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Bilingualism in Canada

The CEFR in Canada Presentation to Policy Forum COE Jennifer Macdonald, Public Service Commission of Canada Larry Vandergrift, Institute of Official Languages and Bilingualism, University of Ottawa February 6-8, 2007. Bilingualism in Canada. Official Languages Act (1969, revised 1988)

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Bilingualism in Canada

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  1. The CEFR in CanadaPresentation to Policy Forum COEJennifer Macdonald, Public Service Commission of CanadaLarry Vandergrift, Institute of Official Languages and Bilingualism, University of Ottawa February 6-8, 2007

  2. Bilingualism in Canada • Official Languages Act (1969, revised 1988) • Role of federal institutions • Provide services and communicate with the public in both official languages • English and French are the language of work – employee choice in bilingual regions • Role of Ministry of Canadian Heritage • Promotes French and English • Works with provincial governments in education and official languages education • Progress • Bilingual Canadians have increased from 12% to 18% of the total population over the last 30 years

  3. Action Plan on Official Languages (2003) • double the proportion of secondary school students graduating with a functional knowledge of their second official language by the year 2013 • goal can only be achieved with the cooperation of the provinces and territories because education is under their jurisdiction in Canada.

  4. Challenges for Canada • no common second language curriculum • no tools to track progress toward this goal in an objective manner • no framework to provide a common basis for describing and measuring language proficiency

  5. Common Framework of Reference for Languages • common basis for language teaching and assessment for each province and territory, without imposing a particular curriculum, teaching methodology or standard for achievement • common benchmarks to chart progress while allowing each jurisdiction to set its own graduation targets and decide on its own curriculum • bridge between formal education systems, employers and cultural institutions across Canada and beyond into the international arena

  6. Precursors to the project • participation as Canadian observer (Prof. Sally Rehorick) in the European Language Portfolio (ELP) project • workshop in October 2005 to consider the potential of the ELP for Canada • ELP model, referenced against the CEFR, considered for pilot projects by some jurisdictions

  7. Why the CEFR for Canada? • construct validity: level descriptors based on a theory of communicative competence and empirically validated • face validity: level descriptors congruent with teachers’ perceptions and experiences with language learners • contextual validity: able to accommodate the different needs and pedagogic cultures of the provinces and territories • Concern: not enough differentiation at Basic levels to chart progress for beginning-level language learners

  8. Current status • Presentation of proposal to provincial and territorial representatives in June 2006 • Approval by the Council of Ministers in Education (CMEC) as a pan-Canadian project in September 2006 • Discussion by deputy ministers of education in January 2007 on how to move this project forward • Portfolio projects in different jurisdictions • Individual provinces move ahead on own projects • Presentations to other groups: universities, Canadian Association of Applied Linguistics (May 2007)

  9. Next steps • Develop and promote this project to teachers by means of workshops and website dissemination sponsored by the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers (CASLT) • Align frameworks currently in use in Canada with the CEFR • Examine existing assessment tools to support a common framework for Canada • Explore incorporation of the CEFR level descriptors into the census • Explore potential for use in curriculum development • Provide resource support to provinces and territories by the Institute of Official Languages and Bilingualism at the University of Ottawa and other research centres

  10. Staffing Bilingual Positions in the Federal Public Service • Public Service Employment Act • Public Service Commission responsible for second official language testing for staffing bilingual positions in the Federal Public Service • Human Resource Management Agency responsible for language standards (A, B, C levels) • Approximately 66,000 bilingual positions • 40% of all positions in the Federal Public Service are bilingual • 65% of positions in the National Capital Region are bilingual • Trends • More positions designated bilingual • More positions requiring the highest proficiency level • Employees required to have the level before staffing action, rather than having option for training after staffing

  11. Public Service Assessment Operations • Tests are high stakes and high volume • Certify that employees meet second official language requirements for work • 25,000 tests per year for each of three skills • 43 full time assessors and 7 QC staff for current oral test • Three skills: Writing, Oral, Reading • Three levels • A - Beginner (for oral, approximately A2 in CEFR) • B - Intermediate (for oral, approximately B1/B2 in CEFR) • C - Advanced (for oral, approximately B2/C1 in CEFR) • Accommodations for persons with disabilities • Case-by-case accommodations for 515 tests during the fiscal year (2005-2006)

  12. Public Service Test Development • Development of new tests • written expression 2005-2007 • oral proficiency test 2006-2008 • reading test 2007-2009 (projected) • Oral skills test • Conducted stakeholder consultations • Chose CEFR as conceptual model for test development • Conducted needs analysis survey of 1500 federal public servants • Developed initial test specifications

  13. For information:Jennifer MacdonaldPersonnel Psychology CentrePublic Service Commission of Canada613-992-9739 jennifer.macdonald@psc-cfp.gc.caLarry VandergriftInstitute of Official Languages and BilingualismUniversity of Ottawalvdgrift@uottawa.ca

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