This paper presents three monologues created from an arts-based doctoral study investigating race and racism in French immersion programs in Ontario. French immersion has been criticized for being exclusionary, especially based on race (Yoon & Gulson, 2010), special education status (Wise, 2011), nationality, and home language (Mady, 2013). In…

French-as-a-second-language (FSL) teacher candidates' French proficiency and confidence are key indicators of recruitment and retention of FSL teachers. This paper outlines a pilot project, the Conversation Club, that was used to address linguistic insecurity and proficiency in FSL teacher candidates at one university. The Conversation Club was a…

This article draws upon a 10-month study of core French as a second language (FSL) teachers to explore the professional identities that are produced in their work. Adopting rhizoanalysis and the Deleuzian concept of becoming, this article positions the ways in which these teachers both affect and are affected by the multiple material and…

The following study focuses on learners of French in an English-dominant context and contributes to a better understanding of language hierarchization by investigating attitudes toward different varieties of French. It aims to identify a possible correlation between the evaluation of different varieties of French and the participants'…

Despite the fact that pronunciation is a vital aspect of language learning, previous research has shown that its instruction is limited in the classroom in terms of time and attention, due in part to the time constraints inherent in any curriculum. It then becomes essential for instructors to be strategic about the pronunciation features they…

The present study aims to explore both native and non-native French speakers' spoken output in two dialogic speaking tasks. More specifically, the aim of this study was threefold. First, the researchers focused on the relationship between L2 learners' receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge and their vocabulary use in two dialogic speaking…

High engagement and supportive social networks appear to promote L2 sociolinguistic development. This study investigates the relationship between these two constructs and their influence on Quebec French learners' use of two informal features: "ne" deletion and first-person "on"; and two geographically conditioned features:…

This study explores the identities that Grade 8 early French immersion students construct as learners of French within school-based communities of practice. It suggests a model by which metaphors on language learning can be considered a form of narrative used to both elicit and analyze metacognitive representations of their socially situated…

French as a second language (FSL) teachers in Canada face unique circumstances and challenges in the profession, from their initial teacher preparation into the beginning years of teaching and beyond. These challenges play a role in the long-standing FSL teacher shortage across Canada. To better understand the complexity and nuance of issues…

Communication strategies (CSs) have been generally viewed as ways in which learners may circumvent, and ideally overcome, communicative difficulties. However, over 40 years of research in this area has been largely confined to theory and experimental studies, and it is not clear to what extent CS research has filtered into contemporary second…

Poor retention rates for Core French, combined with the federal government's action plan to increase bilingualism in Canada, have led to the introduction of Intensive French (IF) in Grade 6 as an alternative for learning French. While anecdotal reports suggest that IF has no negative impact on English language skill development, empirical evidence…

This article draws on argument-based validation to gather and evaluate construct-related evidence (i.e., the explanation inference) of a high-stakes test. The data stemmed from the listening component of a French test used for immigration to Canada through the province of Quebec. An expert panel with varied backgrounds in applied linguistics…

Canada is facing a nationwide shortage of teachers of French as a second language. The profession is experiencing significant retention issues, with many teachers leaving the field within the first five years. One of the solutions proposed to address the challenges of teacher retention is for post-secondary institutions to integrate the concept…

As a reflection of the value attached to interaction in L2 learning, pair and small-group activities have been integrated into different phases in the writing process. Focusing specifically on peer interaction during the planning and revision phases, this "In the Classroom" study explores the relationship between peer interaction and…

This article explores French L1 speakers' attitudes toward French L2 speakers' negation use. Negation in prescriptive grammars calls for a pre-verbal ne and a post-verbal element like "pas." Although orally "ne" deletion is frequent, it is rarely or never taught. One common, albeit meagerly supported, explanation is that L1…