ELT in France: Serving cultural, social, and educational Jacobism
Résumé
This paper will show how English is used as part of a selective process in secondary and higher education in France, thereby contributing to social reproduction and even exacerbating the difference between the elite and the rest of the population, between the cultural, social, and educational center, and the periphery. Sociologists (Boudon, Bourdieu) have long demonstrated that the French educational system is based more on selection than on education for all. They have further highlighted the role of the linguistic norm as both the only authorized language and the language of authority in that selective process. My argument in this paper is that English is often perceived as a new norm (in the sense of 'normal' and 'normative') in the internationalization of higher education and in globalization. Therefore, it is not surprising to see that the French Grandes Ecoles invest heavily in internationalizing their staff and their students, favoring education in English in the process. Conversely, because have a different student population, a much lower budget, and a predominantly national staff, they are increasingly perceived as the local end of glocalization and uncompetitive on the international market. To verify these hypotheses, I will first describe the use of English in the selection process in secondary and higher education. Further, I will conduct a survey among undergraduate students (licence), master’s students and staff in the Grandes Ecoles, in engineering schools, and in science, social sciences and humanities departments in universities. I hope that these results will also be instrumental in comparing the penetration of English in French higher education with that of other countries.