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This literature review explores the integration experiences of francophone newcomer students in anglophone provinces in Canada. It outlines scholarly findings regarding factors that impact the integration of newcomer students into French public-school systems in predominantly English provinces. We identified two themes related to the integration of francophone newcomer students, including (1) school integration experiences, and (2) out-of-school integration experiences. With respect to school integration, three sub-themes were developed: (a) educational and cultural gaps, (b) language diversity, plurilingualism, and identity, and (c) multiple marginalization of newcomers. Some of the factors that were found to affect integration include: differences between pre- and post-immigration educational contexts, English language proficiency, and (mis)recognition of the diversity within the francophone population. Following the review, gaps in the literature are identified, avenues for future research are proposed, and implications for school psychology are discussed.

Literacy in a first language or in additional languages involves a set of complex cognitive, social, and linguistic skills that develop over time. However, pedagogical materials for low-proficiency English as an additional language (EAL) learners tend to target low-level literacy skills only, such as responding to fact-based questions. Materials that target the development of high-level literacy skills, such as integrating information and reasoning based on inferencing, with these learners are rare, despite these skills being necessary in today's multimodal, technological world. In this article, we argue there is a need to develop high-level literacy skills with low-proficiency EAL learners which, ultimately, are not language-specific. Drawing on theories of additional language learning and task-based language teaching, we created a multi-day literacy task for low-proficiency learners consisting of various activities. For each activity, we provide examples of the materials with which the students worked and examples of authentic student work, which we obtained through a piloting phase.

Over the past several decades, teachers have been increasingly challenged with a greater diversity of learning profiles within their classrooms. Historically, within Ontario, Canada, students who did not learn effectively through traditional methods were labelled and separated into alternate learning environments. Legislation and policy transformation have resulted in greater inclusion and stigma reduction. Changes to formal and informal identification processes have also increased the number of students accessing special education services. This conceptual paper examines the challenges arising from students' changing learning needs, with a specific focus on the French classroom. Issues related to the Individual Education Plan, the formal identification processes, and the inconsistency inherent to special education terminology and teachers' preparation concerning differentiated learning and resources in special education are explored. Further, employing Katz and colleagues' (Hymel & Katz, 2019; Katz, 2013; Katz & Sokal, 2016) three-block model of universal design for an inclusive classroom as a framework, a case study from a French-language secondary school in Ontario, Canada, is examined to determine systemic gaps that need to be addressed to achieve the goal of fully inclusive classrooms that promote successful learning experiences for all students.

Spoken word recognition depends on variations in fine-grained phonetics as listeners decode speech. However, many models of second language (L2) speech perception focus on units such as isolated syllables, and not on words. In two eye-tracking experiments, we investigated how fine-grained phonetic details (i.e. duration of nasalization on contrastive and coarticulatory nasalized vowels in Canadian French) influenced spoken word recognition in an L2, as compared to a group of native (L1) listeners. Results from L2 listeners (English-native speakers) indicated that fine-grained phonetics impacted the recognition of words, i.e. they were able to use nasalization duration variability in a way similar to L1-French listeners, providing evidence that lexical representations can be highly specified in an L2. Specifically, L2 listeners were able to distinguish minimal word pairs (differentiated by the presence of phonological vowel nasalization in French) and were able to use variability in a way approximating L1-French listeners. Furthermore, the robustness of the French "nasal vowel" category in L2 listeners depended on age of exposure. Early bilinguals displayed greater sensitivity to some ambiguity in the stimuli than late bilinguals, suggesting that early bilinguals had greater sensitivity to small variations in the signal and thus better knowledge of the phonetic cue associated with phonological vowel nasalization in French, similarly to L1 listeners.

This paper presents a methodology for directly aligning 'can do' frameworks to each other. The methodology, inspired by the manual for relating examinations to the "Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment" (CEFR) (Council of Europe, 2009) and Kane's (2004, 2013) interpretative argument, takes account of both the horizontal dimension (content analysis) and the vertical dimension (benchmarking with Multifaceted Rasch Modelling -- MFRM). The paper exemplifies the application of the methodology by introducing the research conducted to align the "Canadian Language Benchmarks" (CLB)/"Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens" (NCLC) to the CEFR, presenting the resulting alignment, and discussing the rationale for the choices made.

