ACADEMIC RESOURCES ON GENERAL FRENCH PRAGMATICS

Resources in this section curated by: Illena Trebont

Mougeon, Rehner, K., & Nadasdi, T. (2004). The learning of spoken French variation by immersion students from Toronto, Canada. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 8(3), 408–432. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2004.00267.x 

This study examines the use and acquisition of French sociolinguistic variants in Toronto, Canada. Participants in this study were 41 adolescents enrolled in a French immersion school. Results of the study revealed that L2 immersion students display incomplete mastery of sociolinguistic forms compared to native speakers, in part because teachers in the immersion school do not include pragmatic instruction in the curriculum and overly use standardized forms. This study shows that even in environments where L2 proficiency is emphasized and native-like proficiency is the goal, such as immersion schools, pragmatic instruction is needed for students to obtain the necessary skills to interact with native speakers.

Van Compernolle, Rémi. (2010). Towards a Sociolinguistically Responsive Pedagogy: Teaching Second-Person Address Forms in French. Canadian Modern Language Review-revue Canadienne Des Langues Vivantes - CAN MOD LANG REV. 66. 445-463. 10.3138/cmlr.66.3.445. 

This article describes sociolinguistic patterns of tu and vous (formal and informal pronoun) use in L2 learners and native speakers of French. Using research on tu and vous forms to ground the analysis, this article offers a framework for implementing French pragmatic instruction from a sociolinguistic perspective and makes suggestions regarding what activities could be used to teach French pragmatics such as online chat role play and incorporating authentic data from native speakers such as examining scenes from French films.