Les représentations des variétés régionales de l'allemand chez les assistants d'allemand au Québec
Western second-language assistant exchange programs, as we know them today, were put in place during the 20th century to promote national language and culture. In the light of recent developments in second language acquisition, they became an opportunity for learners to have direct contact with culture and the target language in a natural communication context. Among other things, language instructors have a duty to promote their genuine way of life to students. The assistant, however, remains primarily an individual with his own cultural and linguistic identity. In this sense, his authenticity lies in the diversity it brings with him in class. However, second-language educational institutions do not traditionally give much space to linguistic varieties or regional cultures in their curricula. In this context, there may be conflicts between the linguistic and cultural identity of the individual and the environment and the values of the second language acquisition class. In order to explore this issue, this study conducted semi-directed interviews with a cohort of German assistants in Quebec. More specifically, we observed their linguistic representations of regional varieties of German and the place given to them in their work in the classroom. The presence and symbolic importance of traditional dialects in Germany as well as the distinctive sociolinguistic context of Quebec allow an interesting angle on the question of the integration of linguistic varieties into second language acquisition.
ALS language assistants german as a second language SLA second language acquisition regional varieties dialects linguistic representations language attitudes