DOI: 10.5176/2251-3566_L314.50
Authors: Wan Ikhlas Wan Mohtar
Abstract: This study examines the discursive representations of the cultural stereotypes of the French language and the notion of Francophonie amongst Malaysian and Malian students. The objective of the study is to investigate the motivation for students to learn French and the stereotypes that they develop about learning the language throughout their education and life experience. It also focuses on finding the cultural stereotypes and the representations of the French language from the learner’s perspective that will help French institutions in Malaysia and Mali to design and prioritize their approach and methods of promoting the language and culture of France. This will be furthermore observed in terms of the similarities with the cultural stereotypes representations of the word Francophonie using lexical discourse analysis. A group of 10 students from Malaysia and Mali were subjected to a questionnaire and data were collected through individual in-depth interviews, designed to incite respondents in revealing the stereotypes in their conscious and subconscious mind. Data gained were analysed using thematic analysis. The overall results shows that Malaysian students represent and associated the French language with notions such as “love”, “Paris” and “Eiffel Tower” whiles the notion of Francophonie as an idea of cooperation which is “chosen” to develop and prepare oneself and the nation towards an era of globalisation. Malian students associate the French language as an imposed language but open an array of choices towards professionalism while Francophonie is a plural space which assembles diverse nations that shares the French as a language.
Keywords: stereotypes representations; cultural representations; francophonie; french language
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