Didactic and Methodology of the Rhythm of French for Adult Learners

The State of Play and Perspectives

Abstract

The teaching-learning of the rhythm of the language that is being taught and studied, the French language in this case, now does not have a dominant place in the didactics and methodology of the French language, in spite of the impossibility of dissociating it from the intonation, sounds and communication system. By personally questioning French students in Spain on their perception of rhythm as an object of study and by consulting globally part of the current editorial methodological offer for adult learners (general French methods and complementary works specialized in phonetics), we found gaps and imbalances in the teaching-learning of rhythm, despite the essential nature of this to achieve mastery of communication and quality of production, in the same way as any element language. The new features introduced in 2018 in the complementary volume of the European Framework do not allow the prosodic elements to be considered a priority. Hence the importance of recalling and highlighting not only the definitions of the term “rhythm” as they have developed in language teaching since 1976, but also the effectiveness of the verbo-tonal system for the teaching-learning of languages ​​over the last years 50. The inventory obtained as part of this study tends to show, on the one hand, a decline in the teaching-learning of the rhythm of French, whether consciously or unconsciously, in relation to the training and international dissemination of French methods by the CREDIF (Center for Research and Studies for the Dissemination of French, which was abruptly abolished in 1996) and on the other hand the high real and potential interest of learners in the rhythm of the French language.