Individual Differences In Second Language Acquisition

Research Rationale

Discuss about the Individual Differences In Second Language Acquisition.

Irrespective of being the minority in major Canadian region, French colony still holds its importance in Canada since the times of republic United States (Craig, 2016). Overcoming all the conditions of assimilation with English Canadian, French Canadian still lives under the French flag in Canada. However, still, there are limitations that risk the French identity in Canada, these limitations change from one province to another (Clark & Dervin, 2014). The research project focuses on one contemporary issue faced by the French population endangering French language and culture in Toronto, Ontario province of Canada. The issue is the shortage of French teacher in the education system of Toronto, Ontario.

The research focuses on analyzing the issue of French teacher shortage in Toronto, Ontario region of Canada by analysis three major articles related to this issue along with other secondary resources.

Is the shortage of French teacher harming the existence of French population or the French culture in Toronto, Ontario region?

This article written by Meagan Fitzpatrick published in CBC Canada elaborates the issue of French teacher shortage as a stressful and chronic problem in Canada involving the Toronto region. The writer explains the complicated situations faced by school boards to overcome the growing demand for French immersion programs increasing the tension of unavailable French teaching staff. In various regions of Canada involving Toronto (as described in the article) parents of young children are demanding French language educations in school creating pressure on school boards.

Article also demonstrates that the idea of using Google translator replacing French educator became a failure. Further, the article mentions that schools are looking forward to cross-country recruitment to get immigrant French teacher meeting the demand. The French immersion program is a thumbs-up by Canadian population but the growing shortage of French educator highlights a risk to transmission of the French language in coming Canadian generation (Meagan, 2018).

This article was written by Andrea Gordon published in The Star detail about the growing demand of French teachers in Canada involving details of the same situation in Toronto, Ontario region. The article highlights the experience of French graduate teachers in their ‘growing demand’ followed by statistics highlighting the ‘growing gap’ between supply and demand of French educator in Canada. There are detailed statistics of FSL Labour Market report by Ontario Public School Boards in this article. These statistics explain the reason for this shortage of French teachers in Canada.

Research Question

Further, the article involves details on action taken by Toronto District School and Toronto Catholic District Board to meet the demand of French educators in their area. Lastly, the article also highlights the fear in parents of French community about their children not able to learn French properly (Gordon, 2018).

This article provided by CTVNews staff involves a video recording demonstrating the eager need for various School Boards across Canada to hire French teachers. The article highlights that French immersion student number has jumped above 60,000 in the last five years in Canada. Various schools boards like McGill, Halifax, Toronto and Southern Ontario are implementing different strategies to enroll French teachers as much as possible are described with details in this article. Further, as per detailed statistics, Toronto being one amongst the most populated regions of Ontario demands the highest number of French educator in Ontario region when compared to other regions.

This shortage of French teachers, in contrast, is creating a situation of French immersion program failure in Canada. The shortage of good French teachers in Canada is leading a long-term loss for French language highlighting a risk of younger generation not able to speak their language. This can lead to the extinction of Francophone in Ontario region and other provinces of Canada in future (School boards scramble to find French teachers amid surging demand, 2018).

The French immersion program develops to safeguard French language and culture in Canada in 1970s forms the root cause of this French educator shortage issue in Canadian province including Toronto, Ontario (Schnurr, 2018). A study done by Ontario College of teachers at Toronto 1 out of 2 French teachers will retire till 2008 and a great scarcity of French teachers will increase till 2012. Further, growing demand for French immersion by Toronto public will work as the fuel to accelerate this issue (Alphonso, 2018).

The first article by CBC referred to researches indicated shortage of French immersion teacher as a stressful and chronic problem in Canada. This shortage of French education providers has to lead to a risk to terminate the French immersion program in Toronto as per this article. The article highlights the struggle of state boards to overcome the issue of French teacher shortage in almost all regions of Canada. There is specifically mentioned in the article about one persistent challenge in Toronto region school where parents are pleading to the school board for saving the French immersion program. However, school board indicates “French teacher staffing crisis” as reason risking the functioning of the program. However, at last, the board trustees accepted parent’s request and decided to maintain French immersion program in school of Toronto (Meagan, 2018).

Article Summaries

Further, the article highlights a similar situation of French teacher shortage in various other regions of Canada. The school boards are moving the step forward for cross-country recruitment, hiring exceptional French experts and many more to overcome this issue but still lack of French teacher supply remains a threat to the stability of French immersion program in Ontario including Toronto as per this article (Meagan, 2018). In a quantitative research described by Cummins (2014) 45% of Toronto French population fear a danger of their language extinction in coming future, 10% population is uncertain whereas 30% reject any such condition.

The second article published in The Star highlights about the issue of French teacher shortage in various regions of Ontario. The issue is highlighted in an indirect manner in the article by elaborating the growing demand of French teachers as the popularity of French immersion program increases with time (Gordon, 2018). This article by Andrea Gordon clearly demonstrates the growing demand of French teachers and growing gap in the supply-demand chain of French educators in Canada.

