Executive Summary

The regions of Québec have different settlement, cultural, and economic histories compared to urban centres in the province, which tend to be the focus of research and discussion, as well as programming related French language learning. In contrast, French language training opportunities in the regions are scarce, and may not reflect the realities of regional learners. These include rurality, limited internet accessibility, higher engagement in seasonal work, and lower literacy, all of which can thwart language learning and impact the employability of minority language groups.

English speakers across Québec report lack of French language proficiency as a barrier to employment, simultaneously grappling with inconsistent access to French language learning supports as well as the social and political atmosphere surrounding use of French. Meanwhile, their context is changing: demographic and economic pressures are changing the nature of jobs and education alongside language expectations in Québec communities and workplaces. To this end, evidence on how English speakers in the regions are learning and leveraging French in their daily lives and careers needs updating.

As such, this report focuses on the experiences of English-speaking Quebecers living in the regions to better understand their experiences learning French and putting their French language skills to use in everyday and workplace situations. It presents findings from PERT’s Regional French Language Needs Assessment Survey of over 650 English-speaking Quebecers’ French-language learning experiences and perceptions, and a supplemental survey on English speakers’ awareness of French language assessments.

We investigate three main lines of inquiry:

• Where have English-speaking Quebecers in the regions learned French?
• What motivates these English speakers to learn French?
• What do they feel they need to improve their French language learning?

Across these questions, we also ask about English speakers’ perceptions of their French language learning experiences to better understand what did and did not help them learn, in their own words. Overall, we found that English-speaking Quebecers in the regions were strongly self-motivated to learn French as a stepping stone towards increasing their cultural participation and strengthening their connections with their francophone neighbours. More practically, they were also motivated to improve their French in order to enhance their employability or secure French-speaking jobs, and ease their navigation of everyday life in Québec.