Language Arts & Disciplines Study & Teaching
Immersion at University Level
Rethinking Policies, approaches and implementations
- Publisher
- University of Ottawa Press
- Initial publish date
- Feb 2020
- Category
- Study & Teaching
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eBook
- ISBN
- 9780776628769
- Publish Date
- Feb 2020
- List Price
- $29.99
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9780776628745
- Publish Date
- Feb 2020
- List Price
- $39.95
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Description
L’immersion française est née dans les années 1960 dans une école primaire en banlieue de Montréal afin de répondre aux besoins des enfants anglophones appelés à vivre dans le nouveau contexte francophone du Québec.
Si elle s’est rapidement répandue dans les établissements primaires et secondaires du Canada, elle demeure, aujourd’hui encore, pratiquement inexistante au niveau universitaire. Pourtant, Graham Fraser, le Commissaire aux langues officielles, porte-parole fédéral en matière de promotion et de protection des droits linguistiques, a maintes fois recommandé que l’offre d’immersion se poursuive au niveau postsecondaire.
Le présent ouvrage fait écho à cette recommandation; en effet, le titre de cet ouvrage fait allusion au caractère éminemment politique de tout aménagement linguistique, en particulier dans un contexte bilingue ou plurilingue.
La préface de Graham Fraser situe le concept d’immersion dans une perspective historique des débats linguistiques au Canada. L’ouvrage fait état des politiques linguistiques et des programmes d’immersion française dans les établissements universitaires en recensant les dispositifs des universités canadiennes et, plus spécifiquement, ceux de l’Université d’Ottawa.
Un cadre de référence pour les établissements universitaires canadiens et étrangers.
Ce livre est publié en anglais.
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French immersion came to life in a primary school in the suburbs of Montreal in the 1960s. This was done to meet the needs of anglophone children who had to live in the new francophone context in Québec.
While immersion spread rapidly in primary and secondary institutions in Canada, it remains, to this day, almost inexistant at the university level. However, Graham Fraser, the Commissioner of Official Languages – the federal spokesperson with regards to the promotion and protection of linguistic rights – recommended on multiple occasions that immersion continue at the post-secondary level.
This volume revisits this recommendation; indeed, the title of this book alludes to the highly political nature of any linguistic accommodation, especially in a bilingual or plurilingual context.
The preface by Graham Fraser places the concept of immersion in a historical perspective within the linguistic debates in Canada. The book presents linguistic policies and French immersion programs in higher education institutions through identification of the arrangements in Canadian universities, and more specifically those at the University of Ottawa.
This is a frame of reference for higher education institutions in Canada and abroad.
This book is published in English.
About the authors
Hélène Knoerr is Associate Professor at the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute at the University of Ottawa.
Alysse Weinberg is Associate Professor at the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute at the University of Ottawa.
Excerpt: Immersion at University Level: Rethinking Policies, approaches and implementations (edited by Hélène Knoerr & Alysse Weinberg)
‘’French immersion first appeared in a primary school in suburban Montreal in the 1960s. While it spread rapidly to the primary and secondary schools, it is today still practically nonexistent at the university level, in spite of regular recommendations from the former Commissioner of Official Languages, a federal spokesman for the promotion of Canada’s two official languages and the protection of linguistic rights.
The title of this book is not innocuous. The word “policies” explains the eminently political nature of language planning, especially in a bilingual or multilingual environment. “Approaches” refer to the development and the “implementations” of such decisions to teaching and learning methods.
Our aim is not only to think but to rethink all these dimensions: based on the Canadian experience of the Régime d’immersion en français at the University of Ottawa, what are the best practices to successfully implement an immersion program and structure — It is hoped that this book will serve as the reference framework for immersion in higher education institutions around the world.’’