The article involves statistical data from FSL Labour Market report indicating issues like finding French teacher is an issue for English school boards in last five years, lacking job applications for French teacher and lacking student application in teachers college. The article demonstrates details about Toronto District School Board decision of reviewing French education programs to meet the demand of French educator involving public consultation. Further, Toronto Catholic District School Board has started French teacher recruitment from Quebec to overcome the growing demand of French immersion program. This indicates that the extinction of French educator is emerging as a crisis for the French language in coming generations of Canada (Gordon, 2018). Fernet et al. (2016) studied the FSL report provided by Ontario Public School Boards at Toronto. As per the report the number of FSL teacher graduate application has fallen from 8000 to 4000 from 2015 to 2018. Further, as per this report, the FSL (French Second Language) teacher required by various Boards in Ontario as of September 2017 (New Report Identifies Key Factors in FSL Teacher Shortages, 2018).

(Source: New Report Identifies Key Factors in FSL Teacher Shortages, 2018)

Further, the third article by CTVNews also supports the details of the above-mentioned information in form of interviews of French teachers elaborating the need of French educators in Canada. There are interviews of parents and teachers in this news article describing need for children to learn and thing in their native language that is French. The Ontario Universities are offering various facilities like accommodation, allowance etc. to immigrant French teachers fulfilling their demand in French immersion program establishment in the country (School boards scramble to find French teachers amid surging demand, 2018). Lastly, the lack of candidates is leading to disturbance in the supply-demand chain of French educators in Toronto as per studies by University of Toronto (French-language teachers in Ontario, 2018).

Article Discussion

Canada being a multicultural state manages, celebrates and acknowledges its vibrant ethnic cultures and languages of different communities. The rich and vibrant socio-political structure of Canada brings along different risks and challenges to the structure of its sociolinguistic organisational and educational system (Bhatia, 2014). One such identified contemporary challenge faced by the French community is the shortage of French education providers in major Ontario region especially Toronto (Trifonas & Aravossitas, 2014). There is news highlight that informs about this issue in different regions of Canada including Ontario especially Toronto. Ten years ago, French immersion program shared contradictory views, where some Canadians considered it as “master plan” to Franchize Canada whereas other thought it as a measure to make untied Canada supported by English Canadian’s willing to admit their children in French immersion program at school (Dornyei, 2014).

In contrast, Kutsyuruba & Treguna (2014) indicates that issue of missing guidance in French immersion program has created uncertainty in mind of French Canadian about the establishment and importance of the French language in Canada. According to one survey studied by Swanson & Mason (2018), most of the French parents consider this issue of lacking French educator in Ontario as a signal of extinct in French Canadian population.

Mason & Matas (2016) opine that the education system should be kept away from any social or political opinion to ensure development. The French immersion program is an accepted phenomenon both by English Canadian and French Canadian population. In Toronto, 800 students competed for 500 French Kindergarten spots and 400 students applied for 240 spaces. Whereas, roughly around 590 teachers are enrolled every year, making up to one-fifth of the French teacher demand in Toronto. This indicates that issue of lacking French educator in Toronto is due to lacking candidates irrespective of any political or social framing of the issue (Hennig, 2018).

Further, studies highlight that the Government is making every possible effort to overcome this French educator crisis all over Canada (How to woo French teachers to stay in Canada’s schools, 2018). Svalberg (2016) indicate that professional learning communities  (PLCs) established in Toronto is one measure to overcome issues faced by FSL teachers in the workplace environment. In these PLCs, teachers get motivated, inspired and helped by one another supporting to enhance their French teacher’s network. Further, Kosnik, Beck & Goodwin (2016) indicates that the Canadian Government establishes professional learning models for French teachers all-over Canada including Toronto. These learning models help in possession of their learning and develop rank as bilinguals in Canada. Such initiates by Government would help to empower the French teachers overcoming the issue of their shortage in the country.

The Ontario Government looks forward to hiring French teachers from areas outside their functionality that is other provinces (Quebec) to overcome the demand-supply gap in their region. The funds are been raised to employee more and more French teachers in the Toronto region as well (Schmidt & Gagne, 2015). However, Gross (2014) indicates that shortage of French teacher has now become a National issue in Canada involving shortage in almost all provinces, therefore, Government is making effort to hire teachers from Europe.

According to Biro (2017) studies, University of Toronto has performed detailed analysis of this issue in their research where the attitude of stakeholders (parents, society) is analyzed regarding their attitude towards core French language. As per research findings, experienced French teachers consider initiation of French learning from very beginning grade basically grade 4 because children confronting French learning in higher grades like 9 fail to develop an interest in learning core French. Hence, it is critically required to meet the shortage of French teacher. Parents and society favor this opportunity for their children to learn another language (French) except English. Further, Zaimi (2015) study findings indicate that French immersion program can be considered a huge success only if the requirement of French educator shortage is been met other else people in coming generations may not be able to write and speak properly in French creating a threat to this important French language and culture in Toronto (Teacher Shortage Coming All Across Ontario, Says College of Teachers | Ontario College of Teachers, 2018).

