La Formation du professeur d’immersion française au Canada: Une conception philosophique et pédagogique en devenir ou à la recherche d’une troisième voie

Abstract

The field of French immersion teacher training is in search of its own definition. The teacher is caught between old and new second- and first-language teaching approaches. None seem to satisfy his queries because French immersion is a unique Canadian phenomenon that needs its own self-analysis. To have a better grasp of the phenomenon, it is necessary to know better who the young English-speaking learner is and what motivational factors made his parents choose this “new form of education,” an education that surpasses the learning of French to embrace the total education of the child. It is only after a better insight of what characterises immersion that we can better understand the training of French immersion teachers and propose, as we try to do, a “third way” that differs from French second-language and first-language teaching. This third way contains a description of the principal components which should be part of the French immersion training program.