Le rôle de la métaphore dans le dévéloppement des compétences communicatives et interculturelles en langue étrangère

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to present the role of metaphors in the acquisition of language and then to examine thoroughly the possibility of their usage in the development of communicative and intercultural skills, that are at the centre of foreign language acquisition. Our refl ection originated in the observation of students’ work during the creative workshop offered to students in the second year of Romance Philology. This course builds on the «creativity training» proposed by Necka, whose purpose is the activation of mental processes and the development of conceptual categories through metaphors (used both as a means and as an outcome). This notion is based on research in cognitive psychology. After an overview of the different approaches to metaphors, we try to defi ne their relationship with the acquisition of the mother tongue. We then propose some possible usage of metaphors taking as illustration the activities implemented during our workshop whose originality is to integrate the activities proposed by Necka in a task-oriented approach to teaching French as a foreign language. Finally, we conclude our refl ection on the benefi ts, limitations and possible obstacles to their implementation during a course as well as some suggestions likely to optimize the objectives.