Teaching practices to promote the inclusion of allophone students : a study in Guadeloupe.

• In Event: International linguistic experiences

Proposal

Authors : Esteban Giron Mercedes, Elisabeth Issaieva and Frederic Anciaux

Theoretical elements and problematic :
Since the 1970s, political and institutional measures have been taken in France to welcome and educate non-french speaking students. Also, since 2005, France has been committed to inclusive schooling, which aims to adapt to the diversity of students and to allow each one to reach the same academic goals. The inclusion of allophone students is also emphasized. This translate into a recommendation to take into account the language experience and a set of needs (linguistic, language-related, relational and social, pedagogical, didactic, institutional, etc.) in order to offer allophone students appropriate approaches to enable them to achieve the objectives and the Common Core skills. To achieve this, and in particular to improve the schooling of allophone children with a view to their inclusion, reception and school organization structures have been created in each academic region: these are the academic centers for the schooling of newly arrived allophone children (without sufficient mastery of the French language) and of children from itinerant and traveler families (CASNAV). These centers are supposed to fulfill several missions (reception, organization, pedagogical resources and advice) but their main objective is to support allophone children in order to promote their inclusion in school. To do this, the emphasis is placed on: recognizing linguistic and academic skills prior to the student's arrival; acquiring skills and knowledge of the common base; and individualizing pathways and inter-cycle links between middle and high schools. The actions are based on circular n° 2012-143 of 02-10-2012 and also aim, in accordance with national and academic priorities, to support schools where there are pedagogical units for newly arrived students or facilities for children from itinerant and travelling families, as well as schools that receive newly arrived allophone students in isolation. Despite these additional measures to improve the reception, care and learning of allophone students, some recent studies show that CASNAV mechanisms do not fully assume the many missions assigned to them and that the support of teachers towards truly inclusive practices struggles to be done in a systemic way. For example, an analysis of the CASNAV of Guadeloupe and Saint-Martin reveals a significant lack of training and trainers (Lhuissier, 2015). Another study in the Aix-Marseille education authority found that institutional mechanisms are little used and that few teachers receive training (Bruisse, Peyronel & Renoliet, 2019). Under these conditions, one may ask how teachers who are required to work with allophone students do so and how their inclusion is achieved? A few recent studies attempt to provide some answers to this question and reveal that in some cases, teachers have difficulty identifying the various specific (pedagogical and didactic) needs of allophone students and do not value their mother tongue and culture (Daridan, 2015), while others try to meet the linguistic needs of students but the lack of training and didactic resources do not make their task any easier (Chiss, 2008). Some teachers are nevertheless trying to develop their own pedagogical and didactic means, often using digital tools to do so (Bruisse, Peyronel & Renoliet, 2019). Collaborative projects are beginning to be set up with a view to developing, for example, assessment scenarios adapted to allophone children, which then serve as a support for reflection in teacher training (Huver, 2008).

Research goals and questions
Taking these elements into account, the research that will be presented focuses on the analysis of teachers’practices with allophone students with the goal and undestanding to what extent and how these practices facilitate or not the inclusion of these students.
The research questions posed are : how do teachers identify students’ linguistic, didactic and pedagogical needs ? What approches and tools do they use to meet the identified needs ? what are the obstacles and difficulties encountered and how are they resolved ?
Methodological device
To answer our research questions we are going to use a mixed methodological device using several data collection tools (questionnaire,interviews,self-confrontation) in two studies :
A first exploratory study by questionnaire and interview in order to understand the points of view of the different CASENAV authors and teachers (in training and in service) on inclusion, inclusion training and learning of allophone students as well as their declared practices of teachers ;
Second study : self-confrontation (observation + interviews) and analysis of the traces of the activity of the teachers in service (3) and in training (3) (the practices of interships) in order to understand thier approches, means, tools implemented and the possible obstacles encountered and the pedagogical tracks considered..

First results
The study is ongoing. The first results show that pre-service teachears encounter many difficulties in accompanying allophone students and in dealing with the diversity of students in the classroom. Analysis of the practices « expert » teachers shows a variety of strategies deployed to meet the needs of allophone students. These will be discussed in the paper. Positive experience, training, and teachers’conceptions of inclusion appear to be factors that promote inclusion.





































Bibliographical references
Chiss, J. L. (2008) Immigration, école et didactique du français, Paris, Éditions Didier, pp.23-58, 64-100,187-229.
Daridan, M. (2017) Perception et pratiques du dispositif d’inclusion des élèves allophones nouvellement arrivés en Guadeloupe, ESPE de Guadeloupe, 2017.
Lhuissier, V. (2015) Analyse systémique et didactique des dispositifs de scolarisation des élèves allophones nouvellement arrivés dans l’académie de la Guadeloupe (hors îles du nord) pour le premier degré : le cas de l’école élémentaire Raphaël Jolivière 1 à Pointe-à-Pitre. Education. 2015.
Puren, C., Bertocchini, P. et Constanzo, E. (1998) Se former en didactique des langues, Paris, Éditions Ellipses, pp.13-26, 27-38, 39-79.
Vigner, G. (2015) Le français langue seconde, comment apprendre le français aux élèves nouvellement arrivés, Paris, Éditions Hachette Éducation, pp.11-39, 42-95, 97-139.

Author

• Esteban GIRON MERCEDES, U A