French Higher Education Research Articles

Policy, Cultural, and Ideological Influences on the Career Paths of Teachers of English in French Higher Education

l_extranjera/egb3/nnal.jsp?url=LX_MD/LE_03_MD.HTML&:area=13&nivel= 4&id=109141&tipo=92269&199&contenido=199 Bogdan, R., & Biklen, S. K. (2003). Qualitative research for education: An introduction to theory and methods (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Cadavid, I., McNulty, M., & Quinchia, D. (2004). Elementary English language instruction: Colombian teachers' classroom practices. Profile, 5, 37-55. Comision Nacional de Evaluation y Acreditacion Universitaria. (2005). Ley Federal de Educacion No. 24.194. [Federal Law of Education No. 24.194]. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Author. Retrieved August 16, 2007, from http://www.coneau.edu.ar/ index.php?item=16&apps=32 Consejo Federal de Cultura de Educacion. (1998). Acuerdo Marco para la Ensenanza de Lenguas (A-15). Anexo I. Resolucion 66/97. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Author. Available from http://www.me.gov.ar/consejo/resoluciones/res97/ane-re66.pdf Delgado, M. (2002). Implementation de la transformation educativa en las escuelas rurales de la privincia de Buenos Aires. FLACSO: Argentina, Ediciones Novedades Educativas. Revista Propuesta Educativa No 25, Ano XII, 76-83. Ministerio de Educacion, Ciencia y Tecnologia de al Nacion Argentina. (2006). Ley National de Educacion No. 26.206 [National Education Law No 26.206]. Available from http://www.me.gov.ar/ Rossetti, M. (1997). Education reform brings new challenges to Argentina. American Language Review, 1. Retrieved April 29, 2004, from http://www.languagemagazine .com/internetedition/nd97/fer33.html Snow, M. A., Cortes, V., & Pron, A. (1998). EFL and education reform: Content-based interaction in Argentina. FORUM, 36. Retrieved December 10, 2006, from http:// exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol36/nol/plO.htm Tocalli-Beller, A. (2007). ELT and bilingual education in Argentina. In J. Cummins 8c C. Davison (Eds.), International handbook of English teaching (pp. 107-122). New York: Springer.

A triangular approach to motivation in Computer Assisted Autonomous Language Learning (CAALL)

This study was carried out in a language centre, in French higher education. Teachers and researchers had contrived a pedagogical system labeled guided autonomy which combined class attendance in groups and self-study in the self-study room. This kind of autonomous and technologically enhanced learning system will be referred to as CAALL (Computer Assisted Autonomous Language Learning) in this paper. To investigate and reflect critically on the students’ practices in CAALL, it was decided to carry out an extensive triangular study, cross-checking different data (Raby, 2003, 2005). The data pertained to what students did (physical behaviors while working), and to how they felt about it (verbal behaviors in the form of journals). Six students volunteered to take part in that experience. They were observed six times consecutively while working autonomously. In addition, we analyzed the journals in which they wrote about their feelings in connection with the CAALL system. From the students’ observations, three strategic models emerged (epistemic, procedural and mixed). From the journal analyses, different motivational attitudes appeared, ranging from enthusiastic appraisal to stark rejection. One unexpected result yielded by the triangular approach was the importance of internal factors (the learners’ characteristics) versus external factors (the learners' environment) in the process of appropriation of the new learning system.

Scientific Vocations in Crisis in France: explanatory social developments and mechanisms

Bernard Convert, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CLERSE, Lille, France), Francis Gugenheim, OFIP‐Université de Lille 1, FranceThis article examines why numbers have declined in French science universities. It shows that the main causes of this decline are the growth in student numbers between 1985 and 1995 and the changes that this brought about in the educational and social composition of the student population.Since the mid‐1990s, increasingly fewer French students have been enrolling for science subjects at university. Speaking of a ‘loss of interest in science among young people’ is nevertheless premature. The phenomenon is primarily due to socio‐demographic changes. As a result of their position in French higher education, universities, which do not operate a selective admission policy, are a last resort for students rejected by the selective options. Between 1985 and 1995, when student demographics grew apace, universities absorbed most of this growth. After 1995, the supply of selective training increased, while student demographics stagnated. As a result, university enrolments have declined, especially in the sciences. At the same time, holders of science baccalaureates have not been as top‐notch, educationally and socially, as they were fifteen years previously. These students from more modest backgrounds and performing less well in education are shying away from the sciences which are reputed to be more difficult and less ‘profitable’ than other subjects.

