MTEL French (26) flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Liaison obligatoire

Pronunciation of a normally silent final consonant before a vowel-initial word, required after determiners, pronouns, and monosyllabic prepositions (les amis, nous avons, chez elle).

Enchaînement

Linking of an already pronounced consonant to a following vowel across word boundaries, as in 'une amie' [yn‿ami], without changing the consonant's pronunciation.

Nasal vowels

French vowels /ɛ̃, ɑ̃, ɔ̃, œ̃/ produced when a vowel is followed by a single n or m within the same syllable, as in vin, grand, bon, brun.

Registre soutenu

Formal register using 'nous', retained 'ne' in negation, full liaison, and elaborated connectors; expected in academic writing and formal oral presentations.

Intonation interrogative

Yes/no questions in French typically end with rising intonation, while wh-questions often end with falling intonation on the final rhythmic group.

Passé composé auxiliary

Compound past formed with avoir or être; être is used with pronominal verbs and a closed set of motion/change-of-state verbs, with past participle agreeing with the subject.

Imparfait vs passé composé

Imparfait expresses background, habitual actions, and descriptions; passé composé expresses completed, punctual events in the past.

Subjonctif triggers

The subjunctive is required after expressions of doubt, necessity, emotion, and conjunctions such as bien que, pour que, and avant que.

French quotation marks

French uses guillemets « » with a space inside each mark, and places a space before ; : ! ? in formal typography.

Passé simple

Literary past tense used in formal writing, historical texts, and fairy tales to express completed past events; rarely used in spoken French.

Partitive article

du, de la, des express an unspecified quantity of a mass noun; in negative sentences it becomes 'de' (je ne bois pas de café).

Pronoun order

Object pronouns precede the verb in the order me/te/se/nous/vous, then le/la/les, then lui/leur, then y, then en.

Adjective placement

Most French adjectives follow the noun; short common adjectives (beau, joli, grand, petit, jeune, vieux, bon, mauvais, nouveau) precede it.

Relative pronoun dont

Replaces 'de + antecedent' in relative clauses, as in 'Le livre dont je parle' (the book I am talking about).

Si clauses

Si + présent → futur simple; si + imparfait → conditionnel présent; si + plus-que-parfait → conditionnel passé.

Ne … que

Negative structure meaning 'only', as in 'Je n'ai que dix euros' (I only have ten euros); it does not negate the verb.

Faux amis

Words that look similar in French and English but differ in meaning, e.g., actuellement (currently), éventuellement (possibly), and librairie (bookstore).

Laïcité

French principle of separation between church and state, ensuring neutrality of public institutions and freedom of conscience.

Fête nationale

14 July, commemorating the 1789 storming of the Bastille and the 1790 Fête de la Fédération; a national holiday in France.

Francophonie

Global community of French speakers; French is an official language in 29 countries, including Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, and Haiti.

French education stages

école maternelle (3–6), école élémentaire (6–11), collège (11–15), lycée (15–18), culminating in the baccalauréat examination.

Lumières

18th-century Enlightenment movement in France, represented by Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot, emphasizing reason, science, and individual rights.

Regional languages

Languages such as breton, occitan, corse, alsacien, and basque, spoken in France but not official under the Constitution.

ACTFL proficiency levels

Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Superior, and Distinguished, each with Low, Mid, and High sublevels, describing language performance.

Three modes of communication

Interpretive (listening/reading), interpersonal (two-way interaction), and presentational (speaking/writing to an audience) modes, per ACTFL.

Backward design

Instructional planning model by Wiggins and McTighe: identify desired results, determine acceptable evidence, then plan learning experiences.

Formative assessment

Ongoing assessment during instruction that provides feedback to adjust teaching and learning, as opposed to summative assessment at the end.

Communicative competence

Canale and Swain's model comprising grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic competence, later expanded to include pragmatic competence.

Target-language use

ACTFL recommends 90% or more classroom instruction in the target language, supported by visuals, gestures, and comprehensible input.

Rubric components

Presentational tasks are scored on task completion, comprehensibility, vocabulary, grammar, and cultural appropriateness.

Differentiation

Adjusting content, process, or product to varied proficiency levels using tiered tasks, flexible grouping, and scaffolded authentic texts.

IPA

Integrated Performance Assessment: a thematic unit assessment with interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational tasks linked to authentic texts.