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Teaching French & English

TEACHING FRENCH TO ENGLISH SPEAKERS AND

TEACHING ENGLISH TO FRENCH SPEAKERS

This very short introductory paper briefly points out some of the major difficulties the French have in learning English and the English French. It also hazards some recommendations regarding the teaching of these languages. Suggestions are of a general nature, inasmuch as there are various levels of acquired and expected competencies for various age groups with various objectives and learning environments.

"As a world language, French is holding its own surprisingly well in the face of constant competition from English" (Harris, 1988, p. 209). Fortunately for the learner of French, the language is evolving rapidly both in its lexis and its grammar--and, in fact, in its phonology. The one major problem for the novice student, however, is that most French courses and learning methods are still steeped in the anachronistic dictates of the AcadTmie Frantaise and of classical grammar books. Indeed, "traditionally grammars have been prescriptive, based on certain norms of 'good' or 'accepted', and as such they have been incomplete since they do not describe the language as spoken or written by many of those who use it" (Judge & Healy, 1995, p. xxxv). Another problem is that "Nonnative speakers of French can reach a point in their knowledge of the language where they feel comfortable with standard formal speech. However, they are liable to get themselves into hot water when confronted with idiomatic expressions" (Cassagne, 1996, p. vii). Whereas professors of French, infused with the intricacies of linguistics and with reverence for the AcadTmie and academe, find that textbook French pronouns, prepositions, and the use of tenses are the major areas of difficulty, students' "chief stumbling blocks" would seem to be "the subjunctive and the conjugation of irregular verbs" (Grew & Olivier, 1986, p. vi).

The French student of English is faced with a diff...

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Teaching French & English. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 12:51, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1690469.html