Phoenix Ascendant: French Higher Education and Its Significance for Research and Learning for Library, Book, Print, and Media Culture History

Cultural interests possess and express transcendent power, whether it be effete or popular preoccupations. The rise of mass consumer ism and mass entertainment among industrial and postindustrial na tions has exerted an unbridled and unmistakable influence on higher education as well as library and information services, wherever these institutions exist. In a society and culture as highly articulated and as hoary as France, such conditions are complex and certainly nu anced. Unlike most national education systems, France possesses a highly centralized system emanating from Paris. Most governmental structures are situated on a national basis via centralizing authority and prerogative. All ministries focus their raison d'etre within the nexus that is Paris.

France & the United States: the Competition for University Students — Bologna and Beyond

The United States and France have actively implemented higher education policies to attract foreign students. In the case of France, European Union educational initiatives are often a means to further policies that are already in place. This article focuses on the response of two diverse French higher education institutions to the EU's Bologna Declaration and its call for standardized matriculation time for degrees, private-sector intervention, external evaluations, and possible entry into GATS. The article also considers the tension between the Bologna Declaration and the French notion of le service public.

The transcultural transferability of Bourdieu's sociology of education

As early as 1970, M. S. Archer argued that Bourdieu's sociology of education was the product of the particular conditions of the French educational system within which it was formulated. The same argument was subsequently advanced more generally by Richard Jenkins, who insisted that Bourdieu's sociology of culture, particularly the analysis contained in La Distinction/Distinction (Bourdieu, 1979, 1986), was an expression of the peculiarly French emphasis on taste as a basis for social differentiation. Bourdieu was himself interested in the relations between particular and universal explanation in social science, and in many of his later articles he focused specifically on the question of the transferability of his concepts, such as ‘cultural capital’. The English Preface to Homo Academicus (Bourdieu, 1988) is an explicit discussion of how the analysis presented in the text of French higher education should be read and adopted by English readers, while Practical Reason (Bourdieu, 1994, 1998) contained published lectures in which Bourdieu considered the applicability of La Distinction to Japanese society. The purpose of my proposed contribution is to trace the development of Bourdieu's sociology of education in the context of educational policy developments in France during his lifetime and, equally, to trace the ways in which his work has been used in the British context during the period between the first reception of his educational work in the United Kingdom in Knowledge and Control (Young, 1971) to the reception of his more polemical political interventions of the 1990s, many of which implicitly invoked earlier educational thinking. The intention is that this discussion should revive interest in the relevance of Bourdieu's work to the British situation by reference to many of the later texts that appeared after the emphasis of the British field of reception had shifted from education to cultural studies. La noblesse d'e´tat/State nobility (Bourdieu, 1989, 1996) and La mise`re du monde/The weight of the world (Bourdieu et al., 1993, 1999) have direct implications for British thinking about education that are different from the implications of the texts of the 1960s, and it is important to disrupt the tendency still to see the importance of Bourdieu's educational work primarily in relation to Les he´ritiers/The Inheritors (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1964b; 1977) and La reproduction/Reproduction (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1970, 1977). Finally, the discussion will confront the question of transferability and ask whether the comparative conditions in Britain and France between 1960 and 2002 justify the transfer of his analyses and research methods across the cultures in the future beyond his death.

Accreditation or validation of prior experiential learning: knowledge and savoirs in France—a different perspective?1

This article stems from the study of the process and application of Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) in the French higher education system, in France referred to as VAP (Validation des Acquis Professionnels). The paper seeks to review not only the context in which the concepts underpinning VAP in France have developed, but also the nature of these concepts and their implementation in practice. In particular, we consider the specific meaning of concepts used within France where terms with close meanings reflect subtle but essential cultural differences of approaches within this arena, when compared to similar concepts and approaches in the Anglo‐Saxon world. The practice of APEL in France raises questions about the nature, acquisition, recognition or even reconciliation of various forms of knowledge, as well as their utilization in respect of employability. While in Anglo‐Saxon countries, and in the United Kingdom in particular, the practice of APEL seems to uncover resistance in universities along a ‘vocational’ or ‘professional’ versus ‘academic’ divide (Merrifield et al., 2000), la formation continue in the French higher education system seems to offer, through its VAP practices and underpinning principles, a third way, giving parity of esteem to professional and vocational knowledge.

Pierre Bourdieu: A Critical Introduction

Peasants into revolutionaries? - between camps during the Algerian War de-mythologising consumer society -class and culture in France, 1962-69 continuity, change and crisis in French higher education, 1964-70 returning to Kabylia - the theory and poetics of practice an imaginary variation - the role of Kabylia la distinction - old wine in new bottles? le nouvel opium des intellectuels - neo-liberalism and the defence of the universal.