Recent theories of historical consciousness focus on the role narration plays in contemporary people's attempts to give meaning to the past and orient their practical life as citizens. This article examines the need for probing students' historical ideas and for developing narrative competence as a way to engage them critically in contested memories of the collective past so as to expand their historical consciousness beyond memory and cultural traditions. Relying on a narrative approach, this study surveyed 635 French Canadian students from different regions of Canada. Canada, a multicultural state made up of nations-within (French, English, Indigenous), represents an interesting case for studying young citizens' representations of the collective past in a highly diversified society. This study offers new results on how these learners think about national history in the 21st century, and it discusses the implications for the development of narrative competence as a way to bridge the divide between the "cultural curriculum" and "historical thinking." We argue that history educators need to take more seriously students' narrative ideas if they truly want to have a lasting impact on their historical learning.

The objective was to assess the psychometric properties of a French-Canadian version of the third edition of the Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD-3). Participants were 127 French-speaking Canadian children. Results supported the validity-reliability of a bifactor exploratory structural equation modeling representation of the TGMD-3. Additionally, results supported a lack of differential item functioning as a function of age, body mass index (BMI), physical activity/sport practice (PA/SP), and sex. Finally, latent mean differences showed that: (a) older children score lower on specific skills and higher on the global motor skills factor than younger children; (b) children with a higher BMI score lower on locomotor skills than children with a lower BMI; (c) children with higher weekly frequency of PA/SP score higher on the global motor skills factor than children with a lower weekly frequency of PA/SP; and (d) boys score higher on ball skills and lower locomotor skills than girls.

The purpose of this study is to explore the psychometric properties of the French version of the Student Engagement Instrument in order to perform a cross-cultural validation of its factorial structure, based on a sample of 919 French Canadian high school students. Results confirm the reliability of the instrument with good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha between 0.76 and 0.84). Confirmatory factor analysis shows the validity of the six scales composing the French version of the instrument. Results are significant as there were no standardized instruments with which to evaluate student engagement in high school students in French. Student engagement represents an important intervention target towards improving student achievement and preventing dropout.

The impetus for the present study came from Ferris' (2010) article discussing the gap between theory, research, and practice in written corrective feedback (WCF). To address this gap, the present study aimed at comparing the impact of focused vs. comprehensive WCF and revision on the improvement of written accuracy of learners of English as a second language (ESL), with a focus on their global linguistic errors (sentence and word); the study also examined how this improvement contributed to the students' writing quality, defined in terms of clarity of expression and text comprehensibility. Data was collected from 78 intermediate French ESL learners randomly assigned to four different treatment groups: two groups received focused WCF and two groups comprehensive WCF; one of the focused and one of the comprehensive groups were required to revise their writing and the other two groups did no revision after WCF. A comparison was made between the error means of the four groups on three out of seven essays they wrote during a 15-week writing course: week one (T1), week eight (T2) and week 14 (T3). The results revealed that the focused groups were more successful than the comprehensive ones in reducing their words errors at T2; no significant effect was observed for revision. Also, the focused-revision group outperformed the other groups at both T2 and T3 in reducing their sentence errors. The comprehensive-revision, however, group was more successful than the other groups in improving their overall written accuracy. The results also showed that the focused-revision group made more improvement than the other three groups in their writing quality at T3.

This article presents the results of a study that analyses students' historical narratives of the nation in relation to historical consciousness and how their sense of self-identification with groups affects their narrative structure and orientation. This study was conducted with French Canadian students registered in two high schools (n = 58) and one university (n = 18) in Ottawa, the federal capital of Canada. I found that a strong sense of identification leads young people to construct more engaging and militant stories of the collective past, with greater historical appropriation (using the collective "we") and a sense of continuity with past actualities. I then discuss the implications of this study for research on the narrative competence of historical consciousness and what history education might do in school to promote historical consciousness in Canada.

