The effects of a shortage of French as a Second Language (FSL) teachers are being felt across Canada, bringing the issue of FSL teacher recruitment and retention to the forefront (Masson, Knouzi, & al., 2021). While a greater emphasis is being placed on preparing teacher candidates for FSL teaching, teacher education programs struggle to recruit enough qualified FSL teacher candidates to meet the market demand (Masson, Larson, & al, 2019), especially in the Canadian bilingual province of New Brunswick where the ministry of Education require a high level of proficiency for its teachers (C1-C2). According to Masson, & al., 2021, the unique professional identity of FSL teachers is both linguistic and pedagogical in nature. Sometimes early career FSL teachers experience dissonance between their imagined version of their career and the realities of the working conditions resulting in both pedagogical and identity struggles that can, in turn, impact retention (Wernicke, & al., 2022). Kanno and Stuart (2011) suggested that teacher professional identity construction should occupy a central place in the initial training programs. Language teacher professional identity refers to the mental image that teachers and teacher candidates hold of what it is to be a teacher (Wolff & De Costa, 2017).
To attempt to address this problem, our initial teacher preparation (ITP) program added linguistic support sessions focused on strengthening the linguistic aspects of teacher candidates' identity to complement FSL methods courses and practicum. This paper aims to share the results of a qualitative case study of these language support sessions, focusing on the concept of identity. Thirteen participants, who were enrolled in an intensive 10-month ITP with an FSL specialization, participated in the study, following typical purposeful sampling (Merriam, 2009). At the end of each 8-week block of language support sessions, focus group sessions were conducted (T1 - October 2020; T2 - February 2021 and T3 - June 2021), recorded and transcribed. The data were analyzed using qualitative data analysis procedures (Merriam, 2009). Four themes pertaining to identity emerged and will be presented and discussed in this paper: 1) Language learning experiences and attitudes; 2) beliefs about teaching (in) French; 3) native-speaker standard and linguistic insecurity; and 4) negotiating linguistic and professional identity.
Finally, implications will be shared that might inform decision makers with respect to the recruitment and retention of FSL teachers in Canada.
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