Convergence et disparités régionales du poids de l'enseignement supérieur en France : 1964-2000

Résumé Un des thèmes dominants traité dans la littérature macro-économique depuis une dizaine d’années est celui de la convergence des économies régionales ou nationales. L’objet de cet article est d’appliquer cette démarche de recherche à l’évolution du poids de l’enseignement supérieur français dans le total des effectifs scolarisés sur la période 1964-2000. Comment l’enseignement supérieur est-il réparti sur le territoire ? Comment cette répartition a-t-elle évolué ? Observe t-on un processus de convergence entre les régions françaises ?

Incentives and Accountability

Observers have frequently pointed to a lack of openness in French universities and university institutions, but I may say that for several years now French universities, and more generally the entire higher education system in France, have been engaged in efforts to make the process more open in all respects. The institutions of French higher education are moving towards increasing autonomy. I shall seek, in this article, to show that the French system is equipped with a number of incentive mechanisms. These are both collective, institutions having the opportunity to generate their own resources, and also individual, taking the form of personal bonuses. In the same way, universities are subject to much more frequent monitoring than is thought, which could lead to elements of a system of evaluation. But the oversight that the French Government has over public higher education and research institutions is both excessive and inadequate: it is finicky and poorly targeted and therefore badly organised and ineffective from the point of view of meeting society’s legitimate expectations. The idea I should like to promote is in fact quite simple: it is by making institutions more accountable by actually increasing their autonomy that we shall promote incentive systems both for individuals and for institutions and that we shall impose an effective method of evaluation – the only ways of ensuring real change at the heart of our system of higher education and research. Incentive systems are needed to motivate people, institutions need increased autonomy if their action is to be more effective and a real system of evaluation is needed to ensure management and decision-making accountability for partners and to assess the ability of institutions to achieve the strategic objectives they have set themselves

Teacher education

HTML view is not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button. 03–192Catroux, Michèle (IUT Bordeaux I, France). Introduction à la Recherche-Action: Modalités d'une démarche théorique centrée sur la pratique. [An introduction to Action Research: Aspects of a practice-centred theoretical process.] Les Cahiers de l'APLIUT (Grenoble, France), 21, 3 (2002), 8–20.03–193Farrell, Thomas S. C. (Nat. Inst. of Ed./Nanyang Technological U., Singapore). Concept maps to trace conceptual change in preservice English teachers. RELC Journal (Singapore), 32, 2 (2001), 27–44.03–194González-Bueno, Manuela (U. of Kansas, USA). Pronunciation teaching component in SL/FL education programs. Training teachers to teach pronunciation. Applied Language Learning (Presidio of Monterey, CA, USA), 12, 2 (2001), 133–46.03–195Gwyn-Paquette, Caroline (U. of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada; Email: cgwyn@interlinx.qc.ca) and Tochon, François Victor. The role of reflective conversations and feedback in helping preservice teachers learn to use cooperative activities in their second language classrooms. The Modern Language Journal (Malden, MA, USA), 86, 2 (2002), 204–26.03–196Lamie, Judith (U. of Birmingham, UK; Email: j.m.lamie@bham.ac.uk). An investigation into the process of change: The impact of in-service training on Japanese teachers of English. Journal of In-service Education (Wallingford, UK), 28, 1 (2002), 135–61.03–197Lozano, Albert S., Sung, Hyekyung, Padilla, Amado M. and Silva, Duarte M. (Stanford U., California, USA). Evaluation of professional development for language teachers in California. Foreign Language Annals (New York, USA), 35, 2 (2002), 161–70.03–198Macrory, Gee (Inst. of Ed., The Manchester Metropolitan U., UK). Learning to talk like a language teacher: Crossing the boundary between university and school. Prospect (Macquarie U., Sydney, Australia), 17, 2 (2002), 62–70.03–199Narcy-Combes, Jean-Paul (Université de La Rochelle, France). La recherche-action en didactique des langues: apprentissage, compagnonnage ou évolution libre? [Action research for language teachers in French higher education: From a traditional approach to collegiality.] Les Cahiers de l'APLIUT (Grenoble, France), 21, 2 (2001), 40–52.03–200O'Brien, Teresa (U. of Manchester, UK). ‘Recherche-action’/‘Recherche basée sur la pratique’ et développement professionel. [Action research/Practice-based research and professional development.] Les Cahiers de l'APLIUT (Grenoble, France), 21, 2 (2001), 7–23.03–201Schocker-von Ditfurth, Marita (U. of Ed., Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany; Email: Marita@Schocker_Ditfurth.de) and Legutke, Michael K. Visions of what is possible in teacher education–or lost in complexity? ELT Journal (Oxford, UK), 56, 2 (2002), 162–71.03–202Sercu, Lies and Peters, Elke (KU Leuven, Belgium; Email: Lies.sercu@arts.kuleuven.ac.be) Learning e–learning–a comprehensive investigation of course developers' and language teacher trainees' views regarding the usefulness and effectiveness of a multimedia self-tuition course. ReCALL (Cambridge, UK), 14, 1 (2002), 32–46.03–203Ypsilandis, G. S. (U. of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece; Email: ypsi@uom.gr). Feedback in distance education. Computer Assisted Language Learning (Lisse, The Netherlands), 15, 2 (2002), 167–81.

