The aim of this bilingual (French/English) symposium was to inform researchers and teacher educators about the specific challenges faced by second language (L2) students and teachers in creating an inclusive L2 classroom in order to encourage plurilingual, non-English-dominant students and students with learning difficulties to succeed. In the Canadian context, French is an official language and in six of the ten provinces, school districts must provide French as a second language (L2 French) instruction in elementary and secondary schools. The remaining provinces and territories typically offer L2 French instruction in many school districts. Therefore, almost all Canadian elementary and secondary school students are faced with either the obligation or the opportunity to learn L2 French.

In Canada, plurilingual students or students with learning difficulties are often streamed out of intensive L2 French programs or, along with their teachers, they may struggle to manage learning difficulties in a language which they have not mastered. Generally, teachers, teacher educators and researchers lack awareness of how L2 French classes can be made more inclusive, addressing the needs of plurilingual students and students with learning difficulties. In this symposium, practising teachers examined challenges involved in creating inclusive L2 French classes, and possible ways to address those challenges.

In her paper ‘Ontario teachers’ perceptions of English language learners’ inclusion in core French: Regional similarities and differences’, Jordana Garbati (Western University) presented her findings on the attitudes of L2 French teachers in the province of Ontario towards including plurilingual, non-English-dominant students in core (standard) French classes. She found that, regardless of the teachers’ degree of experience or the prevalence of plurilingual students in the population, a large majority of teachers felt that plurilingual students have the ability to succeed in L2 French classes and should participate in those classes. However, teachers generally believed that plurilingual students both required more individual attention and added to teachers’ workload. Teachers also felt somewhat unprepared to teach plurilingual students because of a lack of resources and teaching materials which were appropriate for plurilingal L2 French learners. Garbati concluded that, although teachers were positively inclined towards the inclusion of plurilingual learners, teachers felt the need for more resources and training so as to better address these learners’ needs.

Changing the focus to students, Renée Bourgoin (University of New Brunswick) then presented ‘First- and second-language reading acquisition: Profiles, differences, and success indicators’. This research was a longitudinal ethnographic case study examining the first- and second-language reading development of at-risk and non-at-risk elementary school students in French immersion (intensive) classes. Among other measures, Bourgoin used age-appropriate French and English reading tests and think-aloud reading tasks to investigate students’ reading profiles and reading processes. Bourgoin found that students’ level of competency reading in French usually reflected their prior level of competency in reading English. She also found that at-risk students described using fewer and less varied strategies than did higher-performing students. Finally, Bourgoin noted that at-risk students rarely reported using metacognitive strategies such as paying attention or self-monitoring. She concluded that at-risk students needed focussed guidance in using a greater number and range of reading strategies, including metacognitive strategies.

Josée Le Bouthillier (University of New Brunswick) also investigated French immersion students in her paper, entitled ‘Le développement des savoirs liés à l’écriture des élèves de la 7^e année en immersion française: Une comparaison entre les auteurs typiques et leurs pairs en difficulté’ (Development of writing knowledge by Grade 7 French immersion students: A comparison of typical and at-risk writers). At-risk writers were found to motivate, plan, and organize their writing less than typical writers. Unlike typical writers, at-risk writers tended not to refer to their plans or to previously-written text while writing, and engaged in relatively little revision. Le Bouthillier concluded that for at-risk writers in French immersion, teachers should emphasize the reasons for engaging in various steps of the writing process and should consistently teach strategies for self-regulation in order to encourage at-risk writers to become more autonomous.

The final two presentations focussed on learning difficulties for dyslexic first language French students and how research in this area might inform instructional approaches for L2 French students with learning difficulties. Joëlle Varin (Université de Montréal) explored meta-orthographic knowledge in her paper ‘Perspectives didactiques pour l’apprentissage du français en L2: le cas de la compétence métaorthographique des élèves dyslexiques’ (Pedagogical perspectives for learning L2 French: The case of dyslexic students’ meta-orthographic competence). Meta-orthographic competence was operationalized as students’ ability to explicitly use their orthographic knowledge to identify and correct spelling errors, as well as to explain the corrections made. In previous research, learners’ ability to explain corrections has been strongly related to their level of meta-orthographic competence (Gombert Reference Gombert2006). When compared to comparison groups of similar ages or similar writing ability, 10–11-year-old dyslexic students were significantly weaker at identifying and correcting spelling errors and showed particular difficulty explaining their corrections. Varin predicted that L2 French students with learning difficulties would show similar weaknesses in meta-orthographic competence compared to comparison groups of similar ages. Moreover, error types which targeted morphological and phonological knowledge of French would also be challenging because L2 French students would have less comprehensive knowledge of morphological and phonological patterns in French. Varin suggested that L2 French teachers engage in pedagogical activities which focus on different types of spelling regularities and irregularities and activities which require L2 French students to manipulate and reflect on orthographic units by identifying and correcting errors, then justifying their corrections.

Noémia Ruberto (Université de Montréal) presented the last paper ‘Les stratégies orthographiques d’élèves dyslexiques: perspectives pour l’apprentissage du français comme langue seconde’ (Orthographic strategies of dyslexic students: Perspectives for learning L2 French). She explored the orthographic strategies of two groups of 10–11-year-old students: dyslexic and non-dyslexic. Each student spelled a set of words and, for each word, reported on the spelling strategies used. Ruberto found that both dyslexic and non-dyslexic students give precedence to phonological strategies, basing their spelling on phoneme-grapheme correspondences. However, the use of these strategies by dyslexic students was often unsuccessful, resulting in non-targetlike spelling. Ruberto then proposed pedagogical approaches which might help young first-language and second-language dyslexic students to use a range of spelling strategies and become more successful spellers.

In the discussion period, audience members and presenters remarked on the relative scarcity of information for L2 teachers about creating inclusive classrooms for students with learning difficulties. Several resources were pointed to, including the websites of the Canadian Association for Second Language Teachers (2014) and Canadian Parents for French (2014). The symposium ended with participants affirming the need to more extensively disseminate research on inclusive classrooms in L2 teaching to teachers, administrators, and parents, and to learn from existing, and engage in new, interdisciplinary research initiatives in various contexts in Canada and beyond.