This article addresses the questions: why is the development of conversational competence important within higher education? And how might this goal be pursued? We offer answers that may aid a broad range of stakeholders (language learners, course designers, lecturers, language development managers, and policy makers) in thinking through these…

Tasks can vary in terms of difficulty and implementation conditions, and these in turn may affect the nature of the language produced by the learner. There have been a large number of studies which have investigated the effects of these task properties and implementation conditions on the language the learner produces. To date, results have been…

This presentation is a case study of the Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) development of Mark, one of ten American students engaged in a desktop-videoconferencing telecollaborative exchange with a class of French students. Due in part to its inherent complexity, this context has not been widely researched. To observe ICC development, I…

Presents an argument in favor of using de Tocqueville as a point of departure for French conversation classes for advanced undergraduate students. Gives samples of questions prompted by readings of de Tocqueville. (BK)

Discusses research in listening comprehension and proposes model for listening comprehension activities in college French conversation courses. (BK)

Describes and gives examples of "chatter chain," a method of teaching pupils to develop their French oral skills from a single question and answer that lead to a short conversation. This method combines the main linguistic structures to be learned with enought new grammar to allow a fair degree of pupil choice. (SED)

Presents and compares findings from both teaching and learning diaries from French conversation courses, assembling and evaluating the perspectives of teacher, student, and researcher. (Author/VWL)

Describes the undergraduate internship in conversation at New Mexico State University, a course which attempts to improve the oral communication of basic language classes. The course offers undergraduates opportunities to hold conversations with more advanced undergraduates in weekly meetings. In order to make the class nonthreatening, neither…

Describes conversation activities that can help students experiencing difficulty in French oral language increase confidence and speaking skills. Small groups of students form conversations around key words, and then expand the conversation for larger groups, incorporating more words and structures. (CB)

Examines the differences between explicit and implicit methods of teaching grammar in a university's advanced French conversation classes. Students taught explicitly performed better overall (in writing and orally) than students who were exposed to an implicit presentation of the same grammar content. (CB)

Suggestions for using the Paris counterpart of the yellow pages and telephone book front matter in French language and cultural instruction include ad illustrations and specific cultural information, general information about the French telephone system, and observational techniques. (MSE)

The principle of oral fluency instruction concerns the teacher's role, which is to monitor the spread, balance, and flow of the conversation. Techniques have to do with the constituents and mode of oral activity, material resources, and the year abroad. (SED)

Describes strategy for teaching culture and conversation at the third- and fourth-year undergraduate level using authentic documents as the primary materials. The medium chosen for this course was the French chanson, but similar strategies may be applicable to any modern language using the culturally appropriate materials. (eight references) (LET)

This volume of the French Basic Course contains ten situations from daily life, each divided into five sub-situations. The material for each situation consists of cartoons and lists of selected words. The purpose of the volume is to provide a vehicle for reviewing the grammar and vocabulary of lessons 1-85 of the Basic Course and adding new words…

Six exercises intended to promote conversation skills are presented, including five survival games situated in space, caves, the middle of the ocean, the Sahara desert, and the North Pole; and a game to select a prison parolee from a group of candidates. The games involve role playing and decision-making activities. (MSE)