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)

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)

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…

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…

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…

This manual has been developed to supplement the drills in Units 1 through 15 of the FSI "French Basic Course," or to substitute for them. Designed as a companion piece, the materials do not stand on their own but must be used in conjunction with the dialogues, grammatical notes and instructions in "French Basic Course", to which the numbered…

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…

This paper describes a pilot program in an integrated media presentation of foreign languages and the production and usage of seven computer-generated video tapes which demonstrate various aspects of French syntax. This instructional set could form the basis for CAI lessons in which the student is presented images identical to those on the video…

This second manual of tape scripts, together with a set of foreign language audio tapes for level 2 French, was prepared to support the curriculum bulletin, New York City Foreign Language Program for Secondary Schools: French, Levels 1-5. Vocabulary, repetition, transformation, and recombination drills on specific grammatical features allow…

This collection resulting from a workshop on language teaching methodology contains the following papers: (1) "Current Views and Principles on Unlocking the FL Treasure Chest," by R. Lado; (2) "Effective Ways of Teaching First-Year French," by J.G. Nicholas; (3) "Teaching Conversation and Comprehension Skills in Elementary…