Abstract

This talk will present the results of a qualitative study conducted to better know the individual verbal repertoires of ten English native students learning French at a beginner level. This investigation consisted firstly of guided interviews in English with a view to recording students’ language biography; students then had to do a series of linguistic activities namely attempting to explain the idiomatic expression “Pardon my French”, identifying loan words within two English texts, commenting on 12 adverts including words borrowed from the French language.

Thus, building on the narratives of their individual experiences, including accounts, observations, reflections and perceptions, I tried to capture the relationship students have with the French language, what they know of it and its history, how they see it and how close they feel to this language. 

Research Interests

My research interests span across the fields of plurilingualism didactics and language teachers’ education. 

For my Ph.D in Language Sciences at Paris-Descartes University, I questioned the didactic transposition of the sociolinguistic concept of verbal repertoire with a view to understanding the challenges for language teachers of implementing language integrated approach in Language Education. 

Since January 2017, I have been involved in the Diasporic Identities Research Strand within the Language Acts and Worldmaking Project at King’s College London and my current research work consists in collecting and examining data from English speaker learners about their language representations with a view to developing a French learning methodology based on French-English similarities and fostering English speaker students to resort to their linguistic repertoire to learn French more effectively and gain more reflexivity and learning autonomy. 

In addition to my research work, I am also teaching French for Academic purposes at King’s College London to Post-Graduate students and French for Sciences at Imperial College to Undergraduate students.

Publications

  • ‘Intercomprehension: a reflexive methodology in Language Education’, Education et Sociétés Plurilingues,  44, 2018, pp 71-84
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