Teaching spoken French in FFL (French as a foreign language)

Бюллетень науки и практики / Bulletin of Science and Practice

UDC 372.881.1                                      

Nowadays, with the rise of computers and new technologies, the priority of the standard language and the diversity of the multimedia supports challenge of teaching French: the French we hear on the radio, on television, on the internet and in the lyrics accompanying various music is very different from what we learn in class [1]. The discrepancy is more apparent during verbal communication between the student and a "gang" of French natives: they do not understand each other. Lexical poverty is only the goat emissary, it is in particular the inequality of linguistic registers that constitutes the main and deep cause of this misunderstanding, in addition to the culture and of thought. Indeed, most common expressions, especially oral belong to the colloquial register, which is almost marginalized and even despised in traditional class [20]. According to the communicative approach, the teaching of French as a foreign language must take into account both living variations and the formation of sociolinguistic skills and intercultural, so that students are equipped and adapt better to the particularities of real contexts. Deliver verbal communication from weight of the linguistic norm by taking advantage of colloquial language, this is what we plan to do. In the first part, this article treats rather the problems of notions: definition, distinction, characteristics and present state of the colloquial language; in the second part, we will try to analyze the importance of colloquial language for oral communication; finally we will finish by giving some ideas to improve the teaching-learning of oral and make it more efficient [2].

At present, young French people speak among themselves French that includes so-called “unconventional” expressions. We are well aware that colloquial language is penetrating common language and is spreading particularly with the expansion of new communication technologies which nowadays play a rather important role. French radio, French articles and magazines are often use familiar words and phrases. We understand that a constantly changing, rapidly evolving language cannot maintain its sustainable form [3].

Obviously, in order to understand and enhance the rest of the concept, it is necessary to master the basics of linguistics. It is necessary to make the theoretical approach by analyzing the various registers of language with their specific characteristics. Today, most French speakers use colloquial French, especially in informal spaces [3].

Experiment

The colloquial language plays very important role in all languages and it must be learned to better understand contemporary French. It is obvious that we must have a solid linguistic base on which we can increase our understanding. . Colloquial language is not only used in spoken language but also in school life which should be the model of supported language. So we have to take into account the fact that colloquial language is part of everyday life. He it was sustained, standard, colloquial and popular French. the boundary between these terms is extremely difficult to define. definitions vary widely among linguists [4].

Obviously, we don't talk the same way to our friends, to our parents, to the office or to the teacher. As we have already mentioned, there is a register for every situation and it all depends on who you are talking to. We will distinguish four main registers – supported, standard, familiar and popular. The differentiation of certain registers is still much debated among linguists [5].

First, we will try to establish the difference between register and language level. Next, we will analyze the language registers. We will distinguish four main registers – supported, standard, familiar and popular. The differentiation of certain registers is still much debated among linguists.

Secondly, we will identify the definitions of colloquial French which appears as the main term of our research. We will try to compare the definitions of several linguists in order to draw conclusions. Then, we will present the characteristics of colloquial language from the point of view of pronunciation, grammar and lexicon. In addition, we will offer our own understanding for the purposes of this work [6].

Finally, we will focus on the standard. Although not always clear, the issue of a foreign language standard for foreign language users and the general public is of concern not only to teachers and students, but also to textbooks developed and used by teachers in the classroom. Since we are dealing with the subject of colloquial French in education, it follows that we will also address the standard. Colloquial French is part of the norm, as linguist Claude Duneton says “sentences are simple, but conform to proper usage.” In other words, colloquial French is relatively conformable to the rules and allowed under certain conditions [5].

They explain to us that slang is divided into vulgar and popular level. In addition, they come up with a new term – substandard French.16 This French includes colloquial, popular and vulgar French.

We can see that there are several classifications to name the language levels. Each author has his own classification. The linguist Marina Yaguello uses several denominations for the different language levels, while the linguists AïnoNiklas-name. Moreover, we notice that in the linguists mentioned above the slang level is completely lacking [7].

Therefore, Jean and Nicole Fournier explain to us that slang belongs to the popular or vulgar level. Marina Yaguello distinguishes the popular level with its vulgar synonym, while with Jean and Nicole Tournier the popular and vulgar levels are divided into two different levels.

However, if we do not know of any principle which currently makes it possible to have a single classification of language levels, we can base ourselves on the existence of four registers used by the linguist Marina Yaguello.17 Let us recall that she distinguishes a French supported, standard, familiar and popular. This classification seems to us the most suitable, which is why we are going to look at these registers to determine their specific characterizations. It is possible to speak of certain obscurities, some of which come from the way languages are transformed.