Conclusion

The study about issue Shortage of French teacher’s in Toronto region of Ontario indicates that French immersion program can create more of a negative impact rather than positive on French language and culture in this region. This issue is developing a fear in French people of Toronto that Francophone will extinct in future if the younger generation is not able to learn the language in school. All the three articles supported by other evidence studied in this research, provide clear evidence that the shortage of French teacher is a serious issue not only in Toronto, Ontario but also other provinces of Canada. Although, measures are taken to overcome this shortage yet this issue persist potential to remain a major concern for existence and importance of the French language in Canada.

References

Bhatia, V. K. (2014). Analysing genre: Language use in professional settings. Routledge.

Clark, J. S. B., & Dervin, F. (Eds.). (2014). Reflexivity in language and intercultural education: Rethinking multilingualism and interculturality. Routledge.

Craig, C. J. (2016). Structure of teacher education. In International Handbook of Teacher Education (pp. 69-135). Springer, Singapore.

Dornyei, Z. (2014). The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. Routledge.

Trifonas, P. P., & Aravossitas, T. (Eds.). (2014). Rethinking heritage language education. Cambridge University Press.

Biro, S. (2017). French as a Second Language Teacher Influence on Grade 9 Student Attitudes of French in Ontario. University of Toronto.

Cummins, J. (2014). Rethinking pedagogical assumptions in Canadian French immersion programs. Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education, 2(1), 3-22.

Fernet, C., Trepanier, S. G., Austin, S., & Levesque-Cote, J. (2016). Committed, inspiring, and healthy teachers: How do school environment and motivational factors facilitate optimal functioning at career start?. Teaching and Teacher Education, 59, 481-491.

Gross, D. M. (2014). Temporary Foreign Workers in Canada: Are They Really Filling Labour Shortages?.

Kosnik, C., Beck, C., & Goodwin, A. L. (2016). Reform efforts in teacher education. In International handbook of teacher education (pp. 267-308). Springer, Singapore.

Kutsyuruba, B., & Treguna, L. (2014). Curbing early-career teacher attrition: A pan-Canadian document analysis of teacher induction and mentorship programs. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, (161).

Mason, S., & Matas, C. P. (2016). Language teacher supply: A content analysis of newspaper coverage across the’Anglobubble’. Issues in Educational Research, 26(3), 446.

Schmidt, C., & Gagne, A. (2015). Internationally educated teacher candidates in Canadian Faculties of Education: When diversity≠ equity. Handbook of Canadian reseach in initial teacher education, 295-311.

Svalberg, A. M. (2016). Language awareness research: Where we are now. Language Awareness, 25(1-2), 4-16.

Swanson, P., & Mason, S. (2018). The world language teacher shortage: Taking a new direction. Foreign Language Annals, 51(1), 251-262.

Zaimi, Z. (2015). Teachers’ Perspectives on How Stakeholders Can Ameliorate Students’ Attitudes towards Core French. University of Toronto.

Alphonso, C. (2018). Federal government commits funds to address shortage of French immersion teachers. Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/school-board-to-offer-moving-allowance-to-lure-french-immersion-teachers/article38160331/

French-language teachers in Ontario. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/teacher/fls_teachers.html

Gordon, A. (2018). French teachers in high demand as popularity of immersion programs soars | The Star. Retrieved from https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/05/18/french-teachers-in-high-demand-as-popularity-of-immersion-programs-soars.html

Hennig, C. (2018). B.C. government looks to Europe to recruit French-speaking teachers | CBC News. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-recruits-french-teachers-from-europe-1.4599380

How to woo French teachers to stay in Canada’s schools. (2018). Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/how-to-woo-french-teachers-to-stay-in-canadas-schools-78722

Meagan, M. (2018). ‘We’re doing the best we can’: French immersion teacher shortage in Canada a chronic and stressful problem | CBC News. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-french-immersion-teacher-shortage-1.4423050

New Report Identifies Key Factors in FSL Teacher Shortages. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.opsba.org/Media%20and%20Resources/new-report-identifies-key-factors-in-french-as-a-second-language-(fsl)-teacher-shortages-in-ontario

Schnurr, J. (2018). Hundreds of jobs for French teachers up for grabs at job fair. Retrieved from https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/hundreds-of-jobs-for-french-teachers-up-for-grabs-at-job-fair-1.3800384

School boards scramble to find French teachers amid surging demand. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/school-boards-scramble-to-find-french-teachers-amid-surging-demand-1.3838548

Teacher Shortage Coming All Across Ontario, Says College of Teachers | Ontario College of Teachers. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.oct.ca/public/media/press-releases/1998/19981120

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