Literacy Among Canadian Students in Minority Language Contexts
From NSEL Report Wiki
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A report prepared by the Canadian Council on Learning for the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network
Read the full paper
Summary
This report starts by stating that access to French-language education has been a hard-won right for Francophones outside of Quebec. While it is undisputed that French-language education is the cornerstone for minority language communities, the research estimates that only a little over half of entitled parents are exercising their right to pursue a French-language education for their children. There are also persistent findings that show Francophone students are falling behind their majority language counterparts.
There are three different groups of students in minority language contexts identified: students in language immersion programs, Anglophone students in Quebec and Francophone students outside of Quebec. Available evidence suggests that only for the Francophone students outside of Quebec does being a minority language status seem to pose a threat to successful educational outcomes, including strong literacy skills. The paper focuses on the Francophone group.
The paper defines an apparent “immersion advantage” for students enrolled in language immersion programs. These students have measurable stronger literacy skills than their non-immersion counterparts. This can be explained by the fact that French immersion students are generally from high socioeconomic backgrounds and are more likely to have parents with postsecondary education. French immersion students outperformed non-immersion students in all provinces except Manitoba, where they were equal to their non-immersion counterparts. These results of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) show that the minority language status of French immersion education does not pose a threat to immersion students’ literacy achievement.
There are a small number of Aboriginal language immersion programs in Canada. It is important to point out that these programs provide literacy benefits rather than pose threats to the associated minority language status. In particular, the Aboriginal immersion students outperform their non-immersion counterparts in language arts.
The literacy development of the English speaking minority in Quebec doesn’t seem to be suffering from the effect of their minority language status in that province.
The Anglophone students do at least as well as their Francophone counterparts in Quebec and their Anglophone counterparts in the rest of Canada. This could be in part to the fact that while their language is the minority language in Quebec, it is the language of the majority in the rest of the country and the continent. There is also a sense of “institutional completeness” for Anglophones in Quebec. A large number of the institutions, schools, community/health/social services, literature, art and popular entertainment are readily available in English.
The contrast shows when the Francophones outside Quebec are studied. Their minority language status does appear to pose a risk for successful literacy development. The majority of Francophone students in Quebec perform very well relative to the Canadian average. The studies showed that in particular, Francophone boys are particularly vulnerable to the literacy acquisition risks experienced by minority language students. This is important as the studies go further and state that the literacy difficulties among minority Francophones persist into adulthood.
The report also mentions that there is research that states minority Francophones have weaker literacy skills than their majority language counterparts. The authors caution about drawing general conclusions about Francophone literacy skills. The comparisons carry inherent measurement difficulties and the measuring of French literacy skills may not provide a complete picture of minority Francophone’s overall level of literacy skills. It is not possible, however, to entirely dismiss the persistent trend of poor performance among minority, but not majority, Francophones according to the results obtained through a variety of literacy assessment tools.
Authors provide reasons for the poor performance of the Francophones living in a minority situation outside of Quebec; lack of motivation to excel in literacy, poor French language skills due to limited exposure to French in everyday life, lack of reading readiness skills upon entering school and a lack of resources in minority French language schools. Barriers in the home, community and school environments need to be addressed in order to overcome this situation.
Key Findings
The authors cite research that points to advocacy for French-language services and for the maintenance of the linguistic and cultural roots of the Francophone minority communities as an important precursor to fostering stronger literacy skills among minority Francophone students. A multipronged approach is needed that is directed toward key environments where children’s literacy skills develop: home, community and school. In the home and community environments, children’s literacy skills need to be encouraged through family literacy programs and community based programs. In the school environment, reciprocal teaching and various motivational strategies can help students become more engaged. There also needs to be more French teaching resources found for the teacher in the French minority school setting.
What do you think?
- Do you agree or disagree strongly with any of the evidence presented in the paper?
- Were you surprised to read that minority Francophones have weaker literacy skills than their majority counterparts?
- Do you agree that minority Francophone students are less motivated to excel in literacy than other Canadian students?
- What steps do you suggest that parents and teachers could take to improve the literacy skills of the minority Francophone student?
- What supports for minority literacy development would you like to see established in your own community?
- What are the barriers that the Francophone minority parent and teacher must overcome in order to improve the literacy skills of these students? What are practical solutions that can be introduced in addition to those presented in the paper?
- Is there any evidence to support or oppose the arguments made in this paper?
- Are there key points in this research that you feel need to be taken into consideration when developing a national literacy strategy?
