Étude des rapports entre jeunes francophones et anglophones dans des collèges anglophones du Québec

The first objective of this study was to determine if the intergroup contact theory is suitable to explain the contacts among young Francophones and Anglophones in the context of Quebec Colleges. In four Anglophone colleges in Quebec, Students (N=539) were surveyed concerning their relationships with young Francophones and Anglophones. A theorical model, composed with the classical variables of the intergroup contact theory, as well as specific variables concerning the linguistic context has been tested. The model yielded by the structural equations did not confirm the theorical model as a whole. However, the final model that was obtained clearly shows that the intergroup contact theory is pertinent to predict the quantity and the quality of the contacts between young Francophones and Anglophones in Anglophone colleges in Quebec, as well as the closeness felt to the other linguistic group. The final model also highlights the importance of feeling competent in the other language and its impact on the relationships with members in the other linguistic group, as well as on the attitudes concerning them. This model also allowed comparing the relative contribution of the social identification theory to the intergroup contact in order to explain the relationships between young Francophones and Anglophones in those Colleges. The results obtained put a doubt on the pertinence of the social identification theory to explain the relationships between young Francophone and Anglophone college students. This study also allowed to describe the relationships that symmetric Bilingual students (who speak as much French as English in their day to day life) have with Anglophones and Francophones in those Colleges. Four bilingual sub-groups have been compared, including: bilingual students with French as mother tongue, bilingual students with English as mother tongue, bilingual students with French and English as mother tongues, and, finally, bilingual students having their mother tongue as neither French or English. The ANOVAs that were conducted showed that the four sub-groups are almost identical concerning their relationships with Anglophones, but that the sub-group of bilingual students who have French as mother tongue is globally closer of the Francophone group than the other three bilingual sub-groups.