Élissa Beaulieu
CCLB
Morgan Le Thiec
Université du Québec à Montréal, Consultant to CCLB
In 2002, the Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks (CCLB) set out to develop a French version of the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) (CIC 1996). This “working document,” Standards linguistiques canadiens 2002 (CIC and CCLB 2002), was revised in 2006 and renamed Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens 2006: français langue seconde pour adultes (NCLC) (CIC and CCLB 2006). Last revised in 2012, the NCLC are a national standard for developing tools, resources, and training in French as a second language (FSL) in minority settings (CIC and CCLB 2012).
The goal of this chapter is to present several major initiatives based on the NCLC, designed for contexts where French is a minority language. First, we provide a brief overview of those particular contexts, and the specific needs this environment creates for stakeholders involved with FSL programs for adult immigrants. Next, we present a number of recent and ongoing projects divided into four categories: 1) immigrant placement and certification, 2) tools and resources for immigrants’ language training, 3) support for instructors and other stakeholders involved with immigrant integration, and 4) FSL for the workplace. Following this project overview, we detail some of the challenges and opportunities identified by the CCLB French team and suggest some possible avenues for action in the years ahead.
Having two official languages in Canada means that in all regions English and French speakers shall have access to public services in the language of their choice. Section 34 of the Official Languages Act (Government of Canada 1988)1 states that English and French are the languages of work in all federal institutions. Section 39 ensures equal opportunities for English-speaking and French-speaking Canadians for employment and advancement in federal institutions. Section 41 states that the government of Canada is committed to fostering the use of both English and French in Canadian society. Thus, services shall be provided to the public in a minority language where there is deemed to be a clear need. Those rules apply to Crown corporations and federal departments, to some provincial services offered according to provincial policies in force, and to educational services in elementary and secondary schools in regions where there is an acknowledged need, some of which are designated bilingual regions. In Ontario, for example, these include Ottawa, various towns in the county of Glengarry, Prescott, and Russell in the east, and the counties of Algoma, Sudbury, and Nipissing in the north.
However, official recognition of the French language and of Francophone language rights doesn’t solve everything. In fact, access to services in French largely depends on having a sufficient concentration of French speakers living in a given area. And French is still very much a minority language in Canada: just over a million native French speakers reside outside of Quebec. Moreover, a certain number among this population no longer uses French in their daily lives. Furthermore, French-speaking minorities are spread across a vast territory in communities that vary widely in size from one region to another, and that in some cases are highly dispersed (Corbeil 2014).
This is the context in which language services are created and developed. Adult immigrants who wish to learn one of the two official languages within the framework of the CLB/NCLC must choose either English or French. They cannot do both. This fact affects registration on the French side because adult immigrants opt for programs that will help them integrate into Canadian society as quickly as possible. English, the majority language, is therefore largely favoured. The motivation to learn French must come from elsewhere:
• Participation in community life in a Francophone environment where, among other things, immigrants can register their children in French schools, study in French, and take advantage of available French-language services.
• Professional prospects associated with federal services that promote bilingualism.
• Professional environments where a strong command of French as a second official language is an asset or a path to promotion.
• A good understanding of the linguistic environment in which, unlike French, English can be learned outside the classroom because it is the dominant language of daily life.
For an FSL program for adult immigrants to succeed, many criteria must be met. First, language services must take into account the minority context in which the language is used, so they can offer realistic and rewarding learning opportunities. Second, those services must aim at a twofold objective—to enable adult immigrants to live and work in French if they so wish, and strengthen French-speaking minority communities by helping them integrate immigrants. We elaborate on those imperatives in the next section of this chapter.
In 2007, the CCLB published the results of a study on how FSL stakeholders felt about the use of the NCLC 2006. The goal of this study, titled Perceptions des intervenants en français langue seconde sur l’utilisation des NCLC 2006 (Dancose and Ricard 2007), was to explore how the NCLC 2006 performed with regard to two main functions of education standards, as identified by the German Ministry of Education and Research (2004):
• to provide stakeholders in charge of instruction (managers and teachers) with specific benchmarks to help guide their decisions and practices, based on a common language and a shared understanding of the learning progression.