This paper investigates the interrelationships among organizational learning (OL) facilitators, OL itself, and three organizational outcomes: employee intention to leave the organization, absenteeism, and perceived organizational performance. It also investigates how OL mediates the relationship between OL facilitators and organizational outcomes. 145 employees (113 women) working in a French-Canadian community hospital completed a survey covering all the studied variables. Bootstrap regression analyses were used to test various hypotheses. Results support the idea that environmental components (culture, leadership, support, and strategic management of learning) can facilitate OL. They also show that OL mediates the relationships between certain of its facilitators and employee intention to leave the organization as well as perceived organizational performance. The research supports the view that it is possible to reduce employee turnover intentions and foster performance in a healthcare context by establishing an environment conducive of OL.

This study explores how music training impacts the development of inhibition control, phonological processing, and gross and fine motor skills in preschoolers. In a randomized controlled trial, 160 kindergarteners in a music programme, a motor programme, or a control group were examined. Children in the two experimental conditions took part in 19 weekly 40-minute sessions. At pretest and post-test, inhibition control and phonological processing were measured with two subtests from the NEPSY-II. Gross and fine motricity were assessed with the BOT-2 Short Form. Post-test results showed that children in the music condition improved significantly on automatic response inhibition. Phonological processing skills did not differ significantly between the two experimental conditions, but the music condition produced significant improvements over control. These findings corroborate previous evidence that music training contributes substantially to develop executive function and phonological awareness in preschoolers.

This phenomenological study focused on single-parent, low-income francophone mothers' relationships with the educational and cultural achievement of their children attending French-speaking schools in Anglo-dominant settings in New Brunswick (Canada). We conducted individual (N = 8) semi-structured interviews to solicit information about the participants' lived world through their articulated voices and experiences. Qualitative data were analyzed using Giorgi's descriptive phenomenological approach. Four themes emerged: parenting and financial difficulties; mother's level of education and their involvement in their children's education; relationship with their children's school; and parental role in enhancing language acquisition and building cultural identity. Findings revealed that single-parent, low-income francophone mothers need help with parenting skills as they pertain to improving their children's education achievements. We concluded that the New Brunswick government needs to (a) respect its mandate to ensure that the education system teaches and provides opportunities for building a francophone identity, and (b) respect its pledge to make certain that every child arrives at kindergarten ready to learn, particularly to single-parent women living in poverty, who have limited financial resources.

This study aims to understand how preservice programs prepare future teachers to use ICT to develop students' information literacy skills. A survey was conducted from January 2014 through May 2014 with 413 future teachers in four French Canadian universities. In the spring of 2015, qualitative data were also collected from 48 students in their final year of an initial teacher training program. Our findings suggest that although future teachers receive formal ICT training as part of their program, information literacy is not formally addressed. Nevertheless, information literacy is perceived to be an important skill. In addition to a lack of formal training, future teachers perceive that barriers such as time constraints and lack of access to necessary technologies in the classroom will prevent them from helping students develop information literacy skills. Based on these results, we propose some practical implications and recommendations for preservice programs and education policy makers.

For many decades, Francophone regions in Canada have provided language study exchanges for French as a second language (FSL) learners within their own country. At the same time, FSL students and teachers in Canada continue to orient to a native speaker standard associated with European French. This Eurocentric orientation manifested itself in a recent study examining conceptions of authentic language among Canadian FSL teachers on professional study abroad in France. Taking an interactional perspective (De Fina & Georgakopoulou, 2012), this article examines how the teachers negotiated discourses of language subordination (Lippi-Green, 1997) that construct Canadian French as less authentic than French from France. Findings show some teachers drawing on this hierarchization of French to "authenticate" (Coupland, 2010) an identity as French language expert, either by contrasting European and Canadian varieties of French or by projecting France as the locus of French language and culture as exclusively representative of authentic "Frenchness."

