LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE AND STUDENTS’ IDENTITIES IN ENGLISH
context? How do these high school students perceive themselves? Do they consider themselves Anglophones, members of the Francophone majority group, individuals with a bilingual identity? How does the school contribute to these identity choices? Our discussion is based on an ongoing qualitative study of the life trajectories of 20 students enrolled in two English minority language high schools in rural Québec. The empirical study is based on a series of in-depth individual interviews with these students.
Members of their family, their friends, as well as their teachers are also interviewed in the context of the 3-year study, allowing for a better understanding of the students lived experiences with language, culture and identity in the school setting. So far results show that, in the students’ discourse, identity represents a complex entity. Furthermore, students live in two linguistic worlds, where the school plays an important role in one of them functioning as an agent of linguistic (re)production.
2.The context
Anglophones in Québec represent one of the two official linguistic minorities in Canada. The other minority is the Francophones that are scattered across the Canadian provinces and territories.
According to the 2011 Census, the Anglophone population of Québec is 1,058,250 (13.5% of the total population). This number is based on the first official language spoken data, which is derived successively from questions about knowledge of official languages, mother tongue and language spoken at home most often.The province has close to 400 public schools which have English as their language of instruction, and they are under the administration of nine English-speaking school boards. According to the 2011 Census data, about 80% of Anglophones in Québec live in the Montreal area (Statistics Canada 2011; Corbeil et al., 2010; Gérin-Lajoie, 2011). The situation outside of Montreal is very different;
Anglophones represent a very small proportion of the general population in these regions. Services and resources in English are difficult to find; the number of exogamous couples (one Anglophone and one Francophone), is higher; and linguistic transfers from English to French are more frequent. This is the context in which the participants in our study live.
Since the enactment of the Charter of the French Language in 1977 (better known as Bill 101), the Québec English minority language school system has gone through significant changes. The English minority language schools in Québec are not open to everyone anymore. According to the Québec Ministry of Education, Sports and Leisure (2010), referring to the Québec Charter of the French Language, children in the following three categories may be enrolled in English minority language schools: 1) children who are permanent residents of Québec and who qualify for a certificate of eligibility for instruction in English; 2) children who are permanent residents of Québec and who are entitled to receive instruction in English under a special authorization; 3) children who are living in Québec temporarily and who qualify for a temporary authorization to receive instruction in English. The certificate of eligibility referred to in the Ministry’s statement is generally delivered to children who (a) received most of their elementary or secondary instruction in English in Canada; (b) or whose brother or sister received most of his or her elementary instruction in English in Canada; (c) or whose father or mother received most of his or her elementary instruction in English in Canada; (d) or whose father or mother attended school in Quebec after August 26, 1977, and could have been declared eligible for instruction in English on that date. In the first two cases, the child’s father or mother must be a Canadian citizen. In the third case, the child’s father or mother must be a Canadian citizen unless he or she was educated in Quebec. The MELS (2010) goes on to state that the certificate of eligibility for instruction in English is permanent. When a child is declared eligible for instruction in English, his or her brothers and sisters may also be declared eligible.
Declining student enrolment, school closures, and a more diverse student population (immigrant as well as Francophone) are some of the problems, to name but a few. For example, the number of students has decreased significantly overtime and according to the Québec Ministry of Education, Sports and Leisure and the Ministry of Higher Learning, Research and Technology (2011), there were 110,154 students enrolled in English minority language schools in the province of Québec in the school year 2009-2010, compared to 272,000 in 1971-1972.On December 3, 2013 the Québec English School Board Association reported on its website that the total number of students was now 105,000.
The Government of Quebec’s 1992 Task Force on English-Language Education in Quebec–or the Chambers Report named after the chairwoman of the task force on English minority language education–painted an alarming portrait of English minority language education in Quebec. This report, and the task force that produced it, have played a key role in English minority education in Quebec. The report insisted on the importance of the schools contributing to the vitality of the Anglophone community, especially in regions of Québec other than Montréal. However, no other government document refers to this fact, which is an intriguing finding. Contrary to the French minority language schools outside Quebec, in particular those in Ontario, which have an explicit, official mandate to safeguard the French
language and culture, the Quebec government has not conferred this mandate on Quebec’s English minority language schools (Gérin-Lajoie, 2003). In practical terms though, the English minority language schools located outside of Montréal do act as safeguards of the English minority language in those communities.
