Description
This paper is an initial exploration of decolonising discourses and practices in the less explored context of French language education. Whilst many decolonisation theories have been rooted in issues related to the hegemony of the English language (e.g. Macedo, 2019; Heller and McElhinny, 2017), this talk addresses a lesser-known area of decolonization scholarship by considering the context of French language education across national settings (see also Bouamer and Bourdeau, 2022). Historically, France has been a strong colonial power and its influence is still very much present in the global-north and the global-south, as it is evidenced by its hold on the Francophonie network and its high status in the francophone world. In this talk, we take the example of two French language educational contexts: 1) French heritage language education in Scotland and more specifically FLAM (Français Language Maternelle / French as a Mother Tongue) schools for French and English bilingual children living in Scotland; and 2) French schools in Canada (outwith Quebec), which are open to French nationals. For this talk, we investigate the (de)colonising discourses and practices visible on the websites of a sample of these schools, which are the most outward facing image that these schools can project. We focus on the extent in which French language education in these schools is associated to France, its national curriculum, and ‘standard French’. A Multimodal Analysis of these websites enables us to identify whether these schools’ websites are opening-up spaces that support the teaching and learning of more locally relevant Frenches. Ultimately, we argue that French Language Education can move fluidly between and beyond a France-centric epistemology and a Global-centric perspective, inviting us to continue exploring the decolonisation of French Language Education in ways that defy clear dichotomies.| Period | 6 Sept 2024 |
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| Held at | The 57th Annual Conference of the British Association of Applied Linguistics, United Kingdom |
| Degree of Recognition | International |