Oral comprehension in a foreign language – notional problems and its didactic and glottodidactic consequences

Abstract

This article addresses the problem of defining oral comprehension as a teaching / learning object and a research object. Indeed, the term "oral comprehension" can refer to phenomena of different complexity involving more or less important attentional resources and a wide variety of processes, ranging from the simple identification of linguistic forms, passing through the construction of semantic representation of the text and ending with a critical interpretation of the meaning proposed by the speaker. This extent of the phenomena evoked by the term in question constitutes a major challenge both at the didactic level and at the level of the research methodology and research results interpretation. The purpose of the proposed reflection is to study the concept of oral comprehension conveyed by the levels in the Common European Framework of Reference and to analyze it as well in relation to the dominant trends in language teaching. Some possibilities of correcting these tendencies in order to systematically include cognitive components, and in particular the interpretative component, is considered.