Parents in a study about the accessibility of French immersion programs discussed inadequate support for learning to read and feeling pressured to pay for expensive tutors.
Media accounts on endangered languages abound, but they don’t always explore how to materially help native speakers. Peer-reviewed research shows that such efforts don’t always have positive effects.
Despite denunciations of discrimination against French-speaking students who want to settle in Canada, particularly Africans, the federal government does not seem to want to act.
Some have claimed the proposed new Indigenous names for Winnipeg streets are too difficult to pronounce. But what does it mean when we say a word is hard to pronounce?
In a study, teachers who are parents acknowledged programs of choice separate students into cohorts labelled strong and weak, yet many continue to secure spots for their own children.
Yan Campagnolo, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa and François Larocque, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
No official French version of the Constitution Act of 1867 exists in 2022. This aberration calls into question the validity of taking an oath to the King in French.
Language-learning research in the Netherlands has determined that using a foreign language rather than just memorizing its grammar can transform how students progress.
As a language of instruction, French has long held a prominent place in Senegal’s institutions and media. But Wolof, the most spoken national language, has regained its lost places.
French has historically been a language of human rights. That’s why the Québec government should promote it as a tool of a human rights-based civic education, not force it on newcomers.
In Africa, French will only continue to embed itself - if speaking it is in the interests of Africans and not attached to French foreign policy interests.
Signs in languages other than French could be seen as an outstretched hand in yet another episode of linguistic tensions, but also as an indicator that French is indeed losing ground.
It’s common for people to live near others who speak a different – but similar – language. But generally, they handle their differences without violence.
For most Québec residents, there is broad consensus that French should be protected. But many of us believe that multilingualism need not threaten French.