Reflecting upon their intercultural experiences, with a tool like the "Autobiography of intercultural encounters," may help adolescents become better interculturalists. This research investigates how the use of the Autobiography may allow adolescents develop intercultural competence (IC). Using Byram's framework on which this tool is designed, I analysed, both in terms of IC and participants' feelings, the Autobiographies of 20 adolescents participating in a Canadian linguistic student exchange. Analysis revealed a presence of elements of IC, but rather superficially. I propose some improvements so that adolescents engage in deeper reflection and become better interculturalists.

Using census data from 2001 to 2016, we provide evidence that the French language is gaining ground in Quebec. We show that the apparent decline of French in Quebec is linked to a rise in multilingualism, especially when French is one of the multiple languages spoken. We argue that the census statistics are distorted by inter-linguistic marriages and a rise in the proportion of individuals whose language at home is different from their language at work. The level of usage of the French language is therefore considerably underestimated.

This study conducted with French-speaking students living near Montréal, Canada, assess if teaching the shared knowledge between reading and writing of informative texts improves reading comprehension in fourth grade (9-10 years old) to a greater extent than teaching that separates reading and writing. Teachers participating in the experiment received teaching material and training during 1 year prior to data collection. The teaching approach involved three steps and included activities that were spread over 20 weeks and lasted approximately 2 h per week. Teachers from the non-experimental condition teach reading comprehension and writing strategies in a dissociated way. Students (n = 248) were tested with a reading comprehension assessment in September and May. Results show a significant interaction between time and groups, suggesting a moderate effect size. The experimental group started the experiment slightly behind in reading comprehension and ended up significantly better than the control group. Teaching how to articulate knowledge in reading and writing might favor reading comprehension of informative texts better than teaching strategies in a dissociated way. However, the introduction of such an approach required continuous training and robust teacher support.

Purpose: This study examined the utility of the Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) recording system for investigating the language input to bilingual infants. Method: Twenty-one French-English bilingual families with a 10-month-old infant participated in this study. Using the LENA recording system, each family contributed 3 full days of recordings within a 1-month period. A portion of these recordings (945 minutes) were manually transcribed, and the word counts from these transcriptions were compared against the LENA-generated adult word counts. Results: Data analyses reveal that the LENA algorithms were reliable in counting words in both Canadian English and Canadian French, even when both languages are present in the same recording. While the LENA system tended to underestimate the amount of speech in the recordings, there was a strong correlation between the LENA-generated and human-transcribed adult word counts for each language. Importantly, this relationship holds when accounting for different-gendered and different-accented speech. Conclusions: The LENA recording system is a reliable tool for estimating word counts, even for bilingual input. Special considerations and limitations for using the LENA recording system in a bilingual population are discussed. These results open up possibilities for investigating caregiver talk to bilingual infants in more detail.

Much evidence suggests that long-term retention can be maximized by practicing the recall of information and spreading out one's learning over time. Nevertheless, previous surveys have shown that undergraduates often ignore the benefits of such strategies and engage in less efficient techniques such as repetitive reading and massed studying. To date, however, this research has focused exclusively on Americans and has paid little attention to potential gender differences. The present study addressed such limits by using a web-based survey of the rereading, self-testing, and distributed learning habits of 1,371 French-speaking Canadian undergraduates. Overall, the results are consistent with American data, suggesting that their original observations extend beyond American campuses. Furthermore, chi-square tests followed by standardized residual analyses suggest that females are more likely to engage in distributed learning than their male counterparts. On the contrary, there was little evidence of such an advantage in the context of self-testing.

This study examined whether social bias manipulation can influence how naïve multiage listeners evaluate second language (L2) speech. Sixty native English-speaking listeners (Montreal residents) rated audio recordings of 40 Quebec French speakers of L2 English for five dimensions of oral performance (accentedness, comprehensibility, segmental accuracy, intonation, flow) using 1,000-point continuous scales. Immediately before rating, 20 listeners heard critical comments about Quebec French speakers' English language skills, while 20 heard positive comments. Twenty listeners (baseline group) received no manipulation. Compared to baseline listeners, positively oriented listeners (younger and older) rated four of five dimensions more favorably. However, listeners' behavior diverged under negative bias. Compared to age-matched baseline listeners, younger listeners upgraded speakers while older listeners downgraded speakers for all targeted measures. Findings cast doubt on the relative stability of L2 speech ratings and point to the importance of social context and generational differences in untrained rater assessments of L2 speaking performance.

