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Abstract :
[en] This contribution, at the intersection of grammar pedagogy, discourse analysis, and sociolinguistics, examines how linguistic variation is handled in the teaching practices of French (L1) grammar in French-speaking Belgium: Which linguistic forms are considered “acceptable” by teachers, and on what grounds do they justify these choices? The context of first-language instruction is distinctive in that it involves learners who are already speakers of the language being taught. One may therefore hypothesize that learners, who possess implicit knowledge of the linguistic system (or at least of its less standardized dimensions), can produce relevant grammatical reflections. To conduct this study, we analyse a corpus of 38 ordinary grammar lessons taught by seventeen teachers in the Federation Wallonia-Brussels, at the end of primary or the beginning of lower secondary school (average student age: 10-15). This corpus, whose transcription is freely accessible online, represents roughly thirty hours of recorded classroom interaction. Drawing on interaction analysis within a qualitative framework, we examine salient moments in which the teacher is led to correct students’ errors or to justify a particular form. The findings reveal a strong prescriptive tendency among French teachers, manifested linguistically through (i) the valorisation of a single form and (ii) the lack of consideration for linguistic variation, and discursively through (iii) appeals to authority and (iv) the closure of collective debate. The following excerpts are illustrative: “fr. après il n’y a pas à se poser trente-six milles questions / c’est comme ça” (Ens 16, P11); “fr. c’est comme ça / pas autrement / donc ça ne sert à rien d’essayer de trouver parfois une logique” (Ens 11, S21); “fr. en grammaire c’est compliqué hein / il y a souvent des nuances / il y a toujours la règle générale / et puis après il y a toujours les euh les super exceptions” (Ens 15, P22). The study highlights the perpetuation of the linguistic imaginary associated with French, and even with school grammar, grounded in a prescriptivist view of language. This has consequences for conceptions of language, norms, and speaker status. The situation may, however, evolve with the gradual implementation of a new legal framework (Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles 2022), which will be discussed as a counterpoint to the analysis.
