This paper attempts to give a unified view of the workings of noun clauses. These are considered according to three main types corresponding to three different kinds of source sentences. All three types can be used in any usual noun-phrase function, especially subject, direct object, and prepositional object. Four factors which complicate the…

Recommends the "distributional" and transformational grammar approach as especially suitable for developing a teaching grammar for dealing with the French simple infinitive and infinitive with "de". (IFS/WGA)

Recommends introducting appropriate grammar instruction following pattern drill on various structures. Examples given (from French) are: partitive articles, certain perfect tense forms, and personal pronouns. This makes possible instruction entirely in the target language. For grammatical models, distributive structuralism and…

Discusses and exemplifies the author's use of transformational methods to clarify the seemingly arbitrary use of "de" and "a" to introduce the infinitive in French. (Text is in French.) (MSE)

Criticizes attempts to incorporate transformational grammar into foreign language teaching, citing specific failures in experiments with the transformational grammar model. (IFS/WGA)

Examines the positive and negative features of traditional, transformational, and notional grammar as they relate to the teaching of French as a foreign language. (AM)

(Text is in French.)

Explains techniques used in teaching the process of nominalization to foreign students at the Universite de Paris VIII, in reaction to common usage in the press. The techniques specifically do not use a generative grammar approach but apply principles of transformation for syntactical description. (Text is in French.) (MSE)

Argues that Chomsky's theory of generative grammar provides a model for second language acquisition that meets the criteria of descriptive and exploratory adequacy in accounting for the language learning process. Illustrates this by presenting data on the acquisition of dative complements and dative questions in a passive context by second…

Although critical of some of the claims made for contrastive analysis in the past, this article treats contrastive analysis as a useful pursuit which can contribute to language learning. (FB)

A device of emphasis in French syntax is defined as a construction of syntactic paraphrase whose function is to make certain parts of a sentence stand out for purposes of contrast, clarification, differentiation, or because a given element is considered important. These devices exist in French because of the lack of a phonemic stress system, and…

This paper focuses on the study of markedness theory in Universal Grammar (UG) and its implications in Second Language Acquisition (SLA), showing that the language learners should consciously compare and contrast the similarities and differences between his native language and target language, which will facilitate their learning. (Contains 2…

Challenges the idea that grammatical representations in second-language development are parametric values that are transferred from the learner's native language, offering learner data incompatible with this view. Advocates a weak transfer model in which lexical and functional projections transfer, but morphology-driven values of features like the…

A progress report is presented of a study which applies a system of generative grammar to error analysis. The objective of the study was to reconstruct the grammar of students' interlanguage, using a systematic analysis of errors. (Interlanguage refers to the linguistic competence of a student who possesses a relatively systematic body of rules,…

THIS PAPER DISCUSSES THE SELECTION OF A PEDAGOGICAL NORM FOR FRENCH INTERROGATIVE STRUCTURES. SINCE THIS AREA OF FRENCH GRAMMAR IS PARTICULARLY POLYMORPHOUS, OBJECTIVE CRITERIA ARE SET UP TO MAKE THE SELECTION--FREQUENCY, COMPLEXITY, AND EXTENSIVITY. BECAUSE "EST-CE QUE" CAN BE APPLIED WITHOUT EXCEPTION TO ALL TYPES OF KERNEL SENTENCES, IT WAS…