This article reports on a study examining the language practice opportunities that occurred during a range of paired and small group interactive tasks in an intensive English as a Second Language (ESL) class of francophone Grade 6 students. The analysis focussed on the opportunities the tasks provided for the use of two complex and challenging forms (the simple past and the possessive determiners his/her) by these learners. We examined both the quantity and the quality of the contexts for the two target forms within the tasks, and whether particular task types or task features were associated with more or richer practice for the forms.

This article examines the treatment of culture and the development of interculturality in the transcripts of a complete 36-hour ESL course organized by a community center in Montreal. The adult participants came from a variety of linguistic and cultural backgrounds. The adult second-language class has been identified as a potentially rich context for the development of interculturality due to direct contact between students from diverse cultures (Magos & Simopoulos, 2009). However, addressing areas of cultural misunderstandings (discursive fault lines, Menard-Warwick, 2009) may be essential in the process. The research questions relate to the representation of Canadian culture, how the teacher views and approaches cultural issues, and any evidence that this approach promotes intercultural competence. Results show Canada represented as a culturally diverse community with French Canadian culture minimally represented. The teacher emphasized cultural adaptation and commonality of students' experience across cultures. She did not address discursive fault lines in whole-class contexts, but was able to capitalize on the contact between her multiethnic learners to facilitate intercultural communication and the development of relationships of trust with those normally seen as "other." There was insufficient evidence to conclude that her approach promoted interculturality, but we argue that it did provide key elements from which interculturality may develop. (Contains 1 table and 4 notes.)

This qualitative policy study focuses on the implementation and perceived effect of a recent language policy making English a compulsory subject in primary Cycle One (grades 1-2) in Francophone public schools in the province of Quebec. Based on the analysis of narratives from interviews with four teachers, three resource teachers, and two directors of instruction in charge of second-language teaching in public school boards, this policy study explored the perceptions, implementation,and effects of the policy regarding the compulsory teaching of ESL at the early primary level. (Contains 1 table and 1 note.)

The objective of the present study is to analyze four metric qualities of an assessment grid for internship placements used by professionals to evaluate a sample of 110 Franco-Ontarian student interns registered between 2006 and 2009 at Laurentian University in the School of Human Kinetics. The evaluation grid was composed of 26 criteria. The four metric qualities that were analyzed were: the degree of difficulty, the degree of discrimination, the internal consistency, and the concurrent validity. Each intern's performance was assessed by three individuals: the professional supervisor, the intern (self-assessment) and the university professor who coordinates the internship placement. The analysis of the three assessments based on the Education Testing Service Method indicates that the assessment of the professional supervisors and intern self-assessment are too high (difficulty index, p[subscript i] = 20) and produced a discrimination power of zero between the interns (discrimination index, D[subscript i] = 0). The analysis of the internal consistency of the criteria indicates that a number are too highly interrelated (Cronbach's alpha = 0.97) and that ten criteria can be removed from the evaluation grid, as they are redundant. Concurrent validity, determined by calculating three correlations between the three dimensions of the evaluation grid (before, during, and after the teaching session) and the overall rating of the intern, was demonstrated insofar as the lowest correlation between the assessment of the intern's performance and the measurement criterion (overall rating of the intern's performance) was significant (r (106) = 0.76, p less than 0.001). (Contains 10 tables.)