• to provide a framework for assessing learner outcomes and giving constructive feedback, for both trainers and trainees.
In order to carry out the study, five focus groups were tasked with discussing the following points: intervention practices and programs, the needs of learners and stakeholders, the level of interest in adopting the NCLC, and steps for implementing the NCLC. The results allowed researchers to pinpoint the needs of FSL stakeholders and possible applications for the NCLC. They helped as well to identify the necessary steps for successfully implementing the NCLC framework.
Among others, this research highlighted the difficulty of transferring a learner from one institution to another because programs were not standardized. Furthermore, the lack of accurate assessment tools also prevented stakeholders from effectively measuring learners’ progress, guiding them to appropriate training, or even assessing their FSL skills for purposes of employment. Lastly, the stakeholders showed a concern about determining which language-teaching model was most appropriate in an environment where French was a minority language.
In terms of possible NCLC applications, the participants of the study agreed on several points:
• To use the NCLC as a national standard. This would ensure that skill levels were comparable across all provinces. A learner trained in Manitoba who has achieved NCLC level 5 should be capable to perform the same language tasks as someone trained to the same NCLC level in New Brunswick. That way, language learners could move from one province to another and have their NCLC level recognized when joining a new language training program.
• To standardize language training programs. The standardization would make migration easier for a population that is often mobile in the first few years in Canada, and would also facilitate program evaluations and exchanges between stakeholders.
• To meet the needs of adult learners. The descriptors in the NCLC would allow learners to determine where they were on the learning continuum, based on clearly identified language tasks and communicative requirements anchored in real-life situations relevant to them.
• To strengthen the link between NCLC-based language training and job search. Reinforcing this link would help learners better meet the requirements for the occupation or profession they sought.
Several projects were developed in response to the 2007 study. At the present time, some of them are completed, while others are still underway. In general, they were designed to support FSL stakeholders (learners, instructors, program managers, vocational training providers, and others) by standardizing content and practices. The projects also dovetail with efforts by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to meet quality assurance requirements in the educational field, which is a cornerstone of effective training (Harvey 2008, OCDE 2015).
The past and current projects (tests, language programs, instructor training, and tools specifically intended for workplace or other particular needs) that we will detail in the following section aim at benefiting all FSL stakeholders and at promoting integration.
The grouping of the projects listed in this section highlights both their diversity and their common elements. We distinguish four categories of projects: 1) immigrant placement and certification, 2) tools and resources for language training for immigrants, 3) support for instructors and other stakeholders involved with immigrant integration, and 4) FSL for the workplace.
Batterie de tests de classement (BTC-NCLC)
One of the means to standardize teaching is the development of placement and performance tests. The first of these tools, the BTCNCLC, was created in 2009. It is a placement test that assesses a learner’s language skills in four areas: writing, reading, speaking, and listening at NCLC levels 1 to 8. The test is used to place candidates in a language training program in an appropriate class. The BTC-NCLC was updated in 2015. The original test was three hours and fifteen minutes long. It satisfactorily assessed the language skills of the learner, but took too long to administer. At the request of IRCC, the CCLB created a shorter version of the test that also took into account the 2012 NCLC updates. This version was designed so as not to undermine the validity of the original test. Standardization efforts then continued with the creation of a high-stakes test that would legitimize completing an NCLC level.
Batterie de tests de rendement (BTR-NCLC)
In 2012, CIC (now IRCC) tasked the CCLB with creating a standardized FSL performance test. The BTR-NCLC was modelled on the NCLC placement test (BTC), described in the previous section. Based on levels 3 to 9 of the NCLC, the test can be used in high-stakes situations (for official recognition of a skill level, certification, and so on).
The CCLB’s task was to:
• Establish common components for the BTC-NCLC and the BTR-NCLC
• Ensure that these components matched the new 2012 standards
• Develop tasks meeting the requirements of a high-stakes test. For example, it was necessary to create enough equivalent tasks to have various versions of the test
Like the BTC-NCLC, the BTR assesses four language skills. Listening and reading are evaluated through multiple-choice questions associated with videos and written texts. The writing section is made up of four written tasks that progress from easy to difficult. Speaking is tested in a one-on-one interview that lasts roughly twelve minutes. The tasks become more and more difficult as the test progresses. Two equivalent versions of the test were created to ensure its usability. This way, a learner who has to retake the test will be presented with another version.
