Towards Inclusive Pedagogy: Including Students with Communicative Challenges and Special Education Needs in Ontario’s French as a Second Language Classrooms
Year: 2017
Type: other
Abstract: Ontario’s commitment to bilingualism is evidenced by its emphasis on mandatory French as a Second Language (FSL) education. The values of acceptance and inclusion of all students in the FSL classroom have not always been explicitly reflected in the FSL curriculum. In 2015, however, the Ministry released a policy document on integrating students with special education needs in FSL. In light of this, the purpose of this research is to discover the methods currently practised in FSL classrooms in order to address the various learning needs of students with communication, speech, or language learning challenges. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews with three French teachers in Ontario: two Core French teachers, and one French Immersion teacher. Findings from these interviews reveal a connection between second-language and special education teaching methodologies as used in different foreign language learning contexts. The teachers expressed concerns that the meaning of success in language learning as outlined in Ontario’s FSL curricula ought to be reassessed in order to enhance opportunities for success for students learning with special education needs. The implications of these findings suggest that a concentrated effort be made to aid FSL teachers in determining realistic and equitable goals for target language acquisition among students learning with communicative challenges.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Reshara Alviarez
Language: English
Subfield: Linguistics and Language
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2610501665