Arnott, Stephanie., & Callie Mady. (2013).

Obstacles and Opportunities

for Literacy Teaching: A Case Study of Primary Core French in
Ontario. Language and Literacy Volume 15, Issue 2.

Annotation
This journal looks at literacy development in core French classes.
This journal investigates the literacy teaching practices of one primary
core French teacher in Ontario. Through her activities and strategies
she demonstrates a potential for literacy principles to be embedded in
core French classes. What is important about this study is that overall
academic success is higher in students who learn literacy skills.
Reflection
Firstly, I was unaware that 85% of students learning FSL are
learning it in core French classes around the country. I could have
guessed that there would be differences in the core French program
across Canada but I was certainly unaware that little has changed for
the last 20 years. This journal also alludes to the fact that there are
limited professional development sessions related to language
maintenance and methodological training thus making teaching core
French an isolated subject to teach for teachers and therefore
increasing the chances of French teachers to leave the profession for
good. As I have learned in the recent past, learning a second language
is always best when speaking is put forth before anything else. Learn

how to speak it first and deal with the writing part afterwards.
Therefore I find it quite interesting that studies suggest that
pedagogical orientation of core French classrooms is more analytical
than communicative and that teacher-centered, drill type activities are
dominating the class. Perhaps the idea of student-centered activities is
more progressive over the last few years and less so 20 years ago thus
explaining the results.
Studies suggest that teaching literacy skills has been neglected
in L2 (language 2) and FL (foreign language) teaching and curriculum
design. Research suggests that L2 and FL students with prior formal
learning bring a wealth of literacy-related knowledge to the
environment. Linguistic skills and training in L1/L2/FL promote literacy
skills, which in turn improve a students overall academic success. So
how do teachers promote literacy skills? The journal observed the
focus teacher as she outlined and demonstrated numerous lesson
plans and activities. The results showed that it was in fact possible to
incorporate literacy training in core French but what made the focus
teacher successful was her previous experience and teaching English
(L1). It also suggests that core French teachers would highly benefit
from receiving professional development training on how to
incorporate literacy practices in their classrooms.