Background

As an Assistant Professor of French at Elon University, I am interested in learning about students' perceptions of the usefulness of their foreign language.  This information will help inform our approaches to course offerings, pedagogy and more.

I began my research under the impression that the majority of my upper-level students were not transfering their advanced language skills across the curriculum to other non-French classes.  One way to approach this was to find out if students were using their French to tap into the vast French-language World Wide Web.

 Research Questions

• Do students use their foreign language "tool kit" when they conduct research for non-French courses?

• More specifically, do they consult the French-language internet for information -- even when it is not related to French or Francophone studies?

   One example of a French language information source: http://www.lemonde.fr/

• Finally, what do these findings tell us about students' perceptions of the usefulness of their foreign language across the curriculum?

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