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Integrating action and plurality to support adaptability among language teachers
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Hello everyone and thank you to the organizers of this 2021 edition of the
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LPP conference. I'll talk today about French as a second language teachers
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training in the Montreal context, in particular the development of their
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teaching posture and their ability to integrate action-oriented and pluralistic approaches in their
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(pre)professional development. Today, it is undeniable that the
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action-oriented and plural turns have been taken - theoretically - however, the
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implementation of dynamic and complex teaching practices still is a challenge in the
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training of language teachers. In fact, the action-oriented approach has undeniably been developed
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in the European context, where mediation is growing in the field of
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language and culture. But French teacher education does not yet systematically
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integrate the principles resulting from these trends, particularly in the French-
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speaking North American context. Recent research shows that preservice teachers do not feel
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prepared to support plurilingual learners and that monolingual ideology still tends
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to foresee in the beliefs. This reality hinders inclusion, as much in the
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direction of the learners as the teachers. The approaches that I bring together here under the expression
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"virage pluriel" have experienced an expansion since the beginning of the 21st century, as
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is the case the action-oriented approach. More precisely in Quebec,
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research and educational initiatives are quite dynamic in
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schools. In Montreal, it is nearly half of the students
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who have benefited from support services in French, which is a fairly common
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marker of plurilingualism in schools. In Canada, there is a
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significant field of research concerning plural approaches, particularly for
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the youngest learners, and there is also literature in the adult sector, but more
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particularly in TESOL. In French as a foreign or second language, we find
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studies in the adult sector, focusing on the representations of
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educational actors regarding plurilingual or translanguaging practices or, in the case of
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teachers training, to document their representations on the linguistic and
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cultural repertoires, and on the development of their identity. Although there are more and
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more initiatives and research on plural approaches
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in language teaching, there is little literature - at least to my knowledge - on
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the strategies and practices in teacher education to support the development of
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a plural "savoir agir". In studying how teachers are trained in
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this dimension of language teaching, the question that arises is therefore to determine the
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factors to be taken into consideration in training pedagogy. Teacher
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training is often considered to be out of step with the reality of teaching. To improve the
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link between theory and practice, three elements in training should be considered.
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First of all: beliefs, representations and knowledge of a pre- or in-service teacher.
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Borg speaks of "teacher cognition" to describe simply what teachers think, know,
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believe and do. The knowledge and prior skills of teachers are
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central in their individual development during training. Their beliefs
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are an essential factor in the potential for implementing new practices as they
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may be resistant to change (Kagan). It is therefore important to take this into account,
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but also to know how to challenge beliefs in a healthy way. Another critical
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aspect in the success of a training program is its potential for translating
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in real life, this is why researchers agree to emphasize
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experiential learning. In the absence of a real class that would allow preservice teachers
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to try practices with learners, trainers can
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offer immersive activities that will naturally foster reflection.
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The third principle which is identified as fundamental in training pedagogy
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is co-building a professional community early. Indeed, in the 21st century, (preservice) teachers will have to work collaboratively.
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It is therefore important to support the creation of communities of practice from the start.
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I come to the project. I will situate the context a little more precisely.
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This project was carried out within the context of a second cycle program in "didactics
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and linguistics applied to the teaching of French as a foreign or second language", in two academic
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terms. Embedded in the Montreal context in an English-speaking
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university, the program is in French, and data collection was carried out during
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two academic years. Therefore, two cohorts: 2019 2020 and 2020 2021. Back to the training program,
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one of its peculiarities lies in the fact that the didactic seminars took
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place - before March 2020 - in active learning classroom, so it was quite exceptional
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material conditions for the students and for me. 8 of them agreed
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to participate in the research for the 2019-2020 cohort, and 6 for last year. Let's see what
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was on the program. First, let's specify that the
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didactic seminars did not relate only to plural and action-oriented approaches,
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they were generalist seminars in which these approaches were integrated, and this in the same way
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as other aspects or language and culture teaching. That's why I speak
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of an "infusion" model of these approaches. In terms of training activities, the students had,
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for example, academic readings proposed in flipped classroom, including readings
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on plurilingualism, intercultural dimension and approaches in language teaching, with
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reading questionnaires and reflexive questions to be completed before
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attending a seminar. They also had to complete the plurilingual and pluricultural competence (PPC) scale (Galante), in particular to support awareness and reflection on their repertoire,
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for the pedagogical side of this activity. We have also had recourse to
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the analysis and planning of teaching activities or didactic materials
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in French as a foreign or second language, aimed in particular at making them identify
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clichés, stereotypes or folklorization, as well as to think about adaptations that are sensitive
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and respectful of plurality. Finally, activities in a foreign language
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as "total immersion". Reassure yourself, I did not leave them lost for
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too long, since the idea was to be able to discuss it collegially.