This article is divided into two sections. The first section reviews the national high school history programs in Quebec from 1905 onward. It focuses on the national and civic identity developed through the programs, as well as on political wrangles over their identity-building goals. Because the Quebec public school system was denominational, and because French-speaking Catholics constituted approximately 86% of the province's population at the time, the authors only examine history taught in the French-Catholic public school system, headed by the Roman Catholic Committee of the Council of Public Instruction. Although the system became increasingly secular from 1966 onwards, Article 93 of the 1867 British North America Act prevented Quebec from abolishing the denominational system. A secular system was finally established in 1997 when a constitutional amendment was promulgated. The second section of this article continues with an analysis of the actual nature of the current program and looks at its claim to be promoting an autonomous, critical citizenship focused on social justice. Through the use of a descriptive typology, this part of the article seeks to provide an answer to the question: What kinds of citizens is the "History and Citizenship Education" program aiming to educate in Quebec's schools? Finally, it reviews the program's limitations and the gap separating the goals of the programs from teaching practices. This article thus constitutes a modest attempt at describing and analyzing a specific case of educational aims and discourse--namely the Quebec history curriculum. (Contains 1 footnote.)

This study examined the level of collaboration between Francophone and Anglophone language teachers of 13- and 16- year-old Canadian students (N = 4,494) using data from the 2002 SAIP (School Achievement Indicators Program) of the Council of Ministers of Education of Canada. Among 32 factors, logistic regression identified six predictors of teacher collaboration, five of which were related to the school and one to the teacher. Results were discussed in light of a theoretical model designed to assess teacher collaboration. (Contains 1 table and 2 figures.)

The main goal was to test if teacher-student relationships and achievement motivation are predicting dropout intention equally for low and high socio-economic status students. A questionnaire measuring teacher-student relationships and achievement motivation was administered to 2,360 French Canadian secondary students between 12 and 15 years old during the spring of 2005. A hierarchical multiple regressions model with interactions predicted their dropout intention. The moderator variable was SES (socio-economic status). Results showed that most predictors of dropout intention acted similarly for both SES. However, strong competence beliefs in mathematics predicted low dropout intention for students from high SES. Knowing that low SES students dropout more than others, our homogeneous predictors do not explain entirely the dropout phenomenon. (Contains 1 figure and 5 tables.)

This article examines four French immersion (FI) teachers' perspectives on the relationship between language and culture and on their roles as intercultural mediators in New Brunswick (NB), Canada's only officially bilingual province. Data were drawn from semi-structured interviews with the teachers. Couched in the broader framework of Canada's multicultural policy, the cultural outcomes for NB's FI program underscore the importance of learning French in a multicultural and multilingual society. Understanding the relationship between language and culture is part of this; however, the department explicitly states that it does not intend for immersion students to "adopt" Francophone culture. This analysis shows that these teachers employ a variety of language ideologies, all of which culminate in a "language-as-code" approach, devoid of culture and removed from its social contexts of use. They do not consider deep cultural discussions to have a place in their classrooms, although each teacher demonstrates some level of intercultural awareness regarding the language/culture dialectic in their private lives. The works by Kohler (2015), Di Stefano (2017), and Kearney (2016) are employed to consider possible ways forward for teacher training on intercultural mediation in immersion classrooms and on curriculum development to target students' intercultural competence.

Researchers have found important differences among population sub-groups when considering their "determinants of physical activity". The health of Francophones and Northern Ontario residents in Canada has been assessed as relatively poorer than the general population. Understanding the determinants of physical activity in these populations holds considerable promise for well-informed public health intervention. This quantitative study examined the social and environmental determinants of physical activity among two language groups and geographical locations within Northern Ontario Canada. A convenience sample of 256 adults was surveyed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, Social Support & Exercise Survey, and the Environmental Supports for Physical Activity Questionnaire. Age and gender adjusted regression models identified that social support from family and peers played a limited role in the Francophone sample compared to the Anglophone sample. Further, perceptions of environmental supports for physical activity in urban and rural locations within Northern Ontario were relatively similar and few of these variables emerged as positive contributors to leisure-time activity levels. Our findings suggest that the importance of social support for physical activity differs based on socio-linguistic status and that environmental supports play a limited role among active northerners. Future research directions and recommendations for practice are offered. (Contains 6 tables and 1 figure.)

