The Verbs We Are(n't) Teaching in Our Beginning French Classes — and Why it Matters

Abstract

Through a comparison of a vocabulary frequency list and six commonly used textbooks, this article examines the extent to which the verbs taught to beginning-level French students reflects their usefulness, in terms of likelihood of encounters in authentic texts. These same verbs are then also compared to cultural texts created specifically for those textbooks, to further determine whether textbook authors are consistent in recycling the verbs that have been taught. I argue for a greater focus on highly frequent irregular and multi-stem verbs, while de-emphasizing instruction of regularly conjugated and, especially, cognate-based verbs. Pedagogical implications are included.