Experimenting with the Teaching of Academic Genres in the Target Culture: A Reflexive Testimony

Abstract

This testimony discusses an experiment in teaching French academic genres in the context of a French reading and composition class held at UC Berkeley in spring 2020. The experiment was designed and implimenetd in collaboration with Emily Linares. The article describes the reasons for introducing students to these genres, within a multiliteracies framework and explains which pedagogical strategies worked best in this context, and why. It also points to possible socio-political implications of the experiment, which could also prove beneficial to minority students or students from underrepresented backgrounds in American universities.

Keywords

• foreign language teaching
• academic genres
• explication de texte
• commentaire composé
• multiliteracies