UNIVERSITI KEBANGSAAN

MALAYSIA

NO ESL IN ENGLISH SCHOOLS: LANGUAGE POLICY

IN QUEBEC AND IMPLICATIONS FOR TESL
TEACHER EDUCATION

NAME : CARYN LIM JIA YING (GP05636)

WOON WERN LIE (GP 05741)
CHOO GUI CHAN (GP05639)
LECTURER : ASSOC. PROF. DR. PARILAH M. SHAH
PROGRAMME : GGGE 6413
(LANGUAGE POLICY AND PLANNING)
QUEBEC- A LANGUAGE PRISON
INTRODUCTION
QUEBEC HAS A LANGUAGE POLICE AND THEY
ARE GOING AFTER GRILLED CHEESE
SUMMARY
Research Participants

Students (Novice teachers)

B.Ed. TESL program at McGill University

in Montreal, Quebec
QUESTIONNAIRE REFLECTION

Consequences of low English language and

language proficiency 5 culture in Quebec

Ambivalent or hostile
Aspects
Motivating ESL
attitudes toward
students
English
Use of English in the
ESL classroom
 2 Official Languages

English French
 Allophones
Speak neither
French or English
as first language
Aboriginal
Speak indigenous
Anglophones languages
Speak English as
first language
 REASONS
Quiet New criteria of
School boards admissibility to
organized by Revolution English public
religious affiliation • More secular and school (Bill 101)
more French • Purpose: make French
• Catholics → education the commonly used
French language of Quebec
• Separation of • Lost the right to enroll
Quebec their children in
• Protestant → English school
English • More than 90% of
• Create French- Quebec school
speakers using children enrolled in
newly arrived French-language
immigrants (young school
children)
 Limiting access to
English-medium
B education
A
C
K Majority of the
G ESL teachers are
R not native
O speakers
U
N
Status of
D English in
schools is
insignificant
 ESL
TEACHERS

English French
↓ ↓
Teaching Communicating

Issues
Perceive ESL Resistance of
instruction as a English language
threat to the Wary the influence of teaching in
mastery of French Anglophone culture Francophones’
first language on Quebec culture school
STRENGTH
 ASPECT: COMMUNITY POLICY

1. PROMOTE AND ENHANCE THE

USE OF FRENCH, A DOMINANT
LANGUAGE
For almost two centuries, clerics, writers and journalists have said
repeatedly that preserving the French language was the
only possible safeguard for the survival of the Québécois
nation

The Quebecois nation love their

province, try wholeheartedly to protect
this unique identity of Quebec
1. SUPPORTING QUOTES FROM THE JOURNAL

PG492,
(line 7-11)

PG492,
(line 29-36)
 3

PG49,
Third
paragraph

PG493,
(line 24-33)
 “PROMOTE AND ENHANCE THE USE OF
FRENCH, A DOMINANT LANGUAGE”
5

Adapted from http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/quebec-language-policy/

 ASPECT: COMMUNITY POLICY

2. CULTIVATE STRONG CULTURAL

IDENTITY (SENSE OF BELONGING)

Adapted from http://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/bs43058 ,

Laws and Language in Québec The principles and means of Québec's language policy
Adapted from https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/official-language-policies-of-
canadian-provinces-rev.pdf
 ASPECT: PERSONNEL POLICY

3. The Policy is successful in making the

Québécois Nation to respect their country policy.
The value of respect lies beyond them
PG501
(first
paragraph of
this aspect)
 P499
(line 11-18)
 ASPECT: MATERIAL POLICY
4. FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE
USAGE OF FRENCH AND ENGLISH

PG499 (line 19-30)

 ASPECT: CURRICULUM POLICY
5. THE POLICY MAKER SHOULD TAKE
INTO CONSIDERATION OF CULTURAL
ASPECT IN B.ED(TESL) PROGRAMME

PG494, third paragraph

 ASPECT: EVALUATION POLICY

6. FINDING FROM DIFFERENT

SOURCES- QUESTIONAIRE
AND IN-HOUSE HANDBOOK

PG496
(line 06-12)

DIFFERENT
PERSPECTIVES
WEAKNESS
Education Policy
• Curriculum Policy
• Personnel Policy
• Materials Policy
• Community Policy
• Evaluation Policy
Education Policy
• Curriculum Policy
• Personnel Policy
• Materials Policy
• Community Policy
• Evaluation Policy
 Curriculum Policy

pg. 492

Language programmes in the

English and French are not parallel.
 pg. 493

Time allocation for English is too

limited.
Time allocation for KSSR
Time allocation for KSSR
Time allocation for KSSR
English instruction medium

pg. 498
Personnel Policy
Teachers who are trained in language pedagogy &
reasonably fluent in the targeted language

pg. 496
English teachers in Malaysia

Quality of the
PRO-ELT
English teachers
Materials Policy

pg. 501

What is lacking?
Community Policy
The status of French vs English

pg. 490

limited access to English

Community Policy
Who can attend an English school?
These children can go to an English school:
1) children with a right under law to attend an English school
2) children with serious learning difficulties who are given
special permission
3) children facing a serious family or humanitarian situation
who are given special permission
4) children in Quebec temporarily
To attend an English kindergarten, elementary school, high school or
vocational training centre in Quebec, students must fit into one of the
categories explained in this article. They must also file an application.
There are no restrictions on who can attend an English adult education centre,
CEGEP or university in Quebec.
Who can attend an English school?
These children can go to an English school:
1) children with a right under law to attend an English school
2) children with serious learning difficulties who are given
special permission
3) children facing a serious family or humanitarian situation
who are given special permission
4) children in Quebec temporarily
To attend an English kindergarten, elementary school, high school or
vocational training centre in Quebec, students must fit into one of the
categories explained in this article. They must also file an application.
There are no restrictions on who can attend an English adult education centre,
CEGEP or university in Quebec.
Parental Demand

French vs English
Religious
affiliation

Strong
cultural
pg. 492
Evaluation Policy
B.Ed. TESL Programme

The
proficiency
test is not
strong
enough

pg. 497
pg. 499
 Evaluation Policy
• Secondary students had to pass ministerial examinations

• The marks that students earn in school during the year are taken into account

when compiling the final mark.

• However, the results on the ministerial examinations have continued to carry

more weight, to ensure that the value of the Secondary School Diploma (SSD) is

recognized by institutions of higher learning (universities and CEGEPs, for

example) and by employers.

 The ministerial examinations
also known as uniform examinations within the education

system, are written by teachers and education consultants from

both the French and English sectors. In other words, many people

contribute annually to the development of examinations

coordinated by the Ministère.

• Responsibility for preparing secondary school leaving

examinations is shared by the educational institutions and the

Ministère.

• Each year, the Ministère chooses a certain number of subjects for

which it prepares ministerial examinations. Evaluation of student

performance in the other subjects is the responsibility of the

schools.
CONCLUSION
 CONCLUSION
• The label “ESL” may not be the adequate
classification for the teaching of English in the
predominantly francophone milieu.

• Resistance to the ESL in Quebec may be more

political or cultural in terms of interfering with the
development of French literacy among their students.

Reframe the way teachers, students and society

understand ESL teaching in Quebec