CLIC en ligne
Immigrant learners more often than not lead demanding lives and must balance work, or work search, with family responsibilities. To study can be challenging. In French-speaking minority communities, particularly those located far from major urban centres, it is hence important to provide the learner with favourable learning conditions. Online training resources meet this goal.
The CLIC en ligne project (Cours de langue pour les immigrants au Canada) is an online immigrant language training initiative funded by the Ontario region of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), now IRCC. The project was initially developed by the Conseil des écoles publiques de l’est de l’Ontario, then by the CCLB. The Centre franco-ontarien de ressources pédagogiques was in charge of developing the online platform for the course. The CLIC en ligne is an asynchronous course. It has activities for listening, reading, and writing. Speaking skills are developed during online classes through weekly individual one-on-one sessions with an instructor. The activities reflect the requirements of NCLC levels 3 to 7 (Le Thiec 2013).
The learner is assigned ten themed units. The themes selected for the project were family, relationships and leisure activities, housing, travel and transportation, consumption, services, health, citizenship, education, employment, and Canada. These themes are relevant to all immigrants but have been adapted to meet the needs of FSL learners in minority settings. For instance, it was important to help students identify French-language immigrant-support services in Ontario.
To summarize, the CLIC en ligne project was required to cater to the specific needs of learners. The asynchronous training model was chosen to encourage learners to pursue their learning. Alternating between self-directed learning and interaction with an instructor has proven to be a successful and motivating format.
Portfolio-Based Language Assessment (PBLA)
In their technical reports to the CIC, Makosky (2008) and Nagy and Stewart (2009) drew attention to the fact that the assessment in the NCLC-related programs was neither systematic nor standardized. Those reports underscored the need for the federal government to implement a more authentic language-assessment protocol developed by instructors in federal language training programs. The project stemming out of these recommendations was the Portfolio-Based Language Assessment (PBLA).
PBLA is a collaborative approach that engages the instructor and the learner throughout the teaching/learning process. Together, they set language-learning goals, compile numerous examples of language performance and learning in a variety of contexts over time, analyse these examples, and review progress. The examples of completed language tasks show the learner’s progress and areas for improvement. Compiling meaningful tasks during the learning process encourages FSL students to become more autonomous, active, and self-aware, and to take responsibility for their learning. The PBLA facilitates the acquisition of metacognitive strategies and skills that learners can put into practice in other learning contexts. The portfolio is a written document that defines, demonstrates, and compiles an individual’s learning outcomes with respect to an objective (Legendre 2005, 1059).
The portfolio presents itself as a binder given to each new student to support their language learning and facilitate their settlement in Canada. The binder for French students is called Mon Portfolio NCLC. It was translated and adapted from the English binder, The Language Companion. There are three versions of Mon Portfolio NCLC: FSL literacy, NCLC 1–4, and NCLC 5–8. The language level for each version of the portfolio is adjusted according to the language abilities of each category of learners (literacy, beginner, intermediate).
Portfolios may be used for diverse purposes and to meet various objectives (Scallon 2004). Mon Portfolio NCLC is used as an assessment tool and for learning. Portfolios may also be used to help each student become aware of their learning, to maintain the focus on what they have already mastered and what they still have to learn, to develop strategies to fill in the learning gaps, and to set learning goals (Scallon 2004, 305). In addition to supporting the learners as they use their portfolios, instructors can also use the portfolio to review their teaching methods: Are they effective, or are new strategies needed to help students progress further?
In a minority environment, the portfolio is a particularly valuable tool, because it helps the learner find language resources for living in French. It is the link between the learners’ needs, their personal language learning, and the French-speaking community they would like to get to know. The portfolio includes a list of websites for Francophone community organizations in each Canadian province where adults are taught with the NCLC. It also contains space for the learner to add information about their province’s geography, government, transportation options, and more.
