Volume 4, Issue 2, December 2010

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https://hdl.handle.net/2328/36789

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    Teacher Reaction to and Understanding of A Task-based Embedded Syllabus in Queensland
    (Department of Languages and Applied Linguistics, Flinders University, 2010) Sparks, Candice
    In 2000, a new French syllabus was introduced into Queensland schools for years 4-10. The syllabus is unique in that it combines task-based methodology with embedded content. Teachers are quite divided in their support of the syllabus. This study explored two main research questions. Firstly, which groups of teachers use the syllabus and what are the possible reasons for such trends?Secondly, this paper discusses teacher-defined problematic issues relating to the syllabus. The aim of this study is to capture teachers’ voices as they express concerns about and support for the syllabus.
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    Les manuels récents de français langue étrangère : entre perspective actionnelle et approche communicative
    (Department of Languages and Applied Linguistics, Flinders University, 2010) Puren, Christian
    In order to trace the emergence of the influence of an action-oriented approach to language teaching and learning, this paper presents an examination of activities proposed by three recent French textbooks. The textbooks treated are still very much grounded in the communicative approach, although to varying degrees, while they attempt to move towards a more action-oriented pedagogy. The interest of observing these “transitional” textbooks is that such an examination can reveal differences and similarities in logic with regards to the approach and also what might be modified in terms of teaching practice in the future. The paper concludes by raising the issue of how to construct phases in textbook teaching units within the logical framework of an action-oriented approach and proposes different models of organisation.
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    Introduction: Turn of the century innovations in language teaching
    (Department of Languages and Applied Linguistics, Flinders University, 2010) Rolin-Ianziti, Jeanne; Hanna, Barbara E
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    Shooting short videos in French with mobile phones
    (Department of Languages and Applied Linguistics, Flinders University, 2010) Gabarre, Serge; Gabarre, Cécile
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    Reconceptualiser le cinéma dans les études de langues: du film au Wiki
    (Department of Languages and Applied Linguistics, Flinders University, 2010) Maurer, Louise
    This article deals with the development of a course in cinema for students in a French programme of an Australian university. The author justifies her key pedagogical choices both with respect to the proposed analysis of the cinematic texts studied (an intercultural approach dealing with genre and intertextuality) and to the activity required of students (collaborative construction of wiki pages discussing the films). The first part of the paper presents an example of the kind of analysis that was presented to students, with a contrastive discussion of the French film Le Pacte des Loups and the Australian film Razorback in terms of generic mixity, local adaptation of wider cinematic tropes and questions of cultural representation. The second reports on a learning activity in which students, in collaboration with peers, built multimodal wiki pages presenting their own analyses of films. These wikis were open for viewing by all class members and generated discussion across groups. Finally, the author evaluates the use of the wikis, in terms of student reaction to them and also her own pedagogical objectives in encouraging deeper, critical, analysis of the films chosen.
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    Didactiques de l’intercompréhension et enseignement du français en contexte plurilingue
    (Department of Languages and Applied Linguistics, Flinders University, 2010) Wauthion, Michel
    Intercomprehension is an innovative technique for teaching and learning based on the ability of speakers quickly to master techniques for transferring competences between related languages, principally with respect to comprehension. This methodology relies on activities contrasting with those communicative practices that have become the rule in the area of teaching language and cultures, such as translation, contrastive grammar, the importance of writing. The methodological common denominator is that of a plurilingual and pluricultural pedagogy. Learning French thus opens a door to a range of romance languages spoken by more than 500 million people throughout the world. For French-speakers, intercomprehension represents a means of rapid access to related languages and cultures, at the same time encouraging reflexive observation of the first language. The practice of intercomprehension educates for plurilingualism. It targets the development of a new relationship with languages, by means of an active practice of observation, which makes it possible to justify the acquisition of partial competencies in a language as a valid goal for learning.
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    Teachers’ task implementation: a longitudinal case study
    (Department of Languages and Applied Linguistics, Flinders University, 2010) Rolin-Ianziti, Jeanne
    Although research on Task Based Language Teaching (TBLT) has described the principles of the approach (Long 1985; Ellis 2003) and offered recommendations on how to implement TBLT (Willis & Willis 2007), there are only a few studies investigating teachers’ use of tasks in the classroom environment (Samuda 2009). The present paper reports the findings of a case study that examines how two teachers of beginning French at tertiary level implemented two similar tasks into the classroom at two distinct moments in the academic year. The tasks are extracted from a task-based textbook, namely Rond Point (Labascoule et al. 2004). The purpose of the study is not, however, to assess the worth of the textbook but to investigate which pedagogical practices the teachers developed around the tasks in order to adapt them to the classroom context. The study analyses data collected through classroom observations as well as pre- and post- class time discussions in which the two teachers planned and assessed their teaching. The findings reveal an evolution in the teachers’ procedures over the academic year from teaching to the “task-as-work plan” (Breen 1987) (or following the instructions in the textbook) to developing a pedagogical approach to teaching with tasks. The study concludes by stressing the importance of the teacher contribution to TBLT implementation, though it concedes that the findings cannot be generalised before additional teacher research is carried out in other educational contexts.