Entrée au secondaire d’élèves ayant des difficultés d’apprentissage intégrés en classe ordinaire: expérience vécue particulièrement dans une situation d’apprentissage par la lecture

At the entry to secondary school, a moment of the school transition, significant changes occur in the school environment at the procedural, academic and social levels (Desbiens & Vandenbossche-Makombo, 2013). Several studies have reported on the effects associated with this period of school life, notably the drop in school results (Poncelet & Lafontaine, 2011) and the decrease in motivation (Kelly & Price, 2014). In secondary school, learning through reading is omnipresent and essential to develop the skills targeted by the Quebec Education Program (MELS, 2006) and to succeed in all disciplines (Cartier, 2007). In this context, the challenges of the entry to secondary school and learning through reading are difficult for some students. This is especially true for students with learning difficulties who are integrated into ordinary classes. Given their school delays, these students are more likely than their peers to experience school failure when they enter secondary school (Poncelet & Lafontaine, 2011). On the other hand, they are more likely to have difficulty learning through reading (Cartier, 2007; Contant, 2009). The interventions to facilitate the entry to secondary school (Hughes, Banks & Terras, 2013) and to promote learning through reading to these students (Cartier, Bélanger, Boutin & Martel, 2018) seem to be little known. The purpose of this study was to answer the following question: in the context of the entry to secondary school, particularly when learning through reading, what is the experience of students with learning difficulties integrated into ordinary classroom? In response to this question, with reference to Tilleczek and Ferguson's (2007) approach, Cartier's and Butler's (2016) model and the literature review, the objectives were: 1) to describe the context of entry into secondary school and the experience in this context of students with learning difficulties integrated into ordinary classroom; and 2) to describe the context of learning through reading at the entry to secondary school and the experience in this context of students with learning difficulties integrated into ordinary classroom. In order to achieve the objectives of the research, a unique embedded case study (Yin, 2014) was conducted in a natural French class context. The participants were three high school girls identified as having learning difficulties, and their French teacher from a secondary school in the greater Montreal area. The research process took place in four stages between April and May 2017. The data collection tools of the study were, for the teacher, two semi-structured interview guides, a non-participant observation grid of her interventions and the collection of educational documents related to the learning through reading activity. For the students, the tools used were two semi-structured interview guides, a non-participant observation grid and the collection of their traces in the learning through reading tasks. Qualitative content analyses were performed. The results to the first objective showed that a number of practices were implemented in the secondary school to facilitate the entry to secondary school for students with learning difficulties integrated into ordinary classroom, such as communication between secondary and elementary teachers and the availability of material resources (computer, Word Q and Lexibook) and human resources (resource teachers in support groups). This context allowed the three teenagers to have rather a positive experience when they entered the secondary school. For example, they found that reading and understanding texts were easier at the secondary than at the elementary level, and that it was easy to make friends when they entered the secondary school. In response to the second objective of the study, the results first revealed that the learning through reading activity met a number of quality criteria (relevance, complexity and motivation). In addition, the support provided by the teacher in this activity focused on several aspects of the student learning through reading process. For example, the teacher supported the use of the highlighting strategy to help students better interpret the task. The experience of the three students in this activity, with the support of the teacher, allowed them to have a more or less positive experience. For example, the three girls adequately interpreted the task, organized their learning in a structured manner, and managed their difficulties by asking questions. The three students with learning difficulties successfully completed the task of writing descriptive text with justification and passed their first year of secondary school. These results show the importance of considering the interaction between the individual and his context as proposed by Cartier and Butler (2016). This study is important because it suggests that the practices implemented in the secondary school have made it easier for all three students with learning difficulties integrated into ordinary classroom to enter secondary school. It is also important because it highlights that the teacher's actions focused on the learning through reading process of the three students allow them to really engage in the quality activity proposed.

Keyphrases: Entry to secondary school, Learning through reading, Teaching interventions, Students with learning difficulties, Integration into ordinary classroom