The report on proficiency in French at college, of which we are the authors, made public on March 10, elicited many reactions, and we are delighted that we are talking about it! However, some texts have ignored important passages of the report. We therefore wish to respond here to some erroneous ideas about it and to offer a synthesis.
Several texts mentioned, wrongly, that the report was silent on primary and secondary education, and even that it proposed that colleges play their role in the teaching of French. However, the report strongly emphasizes that the recommendations for college cannot be taken in isolation: they must be accompanied by a significant reinforcement of the teaching of French at the elementary and secondary levels.
A recommendation takes up those of the Ouellon report (“Better support for the development of writing skills”) to improve the initial and continuing training of French teachers in primary and secondary schools. Many recent Quebec studies have shown that the teaching of syntax, lexicon, grammatical spelling, etc., when it is linked to reading and writing, gives remarkable results on the writing of students.
The committee hopes that these practices will be generalized in the classes of Quebec, the teaching of the language being still rather traditional there, according to research.
Continue to college
In this context, the committee recommends continuing to teach the language at the college level. It should be understood that the written language is not limited to the spelling of words and agreements. The students’ difficulties concern rather the construction of grammatically correct and clear sentences, the use of prepositions, pronouns and connectors, as well as the meaning of words.
How to work the language in college? Some seemed to believe that this work would be done separately or in lieu of literature classes. However, the report is based expressly on the principle according to which the teaching of the functioning of the language “must be carried out in close relation with reading and writing” (p. 8). This supposes then to integrate a work on the language to the courses of literature, but also to the other courses.
The committee therefore recommends working on language in the context of writing, more specifically when students revise their texts, in all their courses. For this, it is of course necessary that the pupils have to write texts in all the disciplines and that the teachers are able to accompany them in the revision and the correction.
Digital skills being essential in the 21ste century, college education must contribute to developing them. Even if the students all have a computer, few know how to use the functions of word processing software or the dictionaries and grammars of software like Antidote. Various recommendations therefore aim to promote the use and mastery of digital writing tools.
Assess to improve language quality
It was mentioned that the report ignored language quality assessment in all courses. On the contrary, it makes explicit reference to institutional standards that require this assessment. However, the committee considers that language assessment cannot be limited to “losing points” for mistakes. Too often, students give up getting the “points” awarded for language. The committee proposes that a so-called formative evaluation, which aims to provide useful feedback for the improvement of one’s texts, become common practice in all courses.
With regard to the uniform French test at the end of studies, the committee is in favor of the text being written on a computer and, under certain conditions, with a corrector such as Antidote. What are these conditions? Recommendations on language teaching, on writing and revising texts as well as on mastering digital tools should be well implemented.
Let’s be clear: if a patch was used during the test, the requirements would have to be significantly raised to pass it. It would no longer be possible to succeed with 30 errors in 900 words: the acceptable number of errors would be significantly lower, but also much more realistic in terms of social and professional expectations.
Renew our commitment
The report invites all of Quebec society to renew, with energy and enthusiasm, its commitment to French. Six principles serve as the cornerstone of the 35 recommendations and allow them to be interpreted. According to these principles, language and culture go hand in hand, language being “a cultural object to be discovered and understood, as well as a vehicle of culture at the heart of social life”. The teaching of the language requires “the commitment of all teaching staff, at all levels of education and in all disciplines”, and its learning “continues in social and professional life”.
In short, by writing texts regularly in all their courses, by using their computers judiciously and by working on the language in relation to reading and writing, accompanied by their teachers, in particular when revising and correcting their texts, the students will be placed in a context ensuring the development of a better mastery of the written language.