Étudier à l’université en français dans le contexte minoritaire ouest-canadien : ce que peut nous apprendre le dessin réflexif

Abstract

In Canada, the opportunity to study in French at the postsecondary level is offered to immersion and French-native students by a few universities. This article aims to explore what former students from immersion schools experience, as they decide to pursue their studies in French alongside with native Francophones, at the French campus of the University of Alberta, Campus Saint-Jean. This qualitative research is based on reflective drawings produced by 24 students and followed by explicative paper writing. Students’ representations are therefore put not only into words but also into images. This exploratory study suggests that immersion students share with their Francophone counterparts a mixed feeling, between love for French and frustration towards the linguistic difficulties they encounter at the university level. It also illustrates how the sociolinguistic and socio-educational diversity may be a source of both tension and mutual enrichment.