In this study, I investigate how French immersion students in two junior high schools in Alberta see themselves in Canadian society. The data come from three years of ethnographic research that included classroom observations and 94 interviews with students, teachers, administrators, and parents. This study shows how French immersion students do not belong to either legitimized group in Canada; they develop their own bilingual world and identities, which are not recognized in Canadian society. I argue for inclusion of all learners of French with varying linguistic and cultural competencies in schools and workplaces so they can contribute to Canadian political, societal, and social spheres. (Contains 4 footnotes.)

Within teacher education programs, the use of discussion forums offers potential for creating learning communities whereby participants can negotiate meaning and engage in knowledge construction (Lock, 2006; Murphy, 2000). To this end, the present article draws on the findings of a larger research project which focused on a discussion forum activity carried out with pre-service English second language (ESL) teachers during a practicum in Francophone schools in the province of Quebec. The specific question addressed in this article is: How do pre-service teachers view the discussion forum activity in relation to the practicum experience? Data were gathered using a survey questionnaire adapted from Arnold and Ducate (2006) and semi-structured interviews. Of particular note with respect to the results is that students who participated in the discussion forum perceived the exchanges as useful in terms of their professional development as teachers. As few studies have focused on the use of discussion forums in conjunction with a practicum, areas for future research have been identified. (Contains 2 tables.)

Back in 1958, environmental clubs were few, organizations that considered eco-practices were almost non-existent, and the concept of environmental studies at any level in their educational system was in its infancy. It was in this environment that Voyageur Wilderness Programme (VWP) was founded on Voyageur Island, Nym Lake, Quetico, Ontario, Canada, by Charlie Ericksen and Jean Goff Marantette. Charlie and Jean's great vision was influenced by their connection to the planet and world around them. Even after 48 years the mission remains the same: "ecological education through wilderness experience." The goal is to give youth an appreciation and understanding of wilderness that will positively influence their connection to the planet. In 1986 Guy Savoie and family, friends of the late founders and descendants of Metis and French-Canadian voyageurs, took over the program. Inspired by the Savoie family's proud heritage, the program was further developed to highlight the lifestyle and history of the voyageurs as the first eco-travelers of the lakes, rivers, waterways and portages in this wilderness park.

The psychometric properties of the Ages & Stages Questionnaires (ASQ) (Bricker & Squires, 1999) used in a French-Canadian preschool population were compared with psychometric data derived from U.S. normative studies. The ASQ was translated into French (Bonin, Robaey, Vandaele, Bastin, & Lacroix, 2000) and used in four early childhood day care centers, with children ages 4-60 months. The psychometric properties of the French version are presented at the 42-, 48-, 54-, and 60-month ASQ intervals. Internal consistency varied across domains, from alpha of 0.24 for personal social domain at 60 months to 0.81 for communication at 48 months. Generally, the internal consistency properties, means, and standard deviations of the ASQ were similar in the French translation, but variations across US and French-Canadian populations were observed. The results are supportive of further development of the French version of the ASQ. (Contains 4 tables.)

This article examines the salience and content of representations of language education in a corpus of English- and French-Canadian newspapers. Findings suggest that English-Canadian newspapers foreground official-language education issues, in which public schools are represented as the primary means by which Canadians can gain equal access to social resources. In contrast, French-Canadian newspapers do not foreground language education issues; in the few cases where these are discussed, the focus tends to be specifically on immigrant acquisition of French. Since representations of these issues reflect beliefs and attitudes toward languages, the paper concludes that they also reveal the successes and failures of discourses concomitant with Canada's language policy.

This article focuses on the use of metadiscursive expressions and discourse particles that are produced in great numbers by two groups of Montreal French speakers in different time periods and that have generally been regarded as language ticks. Elements of the first group make explicit the conscious state of speakers with respect to their language production; elements of the second group illustrate the fleeting and unstable character of language modes. Analyzing the elements of both groups, the question of language awareness is addressed as is the evolution of discourse particles that are an indication of this awareness. Data are from three sociolinguistic corpora created successively over time with the same Montreal francophone speakers. Analysis reveals that while both frequency and the choice of particles vary with time, all of the speakers produce them and their production increases with age, regardless of sex or socioprofessional status. (Contains 11 references.) (Author/VWL)