Presentation

Spoken French in a Pronunciation Course: Impressions and Applications

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Abstract

Standard French, also called international French, is typically taught in the second language (L2) classroom because native speakers of French from any geographical or social background should be able to understand it. Therefore, standard French gives learners a communication tool useful in most contexts. However, this arbitrary choice creates a linguistic dichotomy: native speakers, particularly those in the age group of our own L2 learners in a university setting, do not speak standard French. In this small-scale study, students enrolled in university French pronunciation courses share their opinions on standard and non-standard varieties of French in the second language classroom. Data were gathered through online pre-course and post-course questionnaires. A vast majority felt that being exposed to different varieties of French is important. In addition, most found standard and non-standard varieties equally important to learn, the former being a necessary foundation and the latter important building blocks giving relevance and authenticity to language learning. After discussing the results and pedagogical implications, activities on standard and non-standard language features are presented.

How to Cite:

Miller, J. & Grim, F., (2014) “Spoken French in a Pronunciation Course: Impressions and Applications”, Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Proceedings 6(1).