The pedagogical experiences of multilingual student teachers of French as a second language in Ontario : from volition to professionnal insertion

Ce projet associe 3 universités (2 universités canadiennes : Université de Western Ontario, et Université de Nipissing et une université française : Université François-Rabelais)

Objectifs du projet

We have two main objectives for this research.

First we will investigate the significance of multilingualism in two countries (Canada & France) and the development of multilingual repertoires for student teachers in relation to their investments and processes of social identity construction. Second, we will employ new research strategies and forms of engagement (such as an interactive virtual web space), which may have an impact (favorable or not) on the development of self-reflexivity for student teachers.

Specifically, our research questions are:

• how and why are the student teachers’ engaged in French? How do they envision teaching and learning as well as representations of French? And, what do they deem to be ideologically appropriate linguistic capital and multilingual and multicultural competence?
• What are their experiences of gaining access to French, and what are the opportunities and constraints they encounter while training to become teachers of French?

• Does the incorporation of multi-media and new engagement research strategies create space(s) for the inclusion of multiple identities, societal multilingualism and multilingual repertoires in French language pedagogy and official curriculum?