L’expérience d’immigrants, candidats aux ordres professionnels, lors de l’évaluation authentique de leurs compétences langagières, quant à l’épreuve de
français de l’Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF)

Since a few years, Quebec faces an unprecedented economic situation. Indeed, an ageing and declining population combined with a lack of qualified workers on the labour market is slowing down the economic development of the province. In this context, migrants represent an asset to remain competitive in the economic battle which opposes us to other countries (Boudarbat and Boulet, 2010; Posca, 2019). This fact is further sustained by The Chamber of commerce of metropolitan Montreal (2019); the Quebec council of employers (2015) and the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social solidarity (2019).However, to be able to exercise a regulated profession, migrants must pass the French examination of the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF). The one which is proposed by this organism since winter 2018 is novel and consists of an evaluation situation which is meant to be authentic, i.e., complex and contextualized (Stiggins, 2007; Wiggins, 1993). Succeeding this examination is a prerequisite to professional licensure. A critical constructivist perspective was thus sought to understand migrants’ experience regarding this examination. More specifically, we sought to shed light on the factors which influence preparation, participation and results announcement of the latter. So, following a comprehensive-interpretative approach, in this exploratory-descriptive research, data were collected through semi-directed interviews of 30 candidates of different professional orders.Results show that in each of the phases of preparation, participation and results announcement, the experience of candidates is influenced both positively and negatively. So, preparation was facilitated by studies and work experience in Quebec, as well as specialized courses. However, the cost of courses and lack of time and resources for self learning acted as barriers to the preparation of candidates. As regards participation, several aspects influenced candidates’ experience positively and negatively. Furthermore, the experience analysis of candidates shed light on certain anomalies: the exam protocol was not standardized across various sessions; candidates shared information among themselves during break time; candidates used deceptive strategies when in difficulty; candidates were frequently absent or just came to respect the exigencies of the French Charter; and the OQLF did not adapt its exam sessions to take into consideration planned absences of candidates. As regards results announcement, candidates’ experiences helped identify the perceived use of the documentation received. The decisions which entailed announcement of results were also put forward as well as the psychological impact of repeated failures on candidates. Moreover, we also discussed the economic impact of candidate failure and their opinions on the examination. Lastly, the problems identified by this study require special attention of the organism so as to enhance candidates’ experience.

Keyphrases: immigration, Authentic evaluation, French as second and foreign language, immigration, critical constructivism, candidates’ experience