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ERIC Number: EJ1357202
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022-Nov
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0008-4506
EISSN: EISSN-1710-1131
"I'm Trilingual -- So What?": Official French/English Bilingualism, Race, and French Language Teachers' Linguistic Identities in Canada
Wernicke, Meike
Canadian Modern Language Review, v78 n4 p344-362 Nov 2022
The privileging of French and English in Canada has led to an official language policy that minimizes the country's long-established multilingual realities in favour of a socio-politically constructed linguistic and cultural duality. The impact of this policy directly shapes the linguistically diverse yet monoglossically constructed French language classroom with teachers overwhelmingly orientated to "balanced" bilingualism. Research narratives generated with Western Canadian French as a second language (FSL) teachers show how an emphasis on official languages constrains the construction of a legitimate professional identity, especially among multilingual teachers of French. The article argues that official French/English bilingualism in Canada constitutes a key obstacle to moving beyond monolingual and racializing language ideologies associated with standardized French and has a significant impact on FSL teacher professional identity. The analysis of interview extracts shows teacher-participants prioritizing English and French at the expense of their heritage (non-official) languages, in effect erasing dimensions of their linguistic, racial, and cultural identities. The article concludes by considering how a lack of researcher reflexivity with regard to issues of race can reinforce both monoglossic ideologies and a well-entrenched disregard for multilingual knowledge in teacher education programs.
University of Toronto Press. 5201 Dufferin Street, Toronto, ON M3H 5T8, Canada. Tel: 416-667-7810; Fax: 800-221-9985; Fax: 416-667-7881; e-mail: journals@utpress.utoronco.ca; Web site: http://www.utpjournals.press/loi/cmlr
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A