Why teach dialectalisms in the foreign language classroom?
Why teach dialectalisms in the foreign language classroom?

Summary/Abstract: Dialectal vocabulary can be an interesting pedagogic tool in foreign language teaching. Accepting the need for a “common” language model, we emphasize student contact with dialectal vocabulary. First, the morphological characteristics of such vocabulary will bring students closer to the basic morphological processes of the target language. In addition, such contact prompts the formation of solid, morphological consciousness. Second, the semantic-cognitive properties of this vocabulary contribute to deepening the knowledge and accurate interpretation of both close cultural models and the mental representations of native speaker communities. Our model, which is based on concentric crowns represents a fresh proposal for selecting vocabulary adapted to each proficiency level in the TL. It integrates elements ranging from those most frequently used in any interaction to those considered peculiar to geographic areas, thus including lexical items used in frequent communicative situations.

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