L’enseignement de la lecture/appréciation des œuvres littéraires à l’école primaire : enquête sur les pratiques déclarées et les conceptions d’enseignants québécois

In order to better understand the declared teaching practices and the conceptions of teachers about the reading/appreciation of literary works at the elementary level, we have conducted a questionnaire survey with Quebec teachers of the three primary cycles (N=518). We pursued the following three specific objectives: 1) identify and describe the declared teaching practices related to activities, materials and assessment; 2) identify and describe the conceptions of primary school teachers about ministerial prescriptions, reading/appreciation and its teaching; 3) compare these declared practices and these conceptions of teachers according to the three primary cycles. Data collected allow us to argue that the use of literary works is widespread for the teaching of reading/appreciation in the primary classroom, but to varying degrees depending on the two main types of teachers that come out of our study: the more passionates (N=360) and the less interested (N=158). Correlations analyses show that the variable Loving to teach reading/appreciation is the one that would have the most significant impact on the declared practices and the conceptions of the teachers with regard to reading/appreciation of the literary works in the school. About the declared teaching practices, periods of free personal reading (97.7 %) and moments of reading when the students have finished their activites in class (93.4 %) are the most frequent activities concerning reading/appreciation each week. The material used weekly by teachers to work on the reading/appreciation of literary works consists mainly of literary works (66.2 %) of diffrents genres, especially narrative (album: 81.3 %; novel: 61.2 %; tale: 55.3 %). To evaluate the reading/appreciation of literary works, the use of written questionnaires is frequent, as is the use of more reflexive forms. Teachers report using these tools less to assess critical judgment (55.0%) than understanding (90.0%) in reading students. About the conceptions, the teachers say that they work on the four competencies of the “Français, langue d’enseignement” discipline, on the composantes of Apprécier des œuvres littéraires, the skills and the process of reading/appreciation. The majority of teachers (69.5 %) say they like to teach reading/appreciation of literary works, and they state that it is their tastes and personal interests that influence them most (82.6 %). They point out that they want to respond better to their student’s needs (60.8 %) and take account of their progress (42.1 %), as well as having a better access of literary works (45,9 %) and a greater choice (40.5 %) to stimulate students pleasure to read (94.6 %). On a personal level, a majority of teachers say they like to read (97.9 %) and exchange about their readings with their students (95.0 %). Intercycle comparisons show that there are statistically significant intercycle differences for 50 of the 110 variables analyzed and that the significative differences are more numerost on the practices side (32 variables on 55) than on the conceptions side (18 variables ont 55). The declared practices and conceptions of first cycle teachers, who are on average more experienced, more trained and who prefer to teach reading/appreciation, appear more favorable to this teaching. Our research shows that, since the introduction of the pedagogical renewal in the early 2000s, teachers in Quebec have intensified their teaching practices in the reading/appreciation of literary works and their conceptions have evolved compared to previous surveys. Given this rather positive overall picture of the teaching of reading/appreciation of literary works, different challenges remain for teachers and further research has to be carried out to refine the analysis and to study practices observed in the classroom.

Keyphrases: Œuvres littéraires, Conceptions, Teaching and learning of French, Primary education, Inquiry, Reading, Literary works, Declared practices, Intercycle comparisons