3.The study
The objective of the study (2013-2016) is to examine closely, from a sociological lens, the process of identity construction in our participants. The conceptual framework is based on a sociological understanding of the notion of identity, where it is perceived as a dynamic process, never fixed in time, as well as a very complex one (Gérin-Lajoie, 2011; Hall, 2006; Woodward, 2002). The study is designed using a postmodern understanding of the notion of identity, where this concept is not understood as essentialist, but is rather viewed as an evolving phenomenon. Starting from the point of view that identity is not automatically inscribed at birth, but rather is the result of a social construction, the objectives of the study are: 1) to better understand how adolescents in English speaking schools in Quebec outside of the Montreal area make sense of their identity, and how they define themselves as individuals belonging to a particular linguistic group; 2) to analyze the paths that lead them to these choices; and3) to compare the discourse of the Anglophone youth living outside of Montreal with the one held by the adolescents from the Montreal area, as well as the discourse of Francophone youth in Ontario. The comparison will be based on results from two previous programs of research funded by SSHRC (Gérin-Lajoie, 2003, 2011), as well as on existing studies on Anglophones (Pilote, Magnan and Groff, 2011), and on Francophones outside of Québec (Gérin-Pilote, 2006; Dallaire, 2003; Breton, 1994). In the context of this paper, only the first objective, that of how the youth perceived their own identity, will be discussed in order to more clearly understand its significance for this particular group of young people. The notion of multilingual identities (mostly bilingual, as will be seen in the presentation of the results) is at the core of our analysis.
The study is mostly qualitative. It uses in-depth interviews with a small group of selected youth (a total of 20 participants, as well as semi-structured interviews with the members of their family, their friends and their teachers. We are in the second year of the ongoing study. During the last year group discussions with the selected youth will be performed in each school. First, a brief survey questionnaire on the youth’s linguistic practices was administered in order to: 1) gather demographic and linguistic information from adolescents enrolled in two Anglophone schools located in two Anglophone school boards in Quebec, outside of Montreal; and, most importantly, 2) select 20 participants for the qualitative component of the study, which consists of conducting several in-depth interviews and semi-structured interviews with the selected participants, members of their family, friends and teachers. In Year 1 of the study the first slice of the youth's life trajectory was about their childhood within their family and their life in school. In Year 2 of the study we have discussed the youth’s sense of identity and belonging as well as friendships. Semi-structured group interviews took place with the members of their family to discuss language practices within the family, the notion of identity, language and culture. Individual semi-structured interviews were also conducted with their teachers. Next year, we plan to meet the participants with their friends and discuss linguistic practices, identity and sense of belonging. Finally, we intend to have group discussions in each school with the respective students to reflect on the research process and their experience as participants.
Participants are students aged 14 or 15 enrolled in Secondary 3 (Grade 9) in two English minority language schools located in two different school boards outside of the Montreal area. The first one is located north of Montreal and the second one in central Québec. Those schools are small with less than 500 students in each. The 20 participants for the life trajectories component were selected based on the following criteria: at least 10 students coming from families where at least one of the parents has English as mother tongue; a selection of families from the province of Quebec, from Canada and from outside of Canada; with at least one sibling; an equal number of male and female students.
4. A few results
The majority of our 20 participants have told us that they have a bilingual linguistic identity.
Most of them live in an Anglophone environment at school and in French at home. A small number use a third language at home. As a result, students from the two schools live in two worlds (sometimes three) at once and cross linguistic borders regularly. For a majority of our participants, to declare a bilingual linguistic identity means that they are going to an English minority language school, as expressed by a few of them:
“I would say that I am mostly Francophone. Because I speak a lot of French with everyone. And English, like, I speak English some, like, let's say, to talk to you, with my teachers. But outside of that we usually talk a lot in French” (John, Central Québec School).
“I'm bilingual, yes I love English, but sometimes I'll be more inclined to being Francophone. I'm really Quebecoise. I love Canada and I love the English language but Quebec is my home”
(Clara, North of Montréal School).
Others, who claim an Anglophone linguistic identity, base it mostly on the type of activities they pursue:
“I think I am more Anglophone, because usually, I like speaking French, because it’s my first language and everything, but I like other things in English like movies, like American movies are better in English, American shows are better than, like, French shows and like the expressions in English are better to make than expressions in French” (Mark, Central Québec School).
In this quote, Mark acknowledges his French mother tongue, but declares being more comfortable in English. Claiming a specific form of linguistic identity remains an individual choice and does not mean the same thing for everyone. For example, in the present study the results show that in their process of identity construction each participant is influenced differently and, as a result, position themselves differently. Their discourse shows the complexity of their rapport to language and identity.
