Abstract

Ontario has launched a revised high school French as a second language (FSL) curriculum (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2014), which arguably represents a paradigm shift from previous iterations as it contains separate intercultural curriculum expectations with an increased focus on oral development. Few research studies have specifically explored this revised program (Viswanathan, 2016). Additionally, non-native FSL speaker-teachers have already expressed feelings of insecurity of their oral proficiency (Wernicke, 2017; Cooke, 2013).

 

Subject to research ethics approval, an exploratory case study will investigate how a group of Ontario high school non-native FSL teacher-speakers approach cultural content and specifically implement their additional intercultural curriculum strand for beginner level students. Ten teachers will complete an online questionnaire, two interviews, and an online focus group. The study will provide FSL stakeholders with additional curriculum management techniques and to highlight the affordances of the non-native French teacher-speaker interacting with beginner level French students in secondary school settings.

 

In preparation for the study’s launch, an initial conceptual framework as a metaphorical salade niçoise guides the inquiry. Salad as a metaphor, represents a healthy language classroom conducive to cultural learning as curriculum as lived (Aoki, 1977). The ideal teacher-chef is flexible to programming changes and differentiates instruction, reflecting the nested pedagogical orientations (Cummins, Brown & Sayers, 2007). Its ingredients include theoretical contributions from the neurolinguistic approach (Netten & Germain, 2012), orality-based practices (Ong, 1982), and the multiliteracy approach (New London Group, 2000) to better support student retention of culturally complex vocabulary.

Keywords: teacher change, culture, non-native teacher-speaker, curriculum

 

References

Aoki, T. T. (1977). Theoretic dimensions of curriculum: Reflections from a micro- perspective. Canadian Journal of Education, 2(1), 49.

Cooke, S. (2013). The self-efficacy beliefs of novice elementary French as a second language teachers. (Unpublished master’s thesis). University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario.

Cummins, J., Brown, K., & Sayers, D. (2007). Literacy, technology, and diversity: Teaching for success in changing times. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

Netten, J. & Germain, C. (2012). A new paradigm for the learning of a second or foreign language: The neurolinguistic approach. Neuroeducation, 1(1), 85-114.

New London Group. (2000). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. In B. Cope and M. Kalantzis (eds). Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures (pp. 9–38). South Yarra, Australia: Macmillan.

Ong, W. J. (1982). Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the world. Cornwall, UK: Routledge.

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2014). The Ontario curriculum, grades 9 to 12: French as a second language – Core, extended, and immersion French, 2014 (revised). Toronto, ON: Queen’s Printer for Ontario. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/secondary/fsl912curr2014.pdf

Viswanathan, U. (2016). Exploring the relationship between core French teachers' beliefs and their instructional practices. (Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario.

Wernicke, M. (2017). Navigating native-speaker ideologies as FSL teacher. Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue Canadienne Des Langues Vivantes, 73(2), 208- 236.