Five Decades of Canadian and Québec Content in French Textbooks in the United States

• Published in: The American review of Canadian studies Vol. 44; no. 4; pp. 415 - 432
• Main Author: Chapelle, Carol A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington Routledge 02.10.2014; Taylor & Francis Inc
• Subjects: applied linguistics; Attitudes; Canada; Canadian and Québec culture; Foreign policy; France; French Language; French language teaching; Identity; Indexes (Measures); language politics; Politics; Quebec; Québec history; Teachers; Textbooks; United States of America; United States > US; Quebec Canada
• ISSN: 0272-2011; 1943-9954
• DOI: 10.1080/02722011.2014.974199

This study investigates the evolution of Canadian and Québec content in a sample of 65 first-year university French textbooks in the United States from the 1960s through 2010. Overall indicators of Canadian and Québec contexts and cultural notes were tabulated for each decade in addition to particular content such as Canadian history, Québec identity, and Canadian French language. The chronological analysis challenges the popular notion that teachers and textbooks authors are inherently uninterested in Canada. Instead, the analysis finds Canadian and Québec content increasing over the five-decade period reaching an all-time high point in the most recent decade. Results are explained by dynamic Québec-based factors of language politics and foreign relations initiatives rather than static US-based attitudes toward Canadian French. The analysis offers optimism for the role of Canadian and Québec Studies as a source of content for the teaching of French in the United States.