Discourse analysis of podcasts in French

This chapter examines the discourse of French-language podcasts to discover their potential for use in the foreign language classroom to facilitate the development of listening proficiency. Through detailed analysis of authentic podcast transcripts, the chapter highlights linguistic, lexical, and cultural features of this type of discourse in order to demonstrate how such a tool can be used both in and outside the classroom. Of the various types of podcasts in French, the news archive receives the most attention largely because it is always current but also because of its cultural and linguistic authenticity and wide availability. A variety of practical suggestions for implementing news archive podcasts at various levels of French instruction are provided, including how to find and select appropriate podcasts and how to guide students in listening to authentic spoken French.