Literacy levels
Certain adult immigrants who wish to take FSL classes may, for various reasons, need to develop their literacy skills as well. Some of them may come from oral cultures or from places that do not use the Roman alphabet, while others may have had little or no schooling before their arrival in Canada.
Regular FSL classes do not meet the particular needs of this population, so specific courses need to be created. Using the CLB document ESL for Adult Literacy Learners (CIC and CCLB 2014a) as a reference, the CCLB French team undertook the development of an FSL literacy document that accounts for the Francophone minority context (CIC and CCLB 2014b).
Portfolio-Based Language Assessment (PBLA) training
To train instructors to use the PBLA is a vital step in implementing the portfolio and ensuring standardized practices. To this end, an online training tool was designed and delivered using a train-the-trainer model. The first users of the tool were instructors designated as champions of PBLA. They were selected on the basis of their previous training and experience. These champion instructors received twenty hours of distance training. Once the course completed, they became a resource and the instructors for their co-workers. In sum, PBLA training relies on teamwork and revolves around projects, readings, and themed discussions.
PBLA training does more than prepare instructors to use the portfolio. It also builds the capacity of teachers so they can work independently and meet the requirements for standardized language services and reporting. To meet this goal, the training involves a review of more general educational concepts and provides useful guidelines for teaching with the NCLC, such as principles for needs analysis or for task-based assessment. Since portfolio use is mandatory in NCLC-related programs, it is important as well to provide instructors with the resources necessary to understand its usefulness and challenges.
One of the major goals of PBLA training is to raise teachers’ awareness of the particularity of minority contexts and of the importance to cater to the specific learners’ language needs. As an assessment tool, the PBLA does not set out a series of specific tasks, but rather focuses on principles that encourage instructors to create tasks similar to those that learners will perform in their daily lives. Indeed, some language tasks are not relevant in French minority contexts; for instance, grocery shopping, job search, or many other commercial services. The important thing, as with any NCLC tool, is than to adapt the teaching content to meet the learners’ needs, depending on the French-language situation in their particular community.
Curriculum Guidelines for the Ontario
Non-Credit Adult Language Training Program
The Curriculum Guidelines for the Ontario Non-Credit Adult Language Training Program project was funded in 2014 by the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship, Immigration and International Trade (MCIIT). The project has been developed as an interactive portal that includes:
• A report on the founding principles of non-credit adult language training
• An online planning tool in both official languages intended for ESL and FSL stakeholders
The online planning tool is called Quartz in reference to Ontario’s official mineral, amethyst. The project was created by two teams, each representing one of the official languages: the Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks and the Toronto Catholic District School Board. Drawing from the NCLC and CLB, studies and surveys on ESL/FSL teaching in Canada and worldwide, and the situation of French and English in Ontario, the two teams prepared a document that listed eight founding principles for FSL:
• Principle 1: FSL programs are focused on the learner
• Principle 2: FSL programs are developed according to specific stakeholders’ needs
• Principle 3: FSL programs apply the principles of the communicative approach
• Principle 4: The learning objectives are explicit
• Principle 5: Assessment is used to verify that learning objectives are reached and to provide course information
• Principle 6: Teaching FSL relies on recognized and shared skills
•Principle 7: Managing FSL programs facilitates course access and guidance for learners
•Principle 8: FSL programs are accountable to the community
Quartz was designed to make it easier to apply these principles and standardize practices. It supports course planning, from the most general information (course title, skills covered, course schedule, and so on) to the most specific (language content targeted, teaching sequence, and so on). It helps instructors plan the teaching and the assessment.
This tool offers a traditional three-level course structure: course, unit, and lesson. A course is made up of a series of units, each consisting of a group of lessons. An instructor may plan a course, unit, or lesson, and all those planning levels are interlinked. This means that information selected on the course level is maintained throughout the planning process and allows data to be filtered. The interactive planning allows teachers and program administrators to choose content proposed in Quartz or add their own information, such as:
• Course, unit, and lesson titles
• Needs (things learners do as part of their daily lives)
• Themes and subthemes
• Real-life tasks (communicative tasks that learners accomplish as part of their daily lives)
• Skills that need to be developed in order to accomplish real-life tasks
• Language content (grammar, vocabulary, and so on)
• Skill-building activities, e.g., traditional activities that target a particular aspect of language related to real life tasks
• Assessment activities that allow learners to demonstrate their ability to complete a task in authentic settings (users can choose or create an assessment format that suits their needs)
The planning tool generates a document that can be printed as well as saved. It compiles all the selected or added information.
