A Didactic Sequence for Phrasemes in L2 French

Abstract

This paper deals with vocabulary teaching in French as a foreign language by focusing on the case of phraseological units. More precisely, it aims to design a didactic sequence for phrasemes within the theoretical framework of Explanatory Combinatorial Lexicology. Our study is based on a corpus-based experience of phraseology teaching conducted in a class of Italian university students learning French as a foreign language. Results indicated that, at the end of the course, students were able to describe the morphosyntactic structure and the use of phraseology in general or specialized language, but that they frequently made mistakes on these elements, in particular in writing, and that there was some confusion over the distinction between different types of phrasemes. Therefore, we propose a didactic sequence that focuses on a sample of phraseological units connected with discursive functions in argumentative texts and that includes the use of online resources in order to give a metalinguistic commentary. Our purpose is to draw a distinction between idioms and collocations, according to a progressive acquisition of metalexical competencies.