Portfolio langagier : Les finissants des programmes d’immersion se révèlent

This article presents a research conducted with French Immersion graduates in the context of an introductory language methodology course in a francophone institution. The participants completed a language portfolio, created by Laplante & Christiansen (2001). The portfolio consisted of a two-page autobiographical narrative entitled 'My Life in French till now', an action plan which included an analysis of the errors they identified as targets for that semester and the means or the tools they chose to correct the errors. An analysis of the autobiographical narrative, a document written by the individual participants, stemming from their life experiences since they were exposed to the French language, is presented. The narrative is inspired by the values they have developed and the choices they have made concerning learning French (Baumeister, 1991; Kenyon, 1999). This study also presents a profile of significant experiences these French Immersion graduates identify as pivotal in their motivation to pursue their postsecondary studies in French. They also highlight teachers, friends and family who played an important role during 'their lives in French' till now. In their action plan, the students identified categories of linguistic challenges in areas such as semantics, syntax and phonology. These results shed light on questions pertaining to best practices in French Immersion programs.