Voice of Teachers: Teaching French in Victoria, Australia

This research project was an attempt to address questions about the meaning that teaching French holds for French teachers. As such, it was important to give voice to those who are at the frontline of educational practices, the teachers, and in this instance, French teachers. Indeed, literature on second language (L2) acquisition in French has been slow in Victoria and elsewhere in Australia to recognise the place and role of French and of the French teacher in the language curriculum. It has gone unquestioned and largely unexamined for far too long. There is silence on the issue. Eight French teachers participated in the project and together attempted to answer the main research question: What does it mean to teach French in Victoria, Australia? The principles of van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenology were used as theory and method and pointed to a cluster of meanings around passion, creativity, resilience and growth mindset that underlined the phenomenon of teaching French among the participants. The findings also opened onto the discussion about the necessity to look at teachers’ identity and more specifically that of second language teachers.