| With this dissertation I have created an approach for teaching English speaking students to participate in the French communicative system prior to or concomitant with, but apart from, their learning of grammar, syntax, and lexis in a class. I have aimed the approach at allowing the language learner to become a participant in the French communicative system, unfettered by the immediate need to know the grammar, syntax, and lexis.;In this dissertation I have shown that learners may, by simulating native French role models speaking French accented English, arrive at different levels of participation depending in part upon the amount of time expended in practicing French accented English. I have shown that the videotape I created, "Paris in New York," in which native French speakers of recent English exposure who have progressed minimally along the continuum from French to English, interacting improvisationally, does present an authentic model of the French communicative system, in spite of the fact that the words spoken are not French, but French accented English.;In this dissertation I have also shown that "physiological fossilization," an impediment to using native like speech and body motion behavior, can be treated head-on, and that the naturally occurring rhythm, intonation, resonance, and body motion behaviors can be simulated by the student whether the words are in French or in French accented English. I have shown that the language learner may synchronously use all the elements of the French communicative system, released from the constraints that arise from not knowing the words. In this dissertation I have focused on language usage, so that the language learner may, upon the learning of grammar, syntax and lexis, achieve the goal of understanding and being understood more readily by natives or other speakers of the target language. |
