En Avant! Beginning French by Bruce Anderson, Annabelle Dolidon (review)

THE FRENCH REVIEW, Vol. 89, No. 3, March 2016 Printed in U.S.A. Methods and Materials edited by Frédérique Grim 185 Anderson, Bruce, and Annabelle Dolidon. En Avant! Beginning French. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2016. ISBN 978-0-07-338646-1. Pp. 509. $197. Given the authors of this communicatively-oriented college textbook, it should be no surprise to those working in the field that its approach is centralized around principles of applied linguistics. Within this grounded framework, some of En Avant!’s greatest strengths include its systematic integration of vocabulary, grammatical structures, and culture into every chapter, including videos, readings, music, and film. This approach may aid instructors in preparing linguistically- and culturally-competent learners. Attending to intercultural competency, the book regularly prompts students to consider the similarities and differences between the target cultures and language with their native languages and cultures. The way the authors have presented the use of English in French cultures may allow for instructors to open cultural and linguistic discussions to the ways in which French is used in Anglophone contexts. New to the second edition,Le coin beaux-arts,which presents fine arts in each of the even numbered chapters, differentiates this textbook from many currently on the market.Additionally, the textbook includes both Québécois and French speakers, beginning to attend more concretely to la francophonie. For students, the Learn Smart” adaptive learning tool and the study tips guide learners toward taking ownership over their own education. Further, the systematic review and recycling of materials as well as the early presentation of late-acquired structures for recognition only allow students and instructors alike to more comfortably move through the material. Chapter sixteen is dedicated to a grammatical review, incorporating an additional opportunity for review and synthesis of the material into the textbook. The authors provide significant amounts of support to instructors such as communicative activities addressing all four skills throughout the textbook and a number of supplemental materials, which are compatible with Blackboard and MH Campus course management platforms. For this reason, En Avant! may be especially useful to instructors who are early in their careers. The Tegrity video creator may be particularly useful for those taking a flipped classroom approach and to those teaching blended courses. Further, the ACTFL standards are fully integrated into the supplemental Assignment Builder tool for instructors. Despite its numerous strengths, instructors seeking a beginning textbook written exclusively in French may not find the vocabulary glossed in English and the informational sections in English in chapters one through four ideal.However,the book does begin to transition the learner to primarily in French in the text of chapter five, retaining the English glosses in the vocabulary section at the end of the chapter and the learning objectives in English at the beginning of the chapter. University of South Dakota Kris Aric Knisely Blanco, José. D’accord 1: langue et culture du monde francophone. Boston:Vista, 2015. ISBN 978-1-61857-866-2. Pp. 352. $105.60. This textbook is attractive, well-organized, and comes with a wide variety of supplemental materials to meet the needs of any classroom. There are eight units although unit 8 is repeated as unit 1 in the level-two text. The units are divided into two parts related to a theme. The “A” and “B” sections each have a Contexte (vocabulary ), Roman-Photo, Culture, Structure, and Synthèse, followed by a single Savoir-Faire section. The vocabulary and concepts are illustrated with a mix of photographs and drawings. One point of confusion for some students is the fact that not all words are in the word list on the side of the page; some are included in text boxes, or as labels in the illustrations. There is a complete list at the end of each unit, but students will need to be directed to find that. The vocabulary lists are on the lengthy side, but teachers can choose to limit the number of words. The culture readings start off in English, and transition to French in chapter 3. This choice seems good as it gives students some information about France right away, and allows them to...