“Auxquels? It’s the relative pronoun”: fostering verbal interactions to develop metalinguistic competency of secondary school students
This article aims to document the evolution of metalinguistic skills of students related to the use of the relative pronoun following a didactic sequence. Anchored in a syntactic approach (Chartrand, Aubin, Blain et Simard, 1999) and designed to elicit verbal interactions in cooperative groups (Johnson and Johnson, 2009), the sequence was experimented in three 3rd-year groups in secondary school. 17 students participated in metagraphic interviews during the pretest and posttest. The analysis of the interviews showed that the students explain the use of the relative pronoun by relying more on syntactic criteria in the posttest, and not only on their judgment. Also, the analysis of the use of metalanguage in the explanations indicates improvements in metalinguistic skills. With the significant results previously observed and noting success of relative pronoun use in the written production (Arseneau, Foucambert et Lefrançois, 2018), these results highlight the importance of continuing to integrate cooperative approaches to the teaching of grammar and writing.