Essential French Grammar by Mike Thacker, Casimir d’Angelo (review)

Reviews 295 limited.This may present a challenge for students who lack confidence in their speaking ability. Therefore, instructors may want to supplement certain chapters with short readings in order to expand vocabulary acquisition. Overall, this edition of Controverses is an excellent text that instructors will find very useful. The exercises in the text and accompanying cahier provide effective review and stylistic practice for students transitioning to classes that will require them to produce more advanced, argumentative papers in French. Jackson State University (MS) Tomaz Cunningham Thacker, Mike, and Casimir d’Angelo. Essential French Grammar. New York: Routledge, 2013. ISBN 978-1-4441-6689-7. Pp. 464. $41. The authors leave no doubt regarding their position on the debate over how, or whether, to teach grammar. In the introduction, they express their “conviction” that “grammar is the key to attaining a real understanding of both spoken and written French” (xiii). Appealing to their “long experience of teaching and examining” (Thacker was director of the Language Centre at the University of Surrey for more than a decade, and d’Angelo was director of the Language Unit in the Engineering Department of the University of Cambridge), they assert that “grammar plays a fundamental part in the learning process of students who aspire to higher levels of competence” (xiii). For those who prefer to teach grammar more implicitly in order to avoid the bygone methods of rote memorization, grammar drills, and language practice hors contexte, this volume does present grammar through contextualization and can be a very helpful tool. It would not function well as a stand-alone textbook, but the authors demonstrate throughout both their commitment to the importance of grammar as well as a sensitivity to contextualized, communicative language teaching. Rather than only presenting grammatical rules, they also give exercises in each chapter on each major grammatical point, along with an answer key at the back of the book. The volume also includes interesting cartoons that illustrate the grammar points being covered. In addition, the technical jargon is kept to a minimum, as the 15 chapters are titled very simply, beginning with “Nouns,”“Determiners,”“Pronouns,”“Adjectives,” “Numbers,”“Adverbs,” and “Negation.” The next four chapters cover verbs (an introductory chapter followed by“Tenses of the Indicative,”“The Imperative, The Infinitive, Participles,” and “The Subjunctive”), and then the book ends with chapters on “Prepositions,”“Conjunctions,”“Relative Pronouns,”and“Questions and Exclamations.” There is also an appendix on French punctuation,accents,and pronunciation.Students who use this book as a grammar and reference work will probably keep it open longer than the average grammar book, because of its approachable format and avoidance of unnecessarily complex linguistic terminology. The authors also manage to cover all of the important points, including brief descriptions of even the imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive. Students will particularly benefit from the grammar boxes and communicative exercises, while teachers will most appreciate the examples provided , since there is little new as far as pedagogical techniques or grammatical emphases. It should also be noted that Essential French Grammar is designed specifically for Anglophone students of French, not just because the book is written in English but also because grammatical explanations regularly reference similarities or differences between French and English with little discussion of other languages.All in all, Thacker and d’Angelo have provided a useful French grammar that highlights the continued importance of grammar in language pedagogy while also recognizing advances in research on language acquisition and the importance of contextualization and communication. Bob Jones University (SC) Jeremy Patterson Wong, Wynne, Stacey Weber-Fève, Edward Ousselin, and Bill VanPatten. Liaisons: An Introduction to French. Enhanced 1st ed. Stamford, CT: Cengage, 2015. ISBN 978-1-285-43395-0. Pp. 544. $181. Enriching and innovative, this French language and culture program engages beginning students in speaking, listening, reading, writing, and comprehension activities via its accompanying eponymous film. As the cornerstone of the program, the film immerses students in the French language and in Francophone cultures while infusing everyday situations with native speakers into an intriguing, plot-driven mystery. It entails a brief prologue, seven segments (5–8 minutes long), and a short epilogue. Every film sequence touches on new grammatical concepts, vocabulary...