French as a Second Language Teaching: Identifying Methods that Improve Adult Learners’ Competencies

 
 
Different Strategies Developed in FSL Teaching 
According to Professor C: “Knowledge is socially constructed through interaction and 
communication with others. The learners influence the context. The classroom is a sacred place.”
He proceeded to talk about teaching as a way to gain and challenge knowledge. These included 
more strategies related to design and organization, cultivating class interaction, and raising 
students’ motivation and enthusiasm. He listed key points associated with general theories of 
FSL acquisition such as: 
1) letting the students actively participate in free conversation. 
2) creating situations that allow students to take advantage of their ability to 
communicate in French.
3) having students learn new lexemes from each other. 
4) choosing a work-specific activity and describing the steps required to carry it out.
5) identifying new link words used by other members of the group.

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6) using adjunct tools for communication.
7) simulating dialogues to seek advice and feedback, since this requires the other group 
members to observe them and comment on the performance of their peers. 
8) swapping strategies to implement changes. 
9) using actual verb tenses in writing. This enables teachers to ask their students to make a 
complete story, describe an event or an experience in detail so that their narrative can 
incorporate a logical sequence and the necessary tenses.
 
 
The Most Effective FSL Strategies in Improving Adult Learners’ Competency 
Reflecting on the FSL strategies that he used personally, Professor C demonstrated his use of 
flashcards to show how he engaged his students in language learning. He also claimed that 
interaction is essential; teachers could involve students in role-playing.
The purpose of this activity is to identify the roles of key participants during the training. The 
first suggested approach implies that it is essential to choose a facilitator. When asked what 
factors most influence him in a learning situation, he replied: 
“Well, the planification is a good instrument; teachers usually know their students. Their 
objective is to manage resources and lead students to promote the development of L2 and 
efficiency with the learning activities.”
He continued:
“It is essential for instructors to continuously foster the learning process to improve it, 
which will eventually help learners reach their target.”

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 After a small pause which he called a “pause café”; I asked him how he manages to 
avoid difficulties and gaps. He responded:
“To avoid difficulties, teachers should play the role of facilitator; they should look 
continuously for new practices to help L2 students reach their expectations in FSL.”
When asked how he sees the role of teaching resources in this process he replied: “the 
teacher’s task is quite challenging.” Then with a pleasant smile, he continued to list some 
relevant points about teachers’ responsibilities. These included:
a) training focused mainly on the development of skills communicating with the learner. 
This can be done by creating a course based on the four components of communication 
skill (the etymological, the linguistic, the conversational, and the written).
b) using materials that present a pedagogical grammar limited to the essentials of the 
grammatical system where the grammatical elements are introduced in a simple way 
organized according to the frequency of use and according to the immediate needs of 
communication. 
c) employing an activity that focuses on the different roles of the participant and