Sistema de distribución predeterminada para mensajes de la AFTN

3.2.1 Survey

Data collection was conducted over the period of one month. The first step in the data collection process was gathering survey results. A Qualtrics survey was administered through the Registrar’s Office at an Ontario university to all Canadian-born

undergraduate students, with 751 students completing it. I designed the survey to elicit university students’ opinions of and experiences in an FSL program. I first sought to understand students’ background in FSL programs (e.g. French Immersion or Core French, to what grade they studied FSL, if they continued FSL in university), their perceptions of their own strengths and weakness (e.g., through questions based on the CEFR self-assessment grid), and their motivation to learn French. Students were asked to indicate the level of motivation they felt to learn each of the four skills in FSL, either “Very Motivated,” “Somewhat Motivated,” or “Not Motivated,” as well as why they felt motivated or unmotivated overall in FSL in order to understand which areas students feel

more or less motivated to study, and why. The questions were also designed to elicit students’ experiences with oral practice, why they believe they were successful (or not) at learning French, and, finally, if they believed they were sufficiently prepared for

university level French courses. The term “sufficiently” was intended to mean that students were comfortably confident in their ability to be successful in French studies at the university level though this definition was not provided to students before completing the survey.

Many survey questions were only made available to students who expressed that they completed French studies up until Grade 12, as I assumed their more extensive experience with French studies would allow them to provide more in-depth answers to those questions, for example, questions regarding the CEFR, why they did (not) feel motivated, sufficient preparation for university FSL, and successfulness in FSL by the end of Grade 12. A few survey questions intended for students who discontinued French studies after Grade 9 and before Grade 12 were also asked to answer the final research question on why students discontinue French studies and to gain more insight into the impact of a lack of oral practice in the FSL classroom.

The survey was a very useful way to gain insight into the (perceived)

successfulness of secondary school FSL education in Canada, with particular focus on Ontario. Given the many open-ended questions, students were able to explain their opinions. The survey responses were intended to flesh out the claims made by Lapkin et al. (2009); namely that students who completed Core French to Grade 12 did not feel able to carry on a conversation in French and students discontinued French studies due to feeling a lack of progress and that they did not have enough opportunities for oral

practice. Their research is frequently cited to point to the consequences of students’ weak oral competence, and I drew on it to support the rationale for this research project.

3.2.2 Interviews

The survey was also used to recruit participants for interviews, which was the second step in the data collection process. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed using pseudonyms at the consent of participants. Participants for the post-survey interviews included five university students whose responses fleshed out the information gained through the survey, adding additional qualitative explanations for both positive and negative experiences, particularly with regards to speaking practice in the FSL classroom during secondary school. The students were asked the same questions as were asked on the survey, but interviews were semi-structured to allow for more relaxed and in-depth conversation about the topics, as well as about TBLT.

The interviews were also intended as a venue to recruit student volunteers to participate in a TBLT lesson that I would administer by myself, and from which I would draw my observations; however, no students volunteered, therefore that portion of data collection was not completed. All student interview participants expressed an interest in participating and willingness to be contacted regarding their availability, but when contacted via email to arrange their participation in the lesson, no students responded. At that point, I had already received over 700 survey responses and successfully recruited interview participants. The surveys and the interview data proved strong enough to confidently answer the research questions, and I could still triangulate with the document analysis. Therefore, I dropped the observation component from my final design.

I also interviewed an Ontario university French professor to gather those stakeholders’ perceptions of students’ preparedness for university French courses and perceptions of the effectiveness of TBLT. In the interview, I also provided the professor with some anonymous survey data and asked her to provide her opinions and thoughts, particularly in relation to the 47.5% of students who expressed the view that speaking was their weakest skill by the end of their FSL studies.

3.2.3 Document Analysis

Document analysis was completed through the use of a first-year French course syllabus at the Ontario university from which participants were recruited,4 new and old Ontario FSL curriculum documents (MEO, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2013, 2014), the Council of Europe’s (2001) CEFR self-assessment grid,5

the OMLTA’s (2014) “Fact Sheets” regarding the revised FSL curriculum,6 and Piccardo’s (2014) research guide for

educators regarding the CEFR and action-oriented approaches, “From Communicative to Action-Oriented: A Research Pathway.”7 These documents were discussed at particular points within the literature review in Chapter 2, as well as throughout the literature review. They are also referred to in Chapter 4 to help buttress interview statements and draw contrasts and comparisons between what is expected in FSL programs and what students felt they actually experienced and achieved.