Recommended approaches for French grammar teaching to high school students in the State of Mexico

Abstract

Grammatical knowledge guarantees successful and pertinent communication in any language. A diagnosis was carried out on thirty high school students, in the State of Mexico, for three years. It consisted of two parts; the teaching practice and the learning obtained by the students, to identify what are the methodologies used in the teaching of French as a foreign language and grammar, what are the recommended approaches, how and when to use them, and what complementary strategies guarantee learning. It was found that, before the diagnosis, the students perceived the French classes with difficulty and without dynamism, and preferred to develop their communication, social, and reading skills, over others such as grammar. The approaches that are recommended for teaching French grammar in high school are Communicative and the Notional-Functional, at the same time using a diary or log book and the weekly and annual didactic planning of the classes. It is recommended to teach grammar gradually, using the context of the students, relying on the similarities of the second language with their native language, and without deep explanations in the first years, but more specifically in the subsequent ones. Carry out a diagnosis before the selection of work material, use a diary book, and do didactic planning of classes, in the teaching of French grammar, facilitate teaching performance and guarantee the effective learning of high school students.

Keywords

• notional-functional approach
• communicative approach