Learning French as a Second Official Language: Reserved for Anglophones?.

This article reviews federal language policies and provincial curriculum documents as they relate to Allophones and their access to French as a Second Official Language (FSOL) programs across Canada. Results of a detailed document analysis reveal that policies provide obstacles to access for allophone immigrants to Canada who seek to learn both official languages. An examination of research reveals that implementation of policy also restricts Allophones’ access to learning French in English-dominant provinces. We argue that increasing Allophones’ access to FSOL programming would not only support Canadian government initiatives and goals related to linguistic duality and official bilingualism, but also allophone students’ success in Canadian schools.