The report Mastery of French at college was filed over a year ago, but has only been made public these days. The findings there are undeniably distressing. “At the end of compulsory schooling, many young people show deficiencies in terms of basic skills, to such an extent that this lack affects their success in higher education. »
In fact, “54% of young people announce at the time of their admission to college that they will have a means or a great need for help in French (that is to say to “write without mistakes”) in order to succeed their studies “.
But that will hardly surprise anyone who has read the reports, studies and publications of all kinds that have been accumulating for years on the state of French in Quebec, and in particular in our educational establishments. We are constantly going from reports of failure to recommendations, leading to new reports of failure which give rise to new recommendations.
This time, the report on the mastery of French at college recommends “that the functioning of the language be explicitly taught at college and that its teaching be linked to the writing and reading of texts”, which, it was necessary to expecting it, is poorly received by teachers at this level, who think, with good reason, that this teaching should have been done for all students in primary and secondary school. Obviously, unfortunately, that was not the case.
We also ask that “digital writing become common practice at college in all disciplines and that teaching staff and students be supported in its implementation”, and that “technological tools to help with writing, revision and correction of texts are taught and integrated into college in all writing situations, as is the case in current socio-professional situations”.
This sad observation is added to that of a sharp increase in failures in the written French exam of 5e secondary — COVID and distance learning played a role here — and that of a deterioration of French among private students, who are usually less affected by the disease.
Worse still, perhaps: even prospective teachers today struggle with the language, as evidenced by the catastrophic failure rates on the uniform final exam they must pass.
We must remember the context in which what must be called dramas are unfolding: that of the decline of French in our country, a decline against which the school can play a crucial role, on condition of teaching the language well, of making people discover and love the beauty and magic of writing and the treasures of literature.
Based on these findings and recommendations, which have followed one another for half a century, I am not very optimistic about our ability to put measures in place to meet these challenges, even if the department of Higher Education ensures that French is a priority. As if to worry me even more, we were also told these days that the Department of Higher Education and the Department of Education are doing very poorly in terms of meeting deadlines, managing resources of the State, good practices and the achievement of the targets they set themselves.
If we were really serious, as we should be, we would do what we haven’t done for too long.
To begin with, specific objectives should be set, based on the best available evidence and specifying the ends to be achieved, which this data alone cannot prescribe. What does credible research say about the best ways to learn to read? On its impact on writing? On the use of technology in the classroom? For writing ? What precise curriculum do we recommend? How is it declined? And so on.
Then, it would be necessary to carry out a pre-experiment of what we recommend. This would be an opportunity to check whether what we plan to do holds up and to revise it if necessary.
Finally, the program should be implemented and carefully monitored throughout the school system (classes, schools, service centres, ministry), while ideally entrusting part of this validation to an independent third party. Christian Boyer and Steve Bissonnette’s “Rational Results-Based Management” (2021) describes this essential procedure well.
We have hardly done this and ideological disputes have continued to take a disproportionate place in our policies for learning to read, grammar and writing. We are paying the price today. It is huge for individuals and for the economy, of course, but also for the future of our language and our culture.
To act is a duty. Towards all of us, but also and above all towards the younger generations, whom we cannot deprive of the mastery of their written and spoken language, which is an essential tool for understanding the world, for being a full citizen, and which is also, must be remembered, one of the great sources of pleasure that life has in store for us.
Doctor of philosophy, doctor of education and columnist, Normand Baillargeon has written, directed or translated and edited more than seventy books.