Comprendre et interpréter la conversation familière en français - Une étude qualitative de six apprenants avancés suédophones
Author
Summary, in English
This study aims to investigate how advanced Swedish-speaking learners of French understand and interpret conversations in French. Based on a conversation analysis of two conversations with native speakers of French, two experiments were conducted.
An important part of the present study is the design of the new methodology which puts together Conversation Analysis and L2 Acquisition. A pilote study was firstly conducted, following which the second study was developed. The method of the study uses digital questionnaires of different types in order to extract how the L2 learners understand and interpret the conversations.
The conversations used in the experiments have the common caracteristics that they are authentic, between native speakers, and include a disagreement between the speakers.
The aim of the study is to see how the learners understand and interpret two “levels” of the conversations: (1) macro level (spatio-temporality, interpersonal relations, overall sequentiality) and, (2) micro level (verbal, paraverbal and non verbal conversational ressources used by the speakers). The study included a control group of native speakers of French who also participated in the two experiments.
The results show that the learners have a good comprehension of the two conversations and often interpret them in a similar way to the native speakers. However, on the macro level, the learners found that the disagreements were more severe and serious than what the native speakers thought, and that the interpersonal relations between the speakers were unequal, whereas the native speakers found that they were equal. On the micro level, the learners did not always interpret the conversational ressources in the same way as the native speakers, and they found it more difficult to interpret utterances communicating implicit content than explicit content. A possible explanation to the results is the difference in interactional styles between Swedish and French, and the differences in linguistic and pragmatic competences between the learners and the native speakers.
An important part of the present study is the design of the new methodology which puts together Conversation Analysis and L2 Acquisition. A pilote study was firstly conducted, following which the second study was developed. The method of the study uses digital questionnaires of different types in order to extract how the L2 learners understand and interpret the conversations.
The conversations used in the experiments have the common caracteristics that they are authentic, between native speakers, and include a disagreement between the speakers.
The aim of the study is to see how the learners understand and interpret two “levels” of the conversations: (1) macro level (spatio-temporality, interpersonal relations, overall sequentiality) and, (2) micro level (verbal, paraverbal and non verbal conversational ressources used by the speakers). The study included a control group of native speakers of French who also participated in the two experiments.
The results show that the learners have a good comprehension of the two conversations and often interpret them in a similar way to the native speakers. However, on the macro level, the learners found that the disagreements were more severe and serious than what the native speakers thought, and that the interpersonal relations between the speakers were unequal, whereas the native speakers found that they were equal. On the micro level, the learners did not always interpret the conversational ressources in the same way as the native speakers, and they found it more difficult to interpret utterances communicating implicit content than explicit content. A possible explanation to the results is the difference in interactional styles between Swedish and French, and the differences in linguistic and pragmatic competences between the learners and the native speakers.
Department/s
- French Studies
- Master's Programme: Language and Linguistics
Publishing year
2017
Language
French
Full text
Document type
Student publication for Master's degree (two years)
Topic
- Languages and Literatures
Supervisor
- Jonas Granfeldt (Professor)