New French second-language program for N.B. 'a mistake,' says education professor

Language education professors in New Brunswick worry the program to replace French immersion in the next school year, revealed by the Higgs government earlier this month, will lead to diminished learning for all students in all subjects.

When the one-size-fits-all second-language plan is introduced in September 2023 to students entering kindergarten and Grade 1, every student will spend half of their day "in exploratory learning in French," according to Education Minister Bill Hogan.

Léo-James Lévesque, an education professor at St. Thomas University and a former French education supervisor for a Fredericton-area school district, said the move is "a mistake" that will take away choice and lead to worse learning outcomes for students.

"You're creating situations where you are going to be learning some aspects of the language, but you will not be learning the language per se."

He said models such as this have been tried, but after spending 50 per cent of the day learning about the French language, as opposed to learning concepts in French, students didn't have enough time to learn the required concepts in math and literacy.

"So it actually had negative impact on the learning of the students," Lévesque said. "Teachers will have 50 per cent less of the time to teach the curriculum … even if they try, they will not have sufficient time."

He said if officials had based their decision on research, this program "would not be recommended."

Lévesque points to the recent report from child and youth advocate Kelly Lamrock, raising the alarm about a 29 per cent decline in child literacy over the past 10 years.

'Not immersion'

While Hogan insists the new program is a "French immersion system that incorporates all of our students," Lévesque disagrees.

"It's not an immersion program," he said.

It may meet the 50 per cent threshold of immersion programs in elementary school, but Lévesque said in immersion, "major subject areas are taught in French" and students "learn how to speak, read and write in both official languages."

He said that is very different from "exploratory learning in French" in the new program. Under that model, students learn about French language and culture, rather than learning universal concepts in the language, something that does not produce a high level of proficiency Lévesque said.

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Lévesque compares it to a program called bain linguistique, or language bath, that was tried in Ottawa in the 1990s.

"It didn't work in producing higher results," he said. "The students enjoyed listening to French music. They were happy in that setting — but in actual fact, they didn't learn the language. So just because you're being entertained in a language will not get you learning that language."

A similar 50-50 program was also tried in the 1970s, and Lévesque said research shows 20 per cent of the students needed accommodation.

"They could not work at the pace that the program required … you still had to have streaming of some sort because those students were not able to function in that fast-pace environment."

More questions than answers

Paula Kristmanson, an education professor at the University of New Brunswick, and director of the Second Language Research Institute of Canada, has many questions about how the new "exploratory component" of the program will work and what training new teachers will need.

"We're really wondering what a teacher would be doing in that 50 per cent French block," she said. "It needs to be intentional and it needs to be thoughtful in order for learners to actually learn and use the language."

Kristmanson has requested a meeting with the education minister, and plans to sit down with Hogan and other officials in the new year.

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One of her biggest concerns is the reduction of instruction time in French from 50 per cent in elementary school, to 40 per cent in middle school.

"Which then, of course, would no longer be any kind of immersive program. Anything below 50 per cent is not considered immersion," Kristmanson said.

That begs the question of how students who want to reach proficiency levels beyond basic conversation will be able to achieve that.

We are going to be setting our students up to fail in many areas, not just in French second language but in other subject areas which we already are not performing as well as we want to.- Prof. Léo-James Lévesque

"Lots of people are going to want and need to have a higher proficiency level. So what is the pathway for secondary students to go beyond … Will they have the confidence and the proficiency and the motivation to continue on?"

With the reduction of time spent in French in middle school, Kristmanson also worries students who may want to take immersion courses in high school won't be prepared.

"If students haven't had any experience learning those academic subjects in French up to that point in time, those may not be possible at the high school level. So what exactly would we be able to imagine for our high school students who want to really improve and reach higher levels of proficiency?"

Choice taken away

For Lévesque, the new one-size-fits-all program takes away opportunity and access.

"It takes away the choice of anyone to become bilingual in the Anglophone school system," he said.

He said all New Brunswickers deserve the right to choose the language of instruction for their child, and the education system must protect that right.

"You may or may not agree with that choice, but that is not your right to decide that for somebody else."

Meanwhile, Hogan insists the new program is a "perfect combination" and still a French immersion program. He said the assertion that it isn't immersion is "one of the fallacies."

Lévesque is calling on the government to make changes to the program that will roll out in September, and quickly.

"The students will be the ones who are going to be paying the price for this," he said.

"We are going to be setting our students up to fail in many areas, not just in French second language but in other subject areas which we already are not performing as well as we want to."