Chasing Canadian dreams through learning French: A narrative study on new Chinese immigrants’ transnational and learning experiences in Montreal

This research examines the French learning experience of Chinese new immigrants who landed and lived in Quebec within 5 years. Limited research focused on the lived experience of Chinese immigrants and their French learning paths, although they were the second largest group of immigrants in Quebec from 2019 to 2023. Due to the unique history and official language requirement of Quebec, the Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration (MIFI) funded new immigrants to learn French to accelerate their integration in Quebec. However, this monolingual teaching courses did not fully prepare them to fulfill their language and employment aspirations. Thus, the research question arises as to (1) how the government-funded francization program shapes and supports new Chinese immigrants’ realization of their Canadian dreams; and (2) how the Chinese new immigrants agentically makes sense of their new life in Quebec and actively pursues their aspirations through attending the MIFI programs? Informed by the theoretical frameworks of transnationalism, assimilationism, and cultural citizenship, the study employs narrative inquiry as its methodology to explore the lived and learning experience of new Chinese immigrants. The author recruited 5 participants to investigate their life history as they traveled between Canada and China, pursued initial Canadian dreams and aspirations, learned in MIFI, and formulated their evolving identities. From the transcription of semi-structured interviews in the summer of 2024, I argue that three aspects should be taken into consideration to help new immigrants reach their aspirations: the one-size-fit-all monolingual teaching method doesn’t consider the diverse background of students, the sexual harassment happened in schools lacks the monitor and reporting systems, the barriers in employment such as professionalism and social network could be addressed in courses and activities.The study helps to bridge the research gap in the Chinese community in Quebec after the Covid-19 pandemic. It furthers the understanding of their French learning paths and lived experience under Bill 96. During the writing process, the study records timely social changes in immigrant policy and the special phenomenon of Chinese peidu mothers’ dilemma (who accompany their children to study abroad while their partners are working back in China), which have influenced participants’ future plans and provided further research directions in this ethnic community

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