Mastery of the language of Shakespeare is increasingly seen as a must at universities, both in research and in teaching, while more than a quarter of the books read by students are in English, according to a rare study that portraits the place by Shakespeare records French in higher education in Quebec.
This research, the results of which will be presented at a symposium in Montreal on Thursday, was conducted by the Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Research in Higher Education (LIRES) with funding from the Central Trade Unions of Quebec.
It is based in particular on a survey in which 820 professors and researchers from French-speaking CEGEPs and universities in the province took part.
According to respondents, more than a quarter (27%) of required course description books are in English, a proportion that rises to 45% for recommended books.
“That’s one of the big problems,” says Olivier Bégin-Caouette, co-author of the study and assistant professor at the University of Montreal, in an interview with Le Journal.
No other choice
The latter does not throw stones at teachers who have to deal with “an increase and predominance of English” in scientific publications.
As part of this study, some indicated that they could not give more space to French without affecting the quality of their courses, particularly in the fields of science and technology.
“In some areas, teachers tell us that if they want their students to read the most up-to-date texts, they have no choice but to opt for texts in English,” explains Mr. Begin-Caouette.
This reality creates an “inequality” between students depending on their level of proficiency in the language of Shakespeare.
Since English is not an admissions requirement at French-speaking universities, “we run the risk of undermining the success of those who are not comfortable with English,” adds the researcher.
“These are important questions that we must ask ourselves together. We need to think about how we can help professors at the university,” he said.
In general, the language policy of universities favors the use of teaching materials in French, but the professor can choose the works, regardless of the language, based on the quality of the content.
To remedy this, the LIRES team suggests that government agencies invest more in the translation of scientific texts into French and set up mechanisms to promote access to scientific content already available in Molière’s language.
Despite the predominance of English in scientific publications, researchers publish books, articles in professional journals or research reports in French, which are sometimes difficult to access, emphasizes the UdM professor.
“There is a science in French, but we don’t see it. We have to ask ourselves how we can make it more visible,” he says.
Half of the researchers surveyed consider it important to publish in French, while almost 80% say it is also important to publish in English, mainly to reach a larger audience with the same expertise and to gain international credibility.
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