Quartz also offers a catalogue of resources, so instructors can read about various topics (needs analysis, task-based teaching, task-based assessment, and more) or use documents made available to them for teaching, including samples of needs analysis forms, assessment forms, or even complete units.
FSL instructors who use the NCLC, unlike those on the English side, do not currently have the benefit of accredited training, which is a big drawback of the NCLC-related programs, since such training is vital to professionalize the instructor’s role and to standardize teaching and assessment practices. Although it cannot compensate for this gap, Quartz does provide a training framework, as well as many resources and application examples that account for the particularities of FSL teaching in minority settings. For example, a resource database was created with authentic tasks in French minority contexts. These tasks are categorized according to relevant topics and the needs of the FSL learners integrating into their French-speaking community, such as:
• understanding the history of French-speaking minorities and participating in Francophone cultural life
• understanding language rights and defending the right to live in French
• knowing and using services in French
Those themes were completed with a list of resources for French-speaking minorities in Canada, including media, French-language services, and online historical resources.
To conclude, the main contribution of Quartz lies in the fact that it supports standardizing practices in the NCLC teaching community, where instructors sometimes work far from large urban centres and their attendant pedagogical resources, and where teacher training can vary widely from one instructor to another.
Training workshops for instructors
In addition to training based on the PBLA and the Curriculum Guidelines for the Ontario Non-Credit Adult Language Training Program project, instructors also receive classroom training on various subjects, such as the NCLC, task-based teaching, or assessments using the NCLC.
The combination of these different training methods favours a long-term learning process aimed at strengthening the FSL community of practice. It gives both new and experienced instructors, as well as program managers, considerable flexibility in terms of their professional development. It makes it possible to train the stakeholders rapidly, and facilitates regular review of the guidelines for NCLC-based teaching.
Workplace Language Assessment (WLA) pre-screening tool
Many professions in Canada require a language proficiency level of NCLC 6, 7, or even 8. Bridge-to-work programs expect immigrants who have studied French outside Canada to have a minimum NCLC level 6 if they are to fully benefit from those programs. To this end, the CCLB developed a tool to assess whether or not an internationally educated person has attained a minimum of a NCLC level 6.
The WLA is a pre-screening tool, not a language test. It helps instructors advise and guide immigrants educated outside of Canada who aim at preparing for postsecondary entrance exams, pursuing postsecondary studies, taking part in bridge-to-work programs, finding a job, or passing a language test.
The WLA was first created in 2007 for English speakers. An adapted version was developed in 2015 for FSL. It evaluates candidates’ reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. As part of the test, the internationally educated person fills out a form, which includes a reading and writing activity. Then they have an interview with a counsellor. The test is simple and quick: it takes about thirty minutes to complete. The content was developed to meet the requirements for the NCLC 6 level.
In addition to the language ability assessment, the WLA was created to help new immigrants understand Canadian workplace language requirements, which vary depending on the occupation.
Training for WLA is available online so that all job counsellors can access it, whether they are in urban centres or in remote areas.
Can Do checklists
In 2013, at the request of MCIIT, the Can Do checklists (based on the twelve benchmarks and four skills) were updated. The checklists are intended for learners and instructors alike. They describe learners’ performance, level by level, in clear, simple language. For instance, for reading, the learner may be able to “compare information in one or more texts.” An example of this skill would be: “I can read a simple description of two elementary schools and decide where I should register my child.”
In 2015, based on these lists, the Can Do for Workplace, aiming at NCLC levels 4 to 10, were developed and adapted for three different groups: immigrants, employers, and employment counsellors. The checklists provide insight – from the point of view of the immigrant, the employer, and the job counsellor – into what an immigrant is capable to do employment-wise in terms of his or her language skills. Immigrants can use these lists to get a better idea of what they can and can’t do in terms of the language requirements of the job they seek. Employers can use the lists to assess the language requirements of the job and the NCLC level required to fill it. Employment counsellors can better advise immigrants by making a link between their NCLC current level and their professional goals.
