La competencia argumentativa escrita en FLE y las reglas retóricas del francés

Abstract

The acquisition of written argumentative competence in French requires that Foreign Language students master several skills. Our study focuses on rhetorical rules and has two objectives: a) to encourage French as Foreign Language (FFL) teachers to consider rhetorical issues of the French language in the teaching process and b) to identify the rhetorical rules that pose challenges for our Spanish-speaking students. We conducted a bibliographical review on the didactics of written argumentation, paying special attention to the contributions of contrastive rhetoric. So then, we conducted an empirical study to analyse the errors that our FFL students made when they encountered the rhetorical rules applied in French. The results of the analysis allow us to identify the specific difficulties that the students encountered when writing an argumentative text and when applying the rhetorical rules used in French. We conclude that there is a specific conception of written discourse in French and students acquire such ideas in FFL classes. Consequently, encouraging the application of French rhetorical rules gives students the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to respect the originality of French cultural and discursive identity.