the focus to the cues that trigger ethnic discrimination, suggesting future research avenues to examine the individual and combined effect of different ethnicity indications for immigrants’ (structural) integration.