Reading as a skill or as a social practice in French immersion?

Abstract

This paper looks at reading in French immersion and how learning French is seen more as a skill rather than a social practice that could be examined through a more critical lens. Most of the teachers often teach students how to read but rarely will they discuss the role of French in Canadian society and how this is manifested in the texts they read and the world around them. This critical knowledge of how French and bilingualism are regarded in French immersion schools is lacking and brings several challenges to students inside and outside of the program. They learn how to read but can be quickly discouraged from using their French outside of school due to ideological assumptions that fail to recognize these students as bilingual, instead requiring cultural and native-like demonstrations of competence in the language in order to be accepted and allowed to speak.

Keywords:

• bilingual education
• French immersion
• literacy

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Dr Allan Luke for his precious comments on this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.