26.62, Review: Applied Ling; General Ling: Jubb, Rouxeville (2014)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-26-62. Tue Jan 06 2015. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 26.62, Review: Applied Ling; General Ling: Jubb, Rouxeville (2014)

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Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 14:05:16
From: Katie Angus [katie.angus at usm.edu]
Subject: French Grammar in Context

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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/25/25-1398.html

AUTHOR: Margaret  Jubb
AUTHOR: Annie  Rouxeville
TITLE: French Grammar in Context
SUBTITLE: 4th Edition
SERIES TITLE: Languages in Context
PUBLISHER: Routledge (Taylor and Francis)
YEAR: 2014

REVIEWER: Katie Beth Angus, University of Southern Mississippi

Review's Editor: Helen Aristar-Dry

SUMMARY

“French Grammar in Context” by Jubb and Rouxeville (2014) is in its fourth
edition, after having been published for the first time in 1998. This book is
intended for use by intermediate and/or advanced Anglophone students of French
as part of a course or independent study. The goal of the book is to have
students “learning grammar while also acquiring cultural and topical
knowledge” (p. ii). 

It is composed of thirty-one chapters, each focusing on a different
grammatical point that is useful yet sometimes difficult for English-speaking
students. A chapter contextualizes the grammar point in question by starting
with an authentic text chosen for its interest and its examples of grammar.
The texts are a healthy mixture of literary and non-literary texts from the
20th and 21st centuries. For example, literary excerpts include ones from
Camus’s “l’Etranger,” Malraux’s “la Condition humaine,” and de Beauvoir’s
“Mémoires d’une jeune fille rangée,” whereas the non-literary texts come from
journalistic sources, such as “Le Monde” and “Libération.” 

Following a text with the grammar point highlighted in bold-faced type, each
chapter continues first with a section about how that feature functions within
the given excerpt. Then, there is a small section that brings the reader’s
attention to other important constructs found in the excerpt and where
explanations about them can be found in the book. Each chapter also contains a
section that invites the reader to “discover” uses of the highlighted grammar
point beyond those found in the given excerpt, both in written in and spoken
French. After explanations about how a certain grammatical feature functions
in French, for certain grammatical features, such as verbs, a section about
their formation follows. Finally, each chapter contains from four to nine
activities allowing students to practice the grammar point in a variety of
contexts (i.e., fill-in-the blanks, translations, open-ended communicative
questions). All grammar explanations and instructions are given in English.

At the end of the book, there are six revision texts as well as answer keys to
all of the closed-ended questions. Finally, for students desiring further
practice, there is a companion website that includes additional drills and
testing activities.

EVALUATION

This book has many strong points, which outweigh its negatives. First and most
importantly (and most obviously, based on the title of the book), the book
shows grammar in a context instead of a cultureless vacuum. It saves teachers
time because they do not have to find contexts in which to teach grammar,
since the authors of this book have already found appropriate texts and
highlighted the repeated grammatical structures for them. Furthermore, the
texts are varied and interesting for advanced high school students or
undergraduates. The mélange of literary and journalistic texts introduces
students to literature without removing them completely from the comfort zone
of their lower-level language classes, which have a tendency to include
primarily non-literary texts.

The order of the chapters follows some sense of increasing difficulty,
starting with the present tense of the indicative and advancing through the
past tenses, conditional, and subjunctive, with non-verbal aspects of the
grammar mixed in. Because each chapter can stand alone, however, it is
possible for the teacher or learner to choose the aspects of French grammar
that are most relevant to their needs without necessarily having to study each
chapter in order.

The activities that accompany each chapter are primarily closed-ended
questions and are usually a mix of decontextualized drill-like activities or
fill-in-the-blanks of other authentic texts. Therefore, although the grammar
is presented in the context of an authentic text, the activities given to use
and practice each individual structure sometimes become decontextualized
themselves, and they veer away from a more communicative approach to teaching
that many students are used to in the lower-level courses that they would have
recently completed. Teachers might want to consider adding additional
communicative and open-ended questions to supplement the activities that are
already provided.

Although this book is supposedly appropriate for both class-work and
independent study, it is much easier to use independently than in a class.
First of all, the answers to many of the activities are included at the end of
the book. Secondly, there are more text-based, written activities than
communicative, open-ended oral questions lending themselves well to in-class
work. Additionally, one of the prefaces in the book underscores the fact that
this book is not all-inclusive and focuses only on “key areas” (p. ix) of
French grammar (e.g., subjunctive, conjunctions, and prepositions). It is
therefore not intended to be a reference book. Having said this, page numbers
are included for some of the most popular grammar reference manuals so
students can refer to sources with more details about the grammar points at
hand if they are interested. Finally, the section of each chapter pointing out
other important grammatical structures also lends itself well to independent
study as students can consult other sections of the book when they come across
additional grammatical points for which they need further explanation.

This book could be used as a primary text in a bridge course, such as a
grammar review class at the upper-intermediate/advanced level, but it presents
a few problems for such a class. For example, even though the grammar points
are found in a context, the texts themselves are rather decontextualized, as
are some of the activities. The only information given about the texts is the
name of the author and the title of the text. The teacher and/or the students
would have to do additional preparation work and conduct external research to
really see French grammar in a fuller context and gain the “cultural and
topical knowledge” (p. ii) that the book’s description claims to provide.
Additionally, if a teacher were to include this book on his or her syllabus as
a required text, recommended material might include one of the grammar
manuals, to provide a deeper knowledge of each of the points presented in this
book as well as the other points that are not covered in this text. 

Because the book depends on students’ abilities to read authentic texts
containing a rather high level of vocabulary, it could also be a suitable
companion or supplement for an introductory literature course. Sometimes
literature classes focus so much on content that instructors forget that
students are still learning the language and that there should be a continued
attention to grammar’s function and form. Completing text-based activities
from this book as homework and/or the occasional in-class activity would be an
ideal way to review problematic grammatical features and/or have finer points
presented to students, all the while relating to the content of the course. 

The companion website, however, pales in comparison to the book and, in its
current version, adds little to the students’ learning experience. Each
chapter has a few additional activities online, but with minimal instructions,
little to no feedback, and inadequate grading, it is not worthwhile for
students to visit the site. On the other hand, perhaps a teacher could borrow
or adapt some of the questions to include in quick closed-ended in-class
quizzes or comprehension checks.

In summary, “French Grammar in Context” has a wealth of motivating texts and
clear explanations of the main points of French grammar. It is well suited for
independent practice and review, but also could be included in intermediate
and advanced classes as a companion text or jumping off point if instructors
supplement the book with more open-ended activities and contextual information
about the authentic texts themselves.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Dr. Katie B. Angus is an Assistant Professor of French and Second Language
Acquisition at the University of Southern Mississippi. At Southern Miss, she
teaches undergraduate students in all levels of French as well as graduate
students enrolled in the Master of Arts in the Teaching of Languages (MATL)
program. She received her PhD in 2014 from the Second Language Acquisition and
Teaching (SLAT) interdisciplinary program at the University of Arizona, where
she specialized in second language (L2) pedagogy and program administration.
Her research interests include the professional development of graduate
students, study abroad, and the incorporation of technology into the L2
classroom.








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