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The main objective of this type of activity was to put them in the learners' shoes
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to develop empathy and understanding of the needs. Quickly, let me introduce the data
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collected to document this project. In the first place, the pedagogical documentation which was
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produced to pilot the training i.e. what I presented to you in the
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previous slide. We also have collected all the participants' work,
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including teaching plans, observation grids, presentations,
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and online reading questionnaires completed during the program. The students
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also completed at the beginning and at the end of the training the PPC scale (Galante), that I have
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already mentioned. Since it was a small number of participants, the statistical data would not be
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meaningful. However qualitative data tell us more about
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their "plural" positioning. Finally, 3 participants of the second cohort
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responded to a semi-structured interview, aimed at establishing explicit links between their progress
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and the training activities. So what did all this give, particularly with regard to
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the development of the didactic posture of teachers ? The first observation is that we were
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dealing with high levels of plurilingual and pluricultural competence - not to say
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very high - among the participants, since we observed a systematic multilingualism
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in the two cohorts. All the respondents identified at least three languages in
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their own repertoire. Furthermore, their posture at the beginning of the training was already very positive
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towards plural practices, as speakers and interlocutors, in
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communicative situations as described in the PPC scale. Second observation,
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the two open questions asked at the end of the PPC questionnaire implied an evolution in the
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way participants spoke about their own competences, since they were often more
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assertive and direct in identifying themselves as a plurilingual or
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pluricultural person. A quick example here. Without reading it in full, we see that at the beginning
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of the training the person is searching for their words, they elaborate more,
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while at the end of the training, they're more incisive in the way of responding and
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identifying themself more quickly. The sentences even start directly with "yes".
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Third observation: looking more closely at the assignments/work, the high PPC only minimally
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translated into practical applications, particularly less if they weren't asked to do so
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explicitly. On the other hand, the answers to the reading
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questionnaires - on plurilingualism, intercultural dimension,
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and approaches - illustrated a critical reasoning on their part. We
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therefore observe more sensitivity, but we are still far from having developed
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planning reflexes aiming at plurality, actions or mediation in autonomy. On the other hand, the
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collective/collaborative activities were more promising for the development of
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teacher PPC. The participants especially identified the activities of immersion in a
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foreign language and the ensuing discussion on linguistic and cultural repertoires of learners,
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but also on how to define bilingualism, on the legitimacy of L2 teachers who
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do not teach their L1, and especially the fact of clearly distinguishing the speaker and the
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skills of a teacher, since speaking a language is different from teaching it, of course.
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We also addressed the question of the feasibility of practices according
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to the teaching contexts. A concept which strongly echoed that of the limits. Fifth observation,
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from my trainer perspective, I was able to identify several moments during which
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the students identified by themselves "folklorizing" supports or contents.
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Finally, corollary to the discussions related to the feasibility that I mentioned before,
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they raised the question of the institutional constraints, which are likely to hinder
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the implementation of the approaches introduced in the training, particularly in the adult sector. I add to
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this summary on the teaching posture that an important element was
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raised by one of the participants, namely that the offer of training in
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L2 teaching for teachers of languages other than French or English is still scarce.
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That is to say that we have little training with a "multilingual DNA",
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which raises the question of the structuration of curricula in the light of research recommendations.
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Always about limits, it is necessary to wonder how to develop these levels in teacher training: linguistic
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and cultural awareness, interlingual and intercultural knowledge (plurilingual
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and pluricultural) or even translinguistic and transcultural skills. I will not read
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the whole text that can be found here, I'll let you have a closer look if you want, but
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one element that seemed important to me is that we were facing a paradox in the results,
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since, despite the high PPC of the respondents, they were not
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necessarily conscious of these skills at the beginning of the training. Here, we see
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that the beliefs and the perceptions are playing an interesting role, as suggests Borg.
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Because students started from further away to develop linguistic and cultural awareness (despite high PPC),
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so it is an element that seemed interesting to me in this regard.
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The questions which, in my opinion, remain in terms of teacher training of languages with plural and action-oriented
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approaches, are the resistance that can be experienced in certain
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contexts regarding the implementation of such practices, which necessarily raises
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the question of feasibility once teachers are in-service. It is articulated with the question of their
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agency. Moreover, we have seen that the training structure had an impact
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on the development of PPC, in particular the fact that the program
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is generalist, and that it is necessary to cover many subjects. It thus seems obvious to me that a course or
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a seminar dealing specifically with these questions can have a different impact,
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but of course that remains to be verified 😉. Finally, action-oriented and plural approaches are part of
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a broader reflection on the preparation of teachers, and the complexity of teaching and
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learning is a crucial element to underline, to make participants experiment
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in training, but also to support in the professional development.
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As a prospective: it remains to document more the plurilingual experience in certain
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contexts, perhaps by looking at the trajectories of the actors of L2 teaching
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and learning, but also at the place of languages in the world of education.
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And an avenue of empirical research which still has good years ahead of it would consist in analyzing
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the practices of teachers' trainers or supervisors to understand the
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facilitating conditions and challenges of their programmes in a contextualized manner.
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Thank you for your attention. I leave the references available for a few moments (email: diane.querrien@concordia.ca)
