Language practices of children in francophone families living in a minority linguistic environment
Introduction Introduction

Canada is a country of great ethnocultural and linguistic diversity, and its two official languages are one of its essential foundations. Over the past half-century, the federal government has adopted legislation and other measures to make French and English the country's two official languages and to support and enhance the development and the vitality of official-language minority communities across the country. This study deals with the language practices of children in francophone minority communities outside Quebec. Its main purpose is to describe these language practices and to identify the primary determinants of the predominant use of French or English by these children in their personal, extracurricular or recreational activities.

The first chapter of our study involves a literature review and will focus on two main topics. The chapter will begin by presenting the Survey on the Vitality of Official-Language Minorities (SVOLM), followed by a discussion of studies dealing with language transmission in a minority language environment. The methodological framework is presented in the second chapter of our study, with details regarding the data source, the variables being studied, the explanatory variables and the methodology used for the analyses.

The third and final chapter of our study presents the results of our analyses, which propose a description of the language practices of these children under 18 years of age, both those who are members of the official-language minority and those who are not, and of whom at least one parent is part of the francophone minority outside Quebec. This description reflects the language behaviours of these children on the basis of explanatory variables of interest that have been divided into four groups: individual, school-related, family-related and contextual. The predominant use of French and English by these children is first examined for five selected variables relating to personal, extracurricular or recreational activities. We then take a detailed look at the children's language behaviours with regard to reading on the basis of a number of factors that stand out in terms of their possible influence on this practice. The data that are presented provide a basis for comparing the children's language behaviours when reading against their language choices when they watch television.

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