Master and student in French higher education: Academic language and pedagogical distance

Academic Discourse is a contemporary study of the language of teaching in the Arts faculties of France in the mid-1960s. It was originally published asRapport pedagogique et communication (1965). Carried out during a time of mounting tension, it captures the breakdown in the social assumptions governing teaching practice in French universities. This empirical study of how students use academic language in their essays and exams brings out the implicit cultural expectations underlying scholastic success and the social functions served by the traditional pedagogical regime of the French university.

LEGAL CONSTRUCTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION STRUCTURES: THE FRENCH CASE

Diversification, like many aspects of French higher education, has been kept under a strong degree of state control. Diversification varies according to whether it concerns Level 3 or Level 1 of higher education. Different types of institutions and programmes at both levels, resulting from conscious attempts at diversification, are described.

OLD AND NEW TYPES OF CONFLICT IN HIGHER EDUCATION: THE LABOUR UNION VIEWPOINT

This article, written from the point of view of a French academic, who is a labour union leader, examines and discusses the problem of conflictual situations in higher education. To the traditional problems of conflicts between employees and employers and of students with regard to study and living conditions, the crisis situation in French higher education (and in other European higher education systems as well) has created new areas of conflict. In terms of large categories, these conflicts are related to such questions as the evaluation of qualifications for the recruitment and the promotion of staff, the relative weight given to research versus teaching, the ways in which new institutions and teaching/learning disciplines and groups of disciplines are created, and the general financial crisis besetting the higher education system as a whole. The solutions proposed emphasize the importance of transparency and democracy and the need for international instruments to deal with the conditions of university...

STEERING HIGHER EDUCATION IN FRANCE: 1981‐1991

After a brief presentation of the specificities of French higher education‐policies, the principal characteristics of the French higher education system are presented and described so as to distinguish two of the principal means which the authorities have used most frequently to steer higher education: on the one hand, regulations leading to formal changes, and on the other hand, incentives. The article closes with a description of the constraints which limit the decisions of the central authorities and an evaluation of their logic of action.

The Reawakening of Higher Education in France

It is not a particularly easy task to pick out the main trends that have shaped higher education in France in the recent past or that are likely to do so in the future, especially at the finer level of detail. In my title I have chosen the word 'reawakening' to sum up these changes, but I should make it clear that the term is not used judgementally, suggesting that one state is preferable to another. My choice of word is dictated rather by two considerations. First, for reasons that will be discussed further below, French higher education passed through a period of dormancy in the mid-1980s. Its vital functions did not stop, but a series of events led to a situation where the whole system was, as it were, anaesthetised and incapable of any real initiative. This period seems now to be coming to an end, and very recently a policy for higher education has started to emerge again. The existence of this policy is what allows us to talk about a reawakening, but to do so does not, a pnon, involve any judgement of the quality of the policy or its implications. For that, time will tell. Secondly, awakening may be in response to an alarm ringing, indicating that it is time to start moving or face all kinds of problems. I hope to show that this is indeed the current situation of French higher education: the stakes and the challenges ahead are enormous, partly because of the delay in taking them into account and tackling them. Once their extent has been assessed, we should examine whether the response to the alarm came too late.

French Higher Education in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: A Cultural History

This study uses evidence from surviving student cahiers and professional textbooks to recreate the educational experience of the French professional classes in the age of absolutism.

Deutsch-Französisches Hochschul-Institut: ein Beispiel für eine überwiegend in technischen Bereichen wirksame Hochschulkooperation

SUMMARY ‘The Franco-German Institute: an example of cooperation in higher education focusing on technical disciplines’. In 1978 the Franco-German Institute of Higher Education for Technology and Business (DFHI) was founded, with the aim of strengthening higher education on both sides of the frontier. Being integrated into the existing educational systems, it offers the first common course of study within German and French higher education. It should be noted that the DFHI is unique insofar as it trains binational engineers who are fluent in French. The DFHI is run jointly by the Fachhochschule des Saarlandes and the Universities of Metz and Nancy I; it is binational both in its administrative and its academic structures. Graduates are qualified, from a language and a technical point of view, to work in Germany as well as in France, thus meeting the growing demand for experts in trans-frontier cooperation. At present, the DFHI offers courses in the fields of Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mecha...

Review. French Higher Education in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: A Cultural History. Brockliss, L. W. B.

Review. French Higher Education in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: A Cultural History. Brockliss, L. W. B.

Reviews and Short Notices

Reviews and Short Notices