A language is an institution linked to a social collectivity. Languages are only maintained by being transmitted from one individual to another. It can also happen that two French people will not speak the same French and will use, depending on the situation, different language registers [8].

In addition, it looks at some colloquial language definitions of different linguists and tries to compare them in order to draw conclusions. Also, we must also observe what definitions the dictionaries of the French language can bring us. Then, it presents the characteristics of colloquial language from the point of view of pronunciation, grammar and lexicon. Finally, it focuses on the norm that is part of colloquial language. After classifying and analyzing the different words found in textbooks, it seems quite problematic to define whether such a word or expression belongs to colloquial language or to another register. Moreover, it is believed that nouns occupy the first place in colloquial language [9].

The question we should ask ourselves is: what is a standard? The norm states that a certain way of speaking is preferable to others. According to the Petit Robert 2014 we can characterize the norm as “what in speech, in discourse corresponds to general use”. On the other hand, the Larousse dictionary defines the norm as a “system of instructions defining what must be chosen among the uses of a language if one wants to conform to a certain aesthetic or socio-cultural ideal. (The norm is then confused with “good use”).

According to linguist Marina Yaguello, the term norm is ambiguous. It can be understood in an objective sense, which refers to the average of productions (in relation to the normal adjective), or in a subjective sense, which concerns the fact of enacting the way in which one should express oneself (and the corresponding adjective is then normative or normalized). The two meanings are not unrelated: the authoritarian norm exploits the social evaluation to which every speaker constantly engages [10].

The French language includes two types of norms – usage and proper usage. When dealing with the subject of “the norm”, it is this good use that is alluded to and what is opposed by everything that will be regarded as lax, incorrect, impure, faulty or vulgar.The standard of use is that which conforms to what is most often used and what is generally shared by all the speakers of the language or by different groups of speakers in a given social environment. In other words, it refers to all social linguistic habits, in other words everyday French. This norm is opposed to the prescriptive norm, which corresponds to a system of rules established by normative acts and made compulsory for a given community [11].

Notion of the familiar register. Teaching a language is, to some extent, educating learners on its variability, which results above all from formal transformations and which becomes more marked according to one language register or another. The familiar register, set aside supported and standard registers which, considered as the unfailing base of writing, appears a little “naive” due to this prejudice. Reflection of a sociological reality complex, the colloquial register, understood in the broad sense, poses an obvious problem of demarcation. We are used to simply classifying everything that is outside of the norm in a single category entitled "the rest" thinking that this one sometimes makes us feel uncomfortable or even ashamed in most contexts linguistics. In fact, to clarify this question, it is essential to illustrate what the familiar register is composed of and how it differs from other registers [12].

We will talk about the first point in the next part, while the last we let's deal with it now. There does not seem to be a consensus on the number and the naming of the different language registers. Since a typology to four registers occurs most often, we will use it in this article as the basis of our research. In this diagram, we try to align, by chaining, four circles corresponding to the four registers. The zones of coincidences replace the sharp border and transmit a fuzzy idea of the relationship between these registers. Looks like the middle place colloquial register-between standard language and vulgar language-implies the complexity of its definition. According to Mercier, we naturally adopt the language familiar “when you are in the company of parents, friends or other people with whom you feel comfortable, in a situation that promotes exchanges spontaneous. Oral language is the privileged place of the colloquial register, whereas the written language is the privileged place of the neat register..” The familiar register is specific to a vocabulary that is little supervised, used between parents, friends and colleagues. Let us add again the definition given in the Petit Robert: a register of language used in everyday life, in informal conversations, as a replacement for more formal language. It is distinguished from slang, which is used by a particular community or social group, because colloquial language is used by everyone, regardless of social background. Therefore, our article will have subject colloquial language which belongs to current language while being different standard and vulgar languages, as well as two zones of coincidences shared with them [20].

Colloquial language is determined in particular by a way of speaking with simple words and sometimes vulgar. Everyone uses this register in conversations between friends or friends or even when a person is upset, angry. It is marked by a large number of freedoms admitted under certain conditions [13].

This register is used in communication situations without social constraints or institutional. On the contrary, it is not used in relations with superiors or people you don't know. Sentences are short, choppy, incomplete, or suspensive. The order of the words is dictated by the expressiveness: the segmentation is put in relief. We use very polysemous words and the expressive tone is important. It is often used in idiomatic expressions. It is also necessary to take into account the context and of the situation of the enunciation.

