Expression Orale: Amérique Du Nord by Michèle Barféty et al. (review)

Part of the Compétences series, Expression orale is intended for students at the B1 level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, which corresponds to approximately the Intermediate Mid to Advanced Low level in ACTFL standards. It is important to note that this book is intended for learners who will be communicating with speakers of Québécois French. The book is divided into five units, each containing three lessons and followed by a quiz called a "bilan." The lessons are divided into sections called "imiter," "interpréter," and "s'exprimer," a thoughtful strategy that allows the learner to progress from exercises centered on identification and repetition, to answering open-ended questions based on written and oral prompts, and finally to text-based discussions leading to a debate. Importantly, Expression orale maintains a focus on communication throughout, only addressing grammar in boxes of "outils" that provide students with important sentences and phrases that they can incorporate into their production. Among other tasks, learners are asked to verify oral comprehension, to repeat dialogues, to use clues to guess the context of dialogues, to exchange information, and to role play based on visual and audio prompts. This culminates in reading a text, answering discussion questions, and preparing a debate with classmates. After each unit, learners complete the bilan, a brief quiz worth 25 points containing only two exercises: one that requires them to fill in the blanks of a written dialogue using the various outils, or grammatical structures, from the preceding lesson, and one that asks them to fill in the blanks of a short text using words from a provided list of vocabulary. A particularly interesting activity, which appears only in the first bilan and is thereafter replaced by the text completion task, asks learners to read a sentence and decide which of three sentences below it is the best reformulation, i.e., containing the same information and synonyms of key words. Native speaker dialogues are used throughout the book, with audio files available online and transcripts in the back of the book. The quality of the dialogue recordings is high, and the speakers articulate clearly and at an appropriate speed for this level of learner. It is easy to imagine using elements of this book even beyond a conversation course, for example in a survey course to introduce learners to Québécois French. Visually, the format of the chapters is easy to follow, with clearly delineated sections and "outils" boxes that stand out from the text, and numerous pictures throughout.