Sixth International Conference on Immersion and Dual Language Education: Connecting Research and Practice Across Contexts

Paper/Best Practice Session (1 hour)

French/English

One-Way Second/Foreign Language Immersion

Elementary (K-5)
Middle School/Junior High
High School
Post-Secondary

A study on the attitudes of French immersion teachers toward local Louisiana French varieties was conducted using a Matched Guise study. Results suggest slightly negative views but an important lack of knowledge about Louisiana French and Creole among teachers. Discussion and recommendations about possible ways forward will close the paper. 

 

In the past, schools and teachers played a large role in the decline of French in Louisiana and the fostering of negative attitudes towards the local varieties of French.  In fact, a slogan of the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL) was L’école a détruit le français, l’école doit le restaurer (School destroyed French, school must restore it).  Immersion schools are often viewed as playing a key role in whatever the future holds for  French in Louisiana; therefore, the attitudes of those providing instruction in the immersion program with regard to different varieties of French, especially the Louisiana vernaculars, is an important issue.

 

To gather data on attitudes, research was collected in two distinct quantitative phases with participants working as French immersion teachers within the State of Lousiana.  During the first phase, ninety-two educators completed a subjective reaction Matched Guise test by listening to and evaluating five different varieties of French (Louisiana French, Louisiana Creole, Quebecois French, Acadian French of New Brunswick, and International French).  Participants completed three sections of the Matched Guise test: possible personality adjectives, social affinities questions, and profession prestige score.  During the second phase, ninety-one participants completed a background and attitudes questionnaire. The main findings suggest that participants in general gave higher scores to the non-Louisiana varieties on the Matched Guise test.  It has also been found that the teachers, who are almost entirely foreigners brought in from Francophone countries and not native Louisianans, know very little about Louisiana French varieties but are open to the integration of Louisiana French and Louisiana Creole into the immersion curriculum.  This presentation will end with researchers sharing their thoughts on how the attitudinal data can be transferred to program administration, curriculum organization, and teacher professional development.