Assessing Language Proficiency of FSL Teacher Candidates: What Makes a Successful Candidate?

Abstract

Candidates applying to the FSL teaching option at the Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa have to take tests of both their oral and written French skills as part of the entrance requirements, resulting in a low pass rate. This study examines the background factors which may be related to the development of their French proficiency in order to try to determine what makes a candidate successful on the test. Of the 63 candidates who participated, an almost equal number were successful (N = 33) and unsuccessful (N = 30), making it possible to do a variety of analyses regarding any differences in background factors between the two groups. Several factors were uncovered which appear to influence performance. The implications of the findings are discussed as well as the broader issues of what constitutes a valid French proficiency level for teachers and how to ensure that future candidates can meet that level.

An International Comparison of Socially Constructed Language Learning Motivation and Beliefs

“…In combination, these findings suggest that Canadian students are less motivated than the French and Japanese students by the desire to learn a foreign language to identify with the foreign language community, its speakers, its literature, and its cultural artifacts. Given that researchers working with Gardner and Lambert's model of integrative and instrumental motivation have consistently associated stronger integrative motivation with greater success in foreign language learning in a variety of contexts (Dörnyei, 2001; Zhou, 1999), this could be a contributing factor in the persistent lack of success noted in Canada in addressing the needs of second language learners, be they English speakers learning a foreign language in K–12, tertiary, or adult educational settings (Bayliss & Vignola, 2000; Lambert, 1990; Pendakur & Pendakur, 1998), or immigrants (Derwing, DeCorby, Ichikawa, & Jamieson, 1999; Watt & Roessingh, 1994, 2001) and Aboriginal people learning standard English as a second language/dialect (ESL/D) in the mainstream school system (Kouritzin, 1999; Piquemal, 2001).…”

Standards for the Language Competence of French Immersion Teachers: Is There a Danger of Erosion?

“…We chose these universities purposefully to represent a broad spectrum of geographical regions in Canada. We obtained additional information about admission requirements at these universities from websites and a research article (Bayliss & Vignola, 2000).…”

Heterogeneity and aSociolinguistics of Multilingualism: Reconfiguring French Language Pedagogy

“…This being the case, many of researchers in FLP have centralized their focus around effective practices and communication skills development for FSL teacher education in relation to developing varied conceptualizations of competency, proficiency, and accuracy (e.g. Turnbull 2001, 2006; Bayliss and Vignola 2000, 2007; Vielleux and Bournot‐Trites 2005; Lapkin et al. 2006; Salvatori 2009; Salvatori and MacFarlane 2009).…”

“…While many studies have attempted to measure students’ motivation and language proficiency and have focused on increasing achievement and retention in FSL (e.g. Bayliss and Vignola 2000; Karsenti et al. 2008; Lapkin et al.…”