uOttawa French Immersion Students' Linguistic Identities: The Duality of their Positionings

Authors

  • Jessica Durepos University of Ottawa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18192/olbiwp.v9i0.2320

Abstract

An important yet still relatively under researched area of research in immersion studies includes post-secondary immersion research and is increasingly warranted in order to better understand the student experiences of these student. The participants of this case study find themselves in a pivotal life moment as they are transitioning from the K-12 immersion education system to a bilingual post-secondary institution. During this transition, the study examines how Régime d'immersion en français students at the University of Ottawa position themselves and are positioned (Davies & Harré, 1990) towards Francophone language and culture. This study reports on the experiences of three first-year undergraduate students of the Régime d'immersion en français in regards to their linguistic identities. Do they consider themselves as Bilingual, Multilingual, Francophone, Francophile, Anglophone, or Other? Moreover, do their Francophone peers legitimize or challenge these self-ascribed positionings? The study exposes the factors which influenced the linguistic positioning of the participants and comments on patterns in the factors which affected their linguistic identity in particular.

Résumé

Un domaine de recherche important, mais encore relativement sous-étudié pour la recherche en immersion concerne la recherche sur l'immersion universitaire. Encore plus, il y a peu de recherche qui étudie les expériences de ces étudiants en immersion universitaire. Les participants de cette étude de cas se retrouvent dans une période turbulente de leur vie, alors qu'ils passent du système d'enseignement en immersion de la maternelle à la 12e année à un établissement d'enseignement postsecondaire bilingue. Durant cette transition, l'étude examine comment les étudiants du Régime d'immersion en français de l'Université d'Ottawa se positionnent et sont positionnés (Davies et Harré, 1990) vers la langue et la culture francophones. Cette étude met le point de mire sur les expériences d'apprentissage de trois étudiantes de première année du premier cycle du Régime d'immersion en français avec accent particulier sur leur identité linguistique. Se considèrent-elles comme bilingues, multilingues, francophones, francophiles, anglophones ou autres? De plus, leurs pairs francophones légitiment-ils ou contestent-ils ces positionnements autoproclamés? L'étude expose les facteurs qui ont influencé le positionnement linguistique des participantes et explore ces facteurs qui ont particulièrement influencé leurs identités linguistiques.

Author Biography

Jessica Durepos, University of Ottawa

Jessica is an alumni graduate of the University of Ottawa, recently finishing her master’s degree in Second Language Education at the Faculty of Education and is also a graduate of the DLS program, holding a Bachelor’s of Arts in Second Language Teaching.

Her thesis research focused on first-year undergraduate French immersion students’ linguistic identities as they transitioned to post-secondary education at the University of Ottawa. Her research interests include student experience of UOttawa students in the RIF, bilingual teaching and learning in Canada as well as post-secondary education and student retention.  In the past several years, Jessica has also assisted in various research projects focusing on second language learners at the University of Ottawa with Dr. Jérémie Séror, Dr. Marie-Josée Hamel, Dr. Sylvie Lamoureux, Dr. Douglas Fleming, Dr. Françis Bangou.

Since 2013, she has been teaching as a part-time language instructor with the Official Language and Bilingualism Institute of the University of Ottawa, primarily in the intensive language programs of the English Intensive Program and the West China Professional Development Program as well as holding the position of acting coordinator for the Summer University for FSL/FLS teachers in 2015.

During the 2016-2017, she completed a contract with the Student Academic Success Services’ (SASS) Academic Support Unit as a Learning Consultant. For the 2017-2018 acamdemic year she is teaching French as second language in Kindergarten in Ottawa. 

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Published

2018-06-22

Issue

Vol. 9 (2018): University-level immersion environments in Canada

Section

Articles

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