FOCUS ON FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE: MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES

Extract

FOCUS ON FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE: MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES. Jean-Marc Dewaele (Ed.). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2005. Pp. x + 242. $79.96 cloth, $39.96 paper.

This volume is a collection of 10 chapters that report on various research projects in SLA, all relating to the learning of French or the nature of French second language (L2) interlanguage (IL). Although the use of the descriptor “multidisciplinary” seems a bit of a stretch, a range of specific research questions is addressed, in varying contexts, including the acquisition of French as a L2 or foreign language, in naturalistic or instructional contexts, by speakers of various first languages (L1s) and at beginning or, often, advanced stages of acquisition. Whereas the volume naturally takes its place in what the editor refers to as “the Anglo-Saxon SLA world” (p. viii) with strong representation of the Universal Grammar perspective, there are also contributors working in variationist sociolinguistics and a traditional psycholinguistic framework.