This study investigates the role of the Internet in teaching and learning French as a second language. In facilitating communication with francophones and access to topical information in French, the use of the Internet addresses many of the criticisms identified in prior research of the static nature of traditional computer-assisted language learning (CALL). The Internet potentially plays an important role in realizing the goals of the communicative approach in the British Columbia Core French curriculum. This study documents a variety of language learning activities that make use of the Internet's many facets, such as electronic mail, listservs, gophers, Usenet newsgroups, and World-Wide Web. Questionnaires were distributed to French teachers who either registered for an electronically-distributed course or attended a workshop on using the Internet in the French as a second language classroom. Follow-up interviews were conducted with a selection of teachers who completed and returned the questionnaire. The present study found that French teachers continue to value the Internet most for the exchange of electronic mail with francophone students. While expressing interest in other Internetbased activities, the teachers identified overriding concerns about keeping their students on-task, and about the poor quality and quantity of computing facilities at their schools. Further research should involve case studies with teachers who are implementing a variety of Internet activities over an extended term.

This study compared the attitudes, motivation, self-concept and performance of two Grade 9 Core French (FSL) classes in Ontario. One class of 16 students used computer mediated communication (CMC) for approximately 1.5 hours per week. The other class of 24 students did not use computers. Analysis of covariance showed no statistically significant differences on any quantitative measures of attitude, motivation, self-concept or performance. The analysis of student interview responses and teacher observations revealed no significant between-group differences on these four variables either. The results suggest that computers are not better than traditional communicative methods of second language teaching in developing Grade 9 FSL students' attitudes, motivation, self-concept and performance. Since the teacher was the variable common to both classes, however, her influence may explain the undifferentiated between-group results. Regardless of the methods used to teach students, the teacher may always be the most influential variable in determining students' attitudes, motivation, self-concept and performance.

No description available.

This study investigates the role of the Internet in teaching and learning French as a second language. In facilitating communication with francophones and access to topical information in French, the use of the Internet addresses many of the criticisms identified in prior research of the static nature of traditional computer-assisted language learning (CALL). The Internet potentially plays an important role in realizing the goals of the communicative approach in the British Columbia Core French curriculum. This study documents a variety of language learning activities that make use of the Internet's many facets, such as electronic mail, listservs, gophers, Usenet newsgroups, and World-Wide Web. Questionnaires were distributed to French teachers who either registered for an electronically-distributed course or attended a workshop on using the Internet in the French as a second language classroom. Follow-up interviews were conducted with a selection of teachers who completed and returned the questionnaire. The present study found that French teachers continue to value the Internet most for the exchange of electronic mail with francophone students. While expressing interest in other Internetbased activities, the teachers identified overriding concerns about keeping their students on-task, and about the poor quality and quantity of computing facilities at their schools. Further research should involve case studies with teachers who are implementing a variety of Internet activities over an extended term. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

This study investigated the leisure reading of British Columbia grade 6 anglophone French immersion students, attempting to find out their genre preferences, their language preferences, the amounts they read, and whether there were significant differences between the reading of the boys and the girls. It further sought to determine whether there were any relationships between the children's reading and teacher, teacher-librarian and public librarian activities, or the French language materials to which the children had access. Data were collected by means of four questionnaires—to grade 6 immersion students, to grade 6 language arts teachers (English and French), to teacher-librarians in immersion schools, and to public librarians in communities with immersion schools. Statistical analyses were made of: circumstances reported by the teachers, teacher-librarians, and public librarians by isolating the replies of the children in the corresponding classes. This researcher found that: children preferred to read in English; genre preferences varied widely from child to child, and were different between boys and girls; very few activities of teachers, teacher-librarians or public librarians could be related to the volume of children's reading; and very few circumstances of the school library collections could be related to the volume of children's reading. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

This study compared the attitudes, motivation, self-concept and performance of two Grade 9 Core French (FSL) classes in Ontario. One class of 16 students used computer mediated communication (CMC) for approximately 1.5 hours per week. The other class of 24 students did not use computers. Analysis of covariance showed no statistically significant differences on any quantitative measures of attitude, motivation, self-concept or performance. The analysis of student interview responses and teacher observations revealed no significant between-group differences on these four variables either. The results suggest that computers are not better than traditional communicative methods of second language teaching in developing Grade 9 FSL students' attitudes, motivation, self-concept and performance. Since the teacher was the variable common to both classes, however, her influence may explain the undifferentiated between-group results. Regardless of the methods used to teach students, the teacher may always be the most influential variable in determining students' attitudes, motivation, self-concept and performance. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

This study analyzes students' use of the French second-person pronouns tu (T) and vous (V) in small-group (2-3 students) inter-learner online chat sessions. The influence of internal linguistic factors (i.e., turn type and morphosyntactic environment) on learners' appropriate vs. inappropriate use of these pronouns is considered. The study also investigates the influence of Instructional Level on tu-vous use and the extent to which students from different instructional levels provide various types of peer assistance (e.g., lexical, morphosyntactic, and sociolinguistic/pragmatic) . Pronoun use was extremely unstable for learners of all levels, and a Kruskal-Wallis analysis revealed that Instructional Level did not significantly affect appropriate T/V use overall. Instructional Level and Syntax did, however, significantly affect interrogative T/V use, as shown through multivariate analyses. Peer-assisted performance was limited to lexical retrieval. Pedagogical recommendations are presented for teaching and learning second-person pronouns in French.

No description available.

No description available.

Doctorat en sciences psychologiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished