| This study offers new insights about "learning French" in that it explores the following ideas: (1) how the integration of a keypal (correspondence) project cultivated a desire to learn about cultures, current events, and about French; (2) how the development of critical distance or recul encouraged students to examine the world from another point of view; (3) how the development of autonomy and responsibility engaged students to work independently and allowed them to develop their own definition of "learning French"; and (4) how the reconsideration of the meaning of words, such as "learning French," was necessary for students and their teachers; it forced them to negotiate a different understanding of "learning French" that took into account the different perspectives (or ideologies) embodied in the competing meanings of "learning French.";This dissertation presents a description and analysis of students' language learning experiences prior to this accelerated French class, students' "unsettlement" during the course, their struggles to make sense of their accelerated French course, and the changes that took place in how students defined and redefined a first-year college French course and the notion of "learning French." Data were collected using participant interviews, field notes, videotapes, and other documents (students' work, class handouts) over a nine-month period---the course of an academic year; I continued to maintain contact with participants for the following two years. Analysis revealed that students held clear expectations about the "legitimate" content of such a French course, which, for them, consisted primarily of studying grammar and vocabulary. In descriptions of their prior French courses (in middle school and high school), the importance of grammar seemed to prevail over all other aspects of the course; in addition, students believed culture to be peripheral to beginning French courses. The instructor's approach, framed by the philosophy of Celestin Freinet, was quite different from what the students expected: the driving force behind her classes was a correspondence project referred to as "intercultural learning networks" (Cummins and Sayers, 1995). Grammar and vocabulary were taught through the content by honing critical skills, engaging in cultural analysis, and developing a sense of "critical distance" or recul. Students' definitions of "learning French" were thus challenged when they enrolled in this French course. Students thought they knew what the study of French should entail, and they did not hesitate to express what they thought was and was not "legitimate content." Over the year, they struggled with their learning, their roles in the class, and the notion of "learning French." At the end of the year, students believed they were able to see themselves from a different perspective; in other words, the French course had transformative value. French was no longer simply a "language" course; rather it transformed students' thought patterns and their perceptions of themselves as learners. Students heightened their awareness of how they learned, and, as they questioned their own understandings of what a French course could be, their understandings of learning changed as well. (Abstract shortened by UMI.). |