Ex: Romain didn't eat breakfast. By the end of the morning, he had the slab.

To have the slab means in colloquial language to be hungry.What is this popular French, formerly noted pop. in dictionaries? This level was defined in 1920 by Henri Bauche: "The idiom spoken fluently and naturally by the people. This was tantamount to dividing the spoken language and the written language into idioms of Classes. In 1965, for Pierre Guiraud, popular French was "vulgar speech, language of the people of Paris, in their daily life. » We rediscover in this definition of the determination already used by Henri Bauche. Moreover, we notice a contemptuous assessment of "vulgar speech" which suggests that the word people retain its pejorative character of lower class, the lower class opposed to the classes cultivated. The notion of popular language is still quite vague and fluent. According to Françoise Gadet, the popular word means ordinary speech, especially in Paris, although that it is impossible to differentiate the speakers and the characteristic features for this type of registry. It does not respond to any precise reality. Currently, in the university environment, the colloquial register is not sufficiently considered, or that it is simply displayed at the end of a lesson as knowledge optional to know, or that the teachers practice it only in the framework of an oral comprehension while forgetting the production. Some even think avoid it on the pretext of running out of time. During beginner learning, no one dares to teach us to say "it's nickel/nice", everyone falls into unanimity by producing "it's good". Of course, there are books appealing to colloquial language at the bookstore, but classical education does not mocks by deeming them useless for systematic studies. In these cases, the anguage we teach is no longer a living thing, but a skeleton dry, gaunt, removed from real life [14].

This register is generally used in less educated environments. French popular is well characterized by a kind of badly conjugated verbs, by the absence of a binding, by idiomatic expressions, by improper terms, pejorative terms, English or even truncated words [15].

Indeed, when the popular register is "enriched" with words and expressions of the street and environments conducive to delinquency, it can turn into a slang register or vulgar. Linguist Claude Duneton defines slang as follows: "Slang is the language of delinquency, which includes the deaf language of prostitution, as old as theft and murder. The term slang therefore came at the right time to stigmatize the language of racaille: a distinction was made between "good French", the one brewed by ordinary writers, and that the school organization in formation claimed loudly, so as not to say "fiercely", and slang without distinction of nuance. The use therefore settled down thus, supported in the 20th century by schools and universities, in a simple dichotomy: everything which was not "French" was "slang". » Slang shows us how it can function as a verlan (e.g. la party – the party). That said, the form of some words may seem funnier and more expressive. In other words, "slang is the particular language that is created within determined social or socio-professional groups, and through which the individual displays his belonging to the group and stands out from the mass of speaking subjects» [16].

However, the border between slang and popular language is extremely difficult to define [17].

What characterizes spoken language is that it is not afraid to highlight summits of thought… This spoken language is close to spontaneous language… thus opposed to grammatical language. But in reality in the activities teaching in oral French as a foreign language, spontaneity risks being evacuated instead of being respected [18]. We are so afraid of producing inaccurate words that we lack of courage and self-confidence. However when we practice our mother tongue, when talking to friends or to loved ones with familiar words that naturally come out of the mouth in depending on the communication situations and the relational psychology that they arouse. Abuse of standard language can be very discourteous to those who are strangers to their relational network. In reality, self-confidence is well restored once we have received the sign of the interlocutor's reaction.Indeed, spontaneity and self-confidence are obtained through the use of colloquial language: the more natural you are, the more spontaneous you are [19].

Conclusions

This article has made us aware of the importance of colloquial language in the teaching of French as a foreign language. From therefore, we can ask ourselves what role colloquial language plays in teaching of the FLE. Nowadays colloquial language is used a lot by young users of the language, most of whom are teenagers, not only of French origin. In French society, colloquial language provokes many debates.

He is essential to mention the advantages of this register concerned. Certainly we we can talk about the speed and above all the facilitation and simplification of the language. Obviously colloquial language is changing at an exponential rate. Therefore, there will be words and phrases that won't stay common forever.

Colloquial language is used in routine communication but not in dealings with superiors or people that we do not know. Colloquial language belongs to everyday life, is used in all opportunities of ordinary life but is not accepted in writing in the school system. He it follows that it is a register tolerated, strictly speaking, in a school conversation, but strongly rejected in writing. In short, it is obvious that there is no single definition of colloquial language. On the contrary, there are several and each differs a little from the other. We're not going to argue right now about the good or bad of this, because there are different points of view on this issue. However, colloquial language can be considered as an element foundation of the French language.