The contribution of constructivist learning approach to the learning process in teaching French as a second foreign language after English

Inrecentyears, studiesshowingthatthelearningprocess of secondandlaterforeignlanguagesaredifferentfrommothertongueandfirstforeignlanguage in terms of mentalprocessinghaveincreased.Thedataobtainedfromthesestudieshaveraisedthequestion of whethernewprograms, methodsandmaterialsthat can reducethedifficultiesthatarisewhen it comestoacquiringthelanguage in an academiclearningenvironmentinstead of acquiring it in a naturalenvironment can be useful. Inthisstudy, a constructivistapproach-based program designedforuniversitypreparatoryclassstudentswhosemothertongue is Turkish, whosefirstforeignlanguage is English andwholearn French as a secondforeignlanguage, andtheuse of materialchosen in accordancewiththepurposeweretested. Beforethisapplication, a pre-test wasmadetomeasurethelevel of French grammarthatthestudentsreachedwiththeexistingcoursematerials, andthentheinterventionlessonswerestartedbyusing a textbookcontaining French-English comparativegrammarlecturesandexercises.Duringtheseeight-weekcourses, complementaryandguidinginformationwasgiventothestudentsaboutthecognitive, meta-cognitiveandaffectivelearningstrategiesthat they couldusewhilelearning a language, andtheprocesswasfollowed.At theend of thiseight-weekinterventionperiod, a post-test andsixweekslater, a follow-up test wasconductedtomeasurethepermanenceandcontinuity of learning. Inourstudy, besidesthequantitativeresearchmethods, qualitativestudymethodsarealsoincluded as supportiveandcomplementary. First of all, thedocumentanalysismethod, whichexaminesthetextbooksandthewrittenproductions of thestudents, wasused. Inaddition, interviewtechniquewasused.Beforeandaftertheinterventionlessons, an interviewbased on the semi-structuredinterviewtechniquewasconductedwiththestudents, and they wereaskedtoexpresstheiropinions on theproblemsanddifficulties they encountered in theprocess of learning French grammar, whether they usedanylearningstrategy in learning French as a secondforeignlanguage, andthecoursematerialsusedwiththe program. Itwasexaminedwhether it wasreflected in the test results. Thefindingsthatemerged at theend of thisresearchcarriedoutwithmixedmethodsindicatethatthecurriculumto be appliedforsecondforeignlanguagecoursesshould be preparedwith a differentperspectivethanthefirstforeignlanguage in terms of teachingmethodsandstrategies, andpreviouslearningshould be takenintothecenter in materialdesign/selection. Based on thesedata, it is thoughtthattheevaluation of thesecondforeignlanguage French afterthefirstforeignlanguage English, withintheframework of theprinciples of theconstructivistapproach, whichallowsstudentstotaketheirpreviouslearning as reference andbenefitfromthem, can contributetofacilitatingtheprocessforboththeteacherandthestudentandshorteningthelearning time. Keywords:Second foreignlanguage, constructivist / constructivistapproach, positive transfer, comparativegrammar.