Between the model and the modeling in language class

Abstract

We want to reflect in this text on the different meanings of the terms "model" and "modeling" in foreign language teaching. It is first of all interesting to see according to which principles the models and all the modeling activity were built in language teaching. Models are essential for us to better understand the complexity of the didactic act and better understand the components of the language teaching / learning process and their different interrelations. They do not illustrate reality but give a synthesis from which we can act in a given context. The ancient vision of a prescriptive model, which we follow blindly without questioning it and without adapting it to a given situation, quickly proved to be obsolete. Models have become "tools for thinking" and the most significant shift has been from a model designed for reproduction-imitation to a model for conceptualization-modeling. In this framework, the model is open, invites you to ask questions and interpret it without claiming to be exhaustive. Two examples will be cited to illustrate the functioning of models in contemporary language class: one in the context of the Self-Efficacy Theory by Albert Bandura (1997, 2007) and the other linked to teaching strategies (LASNIER, 2000).