French as second language management in Ontario secondary schools: achievements, issues, and prospects

Abstract

Examining the intended organisation of French as a Second Language (FSL) programmes in terms of its actual implementation is an important step in the development of FSL education. Such investigations facilitate dialogues on the current state of FSL programmes and on future strategies. Through a questionnaire given to the Ontario Ministry of Education's FSL Implementation Unit as well as official document sources, this study investigated, from a language management perspective, the current framework in place in the province and its goals. The Ministry's determination to further grow its FSL programmes, making French available to all its students, while also offering differentiated education for all, shows the positive potentials in FSL learning. Taking these forward-orientated goals into consideration, potential hurdles were considered which may demand other, new proactive approaches in the future.

Policy Around the Teaching of English in Technical Education in Cameroon: Achievements, Issues, and Prospects From the Perspectives of Pedagogic Inspectors

“…Unfortunately, ESOL teacher training in Cameroon does not differentiate between future teachers at different school types, as mentioned earlier. This “would logically result in the employment of similarly trained teachers, using similar teaching methods in different schooling contexts that involve students with different learning objectives, needs, and outcomes” (Takam & Gillis, 2021, p. 16). Presenting the same teaching strategies in classrooms with very different student populations may considerably impact on the Ministry of Secondary Education’s ability to offer differentiated education to all students.…”

“…ESP may speak to many of the students who choose to learn in this type of school. Graduates from such schools are badly needed in many sectors of the national economy and knowing the SOL well could make their skills more transferrable from region to region (see Takam & Gillis, 2021 for more details on this aspect).…”

“…as a means of triangulation with the objective of examining multiple sources of evidence to reduce or eliminate, in the data analysis phase, the impact of potential biases that could arise from having information provided by a single source. These document sources, especially the syllabi and language laws, also provided supplementary research data, information, and insights as valuable additions to interview data and provided background and context to information from pedagogic inspectors (Bowen, 2009, cited in Takam & Gillis, 2021). Table 1 classifies the participants:…”