Standardizing official-language teaching and assessment for adult immigrants in Canada, as well as quality assurance in this domain, are long-term undertakings. Since the first version of the French benchmarks in 2002, an impressive amount of work has been accomplished toward those goals: the standard was revised twice, and a common theoretical framework was developed for both French and English. In the same vein, a large array of tools and resources were recently proposed for learners, teachers, and other FSL stakeholders. Some of them are detailed in this chapter and others can be found on the dedicated website: www.language.ca. In conclusion, we would like to outline some major challenges and opportunities for FSL adult immigrant training in Canada, as perceived by the CCLB French team. Our discussion revolves around four themes: 1) improving access to information and French-language resources, 2) developing content adapted to the French minorities’ settings, 3) seeking adequate FSL teacher training, and 4) building a coherent community of practice.
First, according to a 2012 Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages report, bilingual resources are extensive, but often hard to access. French-language resources and services clearly face visibility challenges in a minority context dominated by English. That is why it is important to compile and categorize them on regular basis and pass this information on to the instructors, so they can use it effectively in their classrooms. Some of this work was done recently through tools such as the PBLA or the Trousse de soutien en Français langue seconde (CCLB 2013), but this line of work must continue, since this information and resources quickly become outdated.
Second, it is essential to create content adapted to the minority contexts, where French is not used in all aspects of daily life. It is important to remain pragmatic and realistic about language use in order to provide real-life solutions for instructors and learners. To propose truly authentic language tasks is an ongoing struggle while developing tools for those teaching, learning, and assessment environments.
Third, to standardize teaching methodology in French as a minority language classrooms remains challenging. Teacher training is the cornerstone of a unified vision of instruction. For example, instructors in the CLB network receive accredited training, which helps a lot in standardizing teacher practices. The NCLC network has no equivalent program. FSL instructors receive extensive training, but there is no official certification. Such accreditation could potentially increase teacher retention rates for this highly fluctuating workforce.
Finally, the CLB community of practice is well known across Canada as having a distinctive “Benchmarks culture.” The NCLC practitioners struggle to create such a community. Many factors contribute to this situation: lack of official accreditation, high turnover rate, small numbers of instructors and teaching institutions as compared to the CLB network, as well as their dispersal throughout Canada. This situation urgently calls for action. Accredited training would certainly foster a stronger dynamic in favour of standardization and quality assurance. At the very least, a competency profile for FSL instructors should be drawn up. Such a profile would help funding agencies manage training needs and provide training program managers with hiring guidelines. It would also help instructors plan their professional development. A learning portfolio based on the competency profile would enable instructors to set clear professional-development goals and develop the kind of reflective approach to their practice widely advocated since Schön’s work (1983), and which they could share on occasion with their NCLC work team or trainers. Creating virtual and in-classroom professional learning communities (PLC) could be an interesting path to follow from a reflective practitioner perspective. A PLC is defined as a group of teachers who meet to examine in depth the processes of learning and teaching in order to improve their professional practices (Kristmanson et al. 2008, 43). Given the small number of instructors, it would surely be feasible to create links of this kind between institutions and provinces. PLC could help instructors improve their practice by sharing ideas and working collaboratively, and it would also promote a Francophone community of practice for NCLC nationwide. The community of practice would serve the interests of FSL instructors working with adult immigrants, and strengthen their status and role in maintaining and developing the Canadian Francophonie.
In conclusion of this chapter it is important to underline that these various tools and resources have been created to standardize practices across Canada. We must continue in this direction, but also work on more visibility for the French scale and on the recognition of its contribution to the Francophone minorities. In the years to come, it will also be important to create projects that will allow us to better characterize the teaching of French in a minority settings. A study of communication tasks in authentic French-minority contexts is a priority. We see the twentieth anniversary of the Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks as an occasion to bring forward a positive outlook on the work accomplished and to look with ambition into the future.
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1 Complete information on the Official Languages Act is available on the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages website: http://www.ocol-clo.gc.ca/fr/droits_linguistiques/act.