Communicative Competence and Ancillary Conversation Courses in French

Abstract

This article describes an innovative curricular program which allows students to opt for more oral practice of a modern foreign language in real communication situations. It also discusses classroom procedures and provides specific in formation as to materials and methods used in these courses. The results of this curricular alternative include increased student enrollments.At a time when many foreign language departments are experiencing a decline in enrollments, the French department at Southwest Missouri State University is witnessing a reversal of this almost national trend. In the last three years we have enjoyed a significant increase in our firstyear program, improved our retention of continuing students, and have seen the number of French minors grow. We attribute our success to a change in format and three innovative courses stressing spoken French.Prior to the fall of 1976, the basic twelve-hour French sequence was a traditional one. The first year was comprised of FRN 101 and 102, which i Michael Buscaglia Indiana University Lyle R. Polly Missouri State University each met three hours a week, for a total of six humanities credits. We began and finished one standard first-year text, usually one with an audiolingual approach, with optional practice time in the language lab. The second year courses, FRN 201-202, which likewise met three hours weekly for a total of six humanities hours, were spent reading, discussing, and writing short essays on French history, culture, and contemporary literature. All classroom activities were conducted in the target language. Attrition from the first year to the second was extreme, and overall enrollments in French were declining drastically.The results of several student surveys clearly indicated that their needs and wants were different from what our program offered. They wanted more opportunities to speak French. We nbw believe that the problem with our first-year program was that we overloaded students with too many conjugations, detailed grammatical explanations, and exercises. In trying to cover material in six hours which is often covered in eight to ten hours at other universities, our students were frustrated, and unable to communicate orally after a full year of study. The PlanIn the fall of 1976, we took the first of three steps. We selected a new textbook' and spread the first-year program over three semesters or nine Foreign Language Annak. 14. No. I , 1981 47