Based on empirical qualitative data collected by interviewing eight elementary school teachers from across four different school boards in Ontario and analyzing new Ontario Ministry of Education policy and guidelines for supporting and programming for English Literacy Development (ELD) students, this research seeks to better understand how teachers’ discourses influence their perception of ELD students’ experiences in elementary schools. In particular, I look at how they view their roles as teachers, the purpose of education and schooling, their personal views on diversity, and how they program literacy for ELD students. The participants’ discourses reveal that although they prioritize having positive relationships with their students, they often struggled to relate positively with their ELD students. Reassessing how the formal school is structured and providing directed professional development on teaching ELD students could work towards creating more positive learning experiences for ELD students in Ontario elementary schools.

Based on empirical qualitative data collected by interviewing eight elementary school teachers from across four different school boards in Ontario and analyzing new Ontario Ministry of Education policy and guidelines for supporting and programming for English Literacy Development (ELD) students, this research seeks to better understand how teachers’ discourses influence their perception of ELD students’ experiences in elementary schools. In particular, I look at how they view their roles as teachers, the purpose of education and schooling, their personal views on diversity, and how they program literacy for ELD students. The participants’ discourses reveal that although they prioritize having positive relationships with their students, they often struggled to relate positively with their ELD students. Reassessing how the formal school is structured and providing directed professional development on teaching ELD students could work towards creating more positive learning experiences for ELD students in Ontario elementary schools.

La perspective actionnelle, institutionnalisée par le Cadre Européen Commun de Référence pour les Langues (CECRL), dite nouvelle méthodologie en enseignement-apprentissage des langues est en vogue, tant dans la sphère des prescriptions officielles que de la recherche. Cette thèse se propose d’interroger la construction de la compréhension de cette méthodologie, à l’épreuve des faits, en France (Académie de Lille) et en Allemagne (Land Hessen, Land Nordrhein-Westfalen), dans les pratiques et les discours d’enseignants du primaire (écoles élémentaires et Grundschule), à travers les concepts d’approche interculturelle et d’autonomie. Ces deux notions, en tant que points d’ancrage théoriques construits par et pour la recherche, sont définies en interrelation et interrogées avec un regard réflexif et critique ; elles sont notamment mises en débat avec l’approche culturaliste réifiante. Ces notions entrent en tensions avec les prescriptions officielles et les convictions des enseignants qui ont collaboré avec moi dans ce travail. La recherche se base sur le croisement de multiples données empiriques : focus groups d’enseignants, observations de classes en langues étrangères, entretiens d’enseignants, en France comme en Allemagne, écrits des prescriptions (programmes de langues) et écrits des recommandations (parcours de formation en ligne des dispositifs Pairform@nce et Intel Lehren Aufbaukurs Online). Les discours, toujours resitués en contextes, sont analysés au regard de théories de l’énonciation et du dialogisme. La thèse propose un point de vue critique des visions comparatistes différentialistes et donne à voir, en revanche, des résultats qui valorisent des diversités franco-allemandes pour construire la compréhension de l’objet de la recherche. / The action-oriented approach which has been institutionalised by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) is also called “the new methodology in the teaching and learning of languages”. It is widely used, both for official and for research purposes. This thesis aims to test and question the construction of understanding of this methodology both in France (the Educational Authority of Lille) and in Germany (Land Hessen, Land Nordrhein-Westfalen) by looking at the practices and discourses of primary school teachers (écoles élémentaires and Grundschule) through the concepts of both the intercultural and independent approaches. These notions, as well as being cornerstones constructed by and for the research, are defined by interrelation and questioned with a reflexive and critical mind-set. They are especially debated in opposition to the reifying culturalist approach. These notions strain against the official requirements and the beliefs of the teachers with whom I collaborated on this project. The research is based on the intersection of much empirical data from both France as well as Germany, for example: focus groups with teachers, observation of foreign language lessons, interviews with the teachers, literature detailing official requirements (language syllabuses) and literature detailing recommendations (the online training packages of Pairform@nce and Intel Lehren Aufbaukurs Online). The discourses, which have been placed into context, are analysed with regards to the theories of enunciation and dialogism. The thesis offers a critical perspective of comparative differentialist visions, yet allows a visualisation of the results that enhance the Franco-German diversities in order to build an understanding of the research objective.