Analyse des pratiques interculturelles et l’évaluation de la compétence interculturelle en classe de FLE en Suède

Sammanfattning

Teaching a new language is not limited solely to its linguistic and communicative dimensions but encompasses, above all, the cultural dimension inherent to the language. Indeed, language always exists within a cultural context. Furthermore, learning a language through an intercultural lens offers many advantages that facilitate the acquisition of a new language. The aim of this thesis is, first, to better understand the representations that FFL (French as a Foreign Language) teachers hold regarding interculturality. Second, we seek to examine the intercultural practices used by FFL teachers in the classroom that promote target language learning. Finally, we wish to investigate how FFL teachers assess the intercultural competence of their learners. To achieve these objectives, both a quantitative and qualitative analysis was conducted. This study drew on a questionnaire (N=18), nine observation sessions with four teachers, and interviews with those same teachers whose classes were observed. In total, 22 teachers (N=22) participated in the study. The results reveal that FFL teachers largely hold a positive view of intercultural teaching. However, a minority points to difficulties related to learners' lack of interest in cultural content, as well as the risk that intercultural teaching may reinforce stereotypes among learners. The results also show that the most common intercultural practice is the comparison between learners' own culture and that of the target language, grounded in shared theoretical frameworks, namely socioconstructivism and the sociocultural perspective, positioning teachers as intercultural mediators. However, the study found that intercultural practice of exchange between native French speakers and learners is introduced incidentally in upper secondary FFL classrooms. It also appears that, although 72.2% of teachers report assessing their learners' intercultural competence, the interview findings nuance this claim, highlighting a lack of clarity in official curricula regarding the intercultural knowledge and skills to be assessed. This makes the systematic implementation of such assessments particularly challenging.