Franco-Ontarian teachers' linguistic and cultural identity: teaching in the French Immersion program

This research project explores the impact of teaching in the French Immersion program on Franco-Ontarian teachers' linguistic and cultural identity. Considering the reality of living in a francophone minority setting, teaching in the French Immersion program may represent their most regular contact with the French language and culture and may play a significant role in their ongoing process of linguistic and cultural identity construction. Using a qualitative research methodology, seven experienced Franco-Ontarian teachers were interviewed about their reasons for entering and remaining in the French Immersion program, their relationships with colleagues, and their selection of leisure time activities with respect to the construction of their linguistic and cultural identities. Viewing their practices in these areas through the lens of their work in the program often revealed the presence of a bilingual and bicultural identity even among those participants who saw themselves as primarily anglophone or francophone.