Didactic situations in the teaching of grammar: Topogenetic and chronogenetic aspects

Abstract

This paper relies on the analysis of didactic interactions on the basic sentence model and on relative clauses in a French classroom, and makes two claims re- garding the unfolding of didactic situations. It is proposed that there are topogenetic conditions on the advancement of knowledge in class as time goes by (chronogenesis), more specifically that the anticipation of the students’ alternative hypotheses as well as a clear representation of the knowledge to be taught are crucial. Two characteristics of a chronogenetic student are proposed and illustrated in a grammar lesson: a conciliation capacity, and the use of syntactic mani- pulations. The role of implicit grammatical knowledge (linguistic competence) is discussed.