This complexity was already noticed in previous studies. Linguistic minority groups, like other minorities, are not homogeneous groupings. Factors such as race, gender, social class and geographical space shape a community. For those reasons individuals do not always feel that they belong to a single group (Lamarre, 2007). Anglophones who live outside of Montreal might have more in common with Francophones outside of Québec than with Anglophones from Montreal (Gérin-Lajoie, 2011, 2014).
Access to English resources and services is more of a challenge outside of Montreal.
As stated previously, outside of the school (and the home for some participants), linguistic practices take place in French. In the public sphere these students have few opportunities to use the English minority language. The role of the school in the maintenance of the English minority language is then viewed as essential in this social context. As explained by Breton (1968), for linguistic minority groups the role played by the school in social, linguistic and cultural reproduction, and the potential influence of the school on the identity construction of students become important considerations. This is especially true in the absence of institutional completeness, i.e. when the school is the only institution, or one of very few institutions available to the minority group, like in the case of the school population of the present study.
Our participants see their schools as safe places, where teachers care about them and where their friends are mostly found. Some of the participants have been with the same students since their first day in school as they have always been in the English minority language school system. Our participants describe their schools in the following ways:
“the teachers are awesome. All of the secondary teachers are awesome.” (Carl)
“I feel that is funny, because in other schools there is a lot more people in elementary and secondary and they change every class, almost every year they change class, so me I like it better, ‘cause I know my friends and I like ... There is a group of friends”. (Thierry)
“Well, here, there is no bullying, like, everybody gets along. The teachers are nice. Sometimes there are students that aren't very good. So, teachers are like more tough with them, sort of. But, in general they are nice. So, almost every student doesn't like to fool around. So, it always goes well in class”. (Luis)
“Well, the school is pretty much like, pretty much a big family, because it's such a small school.
So, I know pretty much everybody's name in the school”. (David)
“I like the school, 'cause it's small, so you, like, everybody knows each other and... like, there's...
not ... much bullying, I haven't, like, a little bit, but, I mean, I try to watch out for those persons and like, help them there, but, they don't get bullied that much”. (Melanie)
This feeling of being part of a family is not specific to these participants. The same sense of security and being friends with the students have been documented in previous studies (Gérin-Lajoie, 2011, 2003). The fact that teachers have known the students since day one contributes to this feeling of being a whole individual and not a number, as it is often the case in large linguistic majority school settings. For the youth, their school is important in their lives, not so much because they learn in the minority language, but because they like the social environment of learning.
5. Concluding remarks
The late sociologist Roger Bernard (1998) talked about the specific notion of bilingual identity in the Francophone communities outside of Quebec in those terms:
“The scope of the phenomenon demonstrates that a dual linguistic status is taking shape—one that is no longer a marginal reality. This dual linguistic status is a characteristic of Ontario’s Francophone community. This is not community dualism; it is a new form of individual bilingualism and biculturalism that is developing within Canada’s Francophone community”.
(Translated from French) (p. 82)
Today the reality described by Bernard applies beyond Francophones living outside of Quebec.
Our emerging analysis demonstrates that different forms of linguistic identity are also very much alive in the discourse of our Quebec’s English minority language participants. In their discourse on identity, language is prevalent and there is a focus on ability to communicate in one or more languages. However, in discussing language issues, they also reflect on identity and a sense of belonging, especially when they discuss their school life. Language remains central to an individual’s identity. It influences the ways in which one develops a rapport to identity.
Clearly the lines between languages are increasingly difficult to draw in linguistic minority settings, and it is impossible, of course, to ignore the influence of the linguistic majority on the minority group. This influence often puts pressure on the minority group in its efforts to keep its language and culture alive. This is certainly the case for Francophones living outside of Quebec, for whom the English language and culture are omnipresent (Gérin-Lajoie, 2003). This is also true for members of the Anglophone minority living outside of the Montreal area. French majority language and culture have a significant impact on their lives, which manifests itself in different ways, when we compare this situation to the situation of other linguistic minorities in the world. English is still the language of globalization after all. Through the emerging life trajectories of our participants it is a fact that linguistic and cultural border-crossing is commonplace.
As for the role of the school in these minority settings, it is obvious that they are instrumental in keeping the English minority language alive, even though these communities have gone through significant changes since the middle of the 1960s, especially with the enactment of Bill 101 in 1977.
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