French in Contact and in Context(s): Linguistic and Didactic Perspectives
Le français en contact et en contexte(s) : perspectives linguistiques et didactiques
Contextes et Didactiques n° 26, 2025
Published on Friday, June 06, 2025
Abstract
This issue 26 of the journal Contextes et Didactiques is a follow-up to the 3rd International Colloquium of the Observatoire des Pratiques Langagières Actuelles (OPLA), which took place on 15 April 2025 at the University of the West Indies and on 29 April 2025 at the University of Geneva. The aim of the OPLA project, to be implemented in 2022, is to provide information on the current social and cultural situation of French speakers through the prism of their language practices. It also aims to contribute to the development of French language teaching practices that are more consistent with the realities of language as perceived by learners, teachers and trainers. In this context, a number of conferences and symposia have been held to showcase the progress of the work and to put it in dialogue with others working on the same issues. This issue 26 highlights the results of the discussions at the most recent colloquium.
Announcement
Argument
This issue 26 of the journal Contextes et Didactiques is a follow-up to the 3rd International Colloquium of the Observatoire des Pratiques Langagières Actuelles (OPLA), which took place on 15 April 2025 at the University of the West Indies and on 29 April 2025 at the University of Geneva.
The aim of the OPLA project, to be implemented in 2022, is to provide information on the current social and cultural situation of French speakers through the prism of their language practices. It also aims to contribute to the development of French language teaching practices that are more consistent with the realities of language as perceived by learners, teachers and trainers. In this context, a number of conferences and symposia have been held to showcase the progress of the work and to put it in dialogue with others working on the same issues. This issue 26 highlights the results of the discussions at the most recent colloquium.
The question ‘what kind of French should be taught’, as posed by Coste (1969) and, more recently, by Chiss (2010), remains a relevant one, insofar as schools and educational institutions are struggling to move away from a normative approach to language (Guerin, 2025). However, given the sociolinguistic diversity and the diversity of language practices that can be observed wherever French is taught (Bellonie and Guerin, 2020; Molinari and Paternostro, 2023), this question raises others about the relevance of contextualizing practices and the means of doing so.
Contextualizing one’s teaching is an ordinary professional act that all teachers carry out on a daily basis (Delcroix, 2019). Nevertheless, it can refer to many different meanings and each teacher, depending on the discipline he or she teaches, can associate various and varied meanings with this action of contextualizing. What does ‘contextualize’ mean for a language teacher? From a generic point of view, the action of contextualizing would consist of taking certain elements from various contextual dimensions (historical, geographical, sociolinguistic, cultural, for example) and inserting them into teaching practices with a view to acquiring the expected skills and concepts taught (Anciaux, Forissier and Prudent, 2013). What can French teachers take from the environment to design their teaching?
Although teaching cannot do without recognizing a stable form of the language, to what extent and how can and/or should it incorporate local specificities? From a didactic point of view, taking into account a contextualized norm leads us to question the relationship between expert knowledge and teaching knowledge (Chevallard, 1991; Petitjean, 1998). How can work aimed at describing the heterogeneity of French be transposed for pedagogical/andragogical purposes? What does this imply for teaching practice? What are the expected benefits in terms of learning?
These issues are driving thinking in didactics, given the intermingling of languages and cultures (Bruley and Cadet, 2024), which helps to blur the boundaries between languages, amplifying contacts and the effects on their development (Gadet and Ludwig, 2015). This issue 26 will therefore examine the link between norms and contextualization from a (socio)linguistic and didactic perspective:
-
What is the impact of contextualization on the description of the norm(s) of French (savoir savant)?
-
What impact does contextualization have on the selection of content to be taught (savoir à enseigner)?
-
What impact does contextualization have on teaching practices, i.e. strategies, tools and materials (savoir enseigné)?
We are looking for articles that will shed light on these issues and provide answers to these questions.
Submission procedures
Interested applicants are invited to send a long summary of their article (3 to 5 pages)
by 30 June 2025 to confirm their commitment.
Full papers should then be sent by 10 September 2025 electronically to the journal address and to the coordinators of the thematic issue:
- contextes.didactiques@univ-antilles.fr
- emmanuelle.guerin@sorbonne-nouvelle.fr
- Roberto.Paternostro@unige.ch
Proposed articles will be submitted to a double-blind review and then to the editorial board.
Calendar
-
Abstract submission: June 30, 2025
-
Article submission: September 10, 2025
-
Feedback to authors: October 30, 2025
-
Receipt of the final version of the article: November 30, 2025
-
Publication of issue 26 of the journal Contextes et Didactiques: December 30, 2025
Useful information
For further information (editorial policy, recommendations to authors, style sheet), please consult the information on the Revue Contextes et Didactiques website: https://journals.openedition.org/ced/279.
Bibliographical references
Anciaux, F., Forissier, T. et Prudent, L. F. (dir.) (2013). Contextualisations didactiques. Approches théoriques. Paris : L’Harmattan, collection Cognition et Formation.
Bellonie, J.-D. et Guerin, E. (dir.) (2020). Les pratiques langagières « ordinaires » des élèves. Le français aujourd’hui, 208.
Bruley, C. et Cadet, L. (dir.) (2024). Enseigner le français en contexte migratoire : ingénieries, littératie, inclusion. Bruxelles : Peter Lang.
Chevallard, Y. (1991). Transposition didactique : du savoir savant au savoir enseigné. Grenoble : La Pensée sauvage.
Chiss, J.-L. (2010). Quel français enseigner ? Question pour la culture française du langage. Dans O. Bertrand et I. Schaffner (dir.), Quel français enseigner. La question de la norme dans l’enseignement/apprentissage. Palaiseau : Éditions de l’École Polytechnique.
Coste, D. (1969). Quel français enseigner ? Le français dans le monde, 65, 12-18.
Delcroix, A. (2019). Contextualisation didactique : un concept en tension ? Contextes et Didactiques, 14, 24-40. https://journals.openedition.org/ced/1295.
Gadet, F. et Ludwig, R. (2015). Le français au contact d’autres langues. Paris : Ophrys.
Guerin, E. (2025). La face de l’enseignant : une utopie. Le français aujourd’hui, 229, 17-30.
Molinari, C. et Paternostro, R. (2023). Le français au prisme de sa diversité. Milan : LED.
Petitjean, A. (1998). La transposition didactique. Pratiques, 97-98, 7-34.
Subjects
- Education (Main category)
- Mind and language > Language > Linguistics
- Mind and language > Education > Educational sciences
- Mind and language > Language
- Periods > Modern
- Mind and language > Representation > Cultural identities
Date(s)
- Monday, June 30, 2025
Keywords
- francophone, enseignement, contexte, didactique, langage, linguistique, sociolinguistique
Contact(s)
- Emmanuelle Guérin
courriel : emmanuelle [dot] guerin [at] sorbonne-nouvelle [dot] fr - Roberto Paternostro
courriel : Roberto [dot] Paternostro [at] unige [dot] ch - Secrétariat Revue
courriel : contextes [dot] didactiques [at] espe-guadeloupe [dot] fr
Reference Urls
Information source
- Hélène Wachtel
courriel : helene [dot] wachtel [at] univ-antilles [dot] fr
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons - Attribution 4.0 International - CC BY 4.0 .
To cite this announcement
Emmanuelle Guérin, Roberto Paternostro, « French in Contact and in Context(s): Linguistic and Didactic Perspectives », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Friday, June 06, 2025, https://doi.org/10.58079/142d5
