Liaisons: An Introduction to French (World Languages) - Hardcover

Wynne Wong is Professor of French and Director of French Language Instruction at the Ohio State University. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on second language acquisition and Quebec cultural studies, and is responsible for graduate teaching associate training. In addition to publishing in different areas of second language acquisition, she is known for her research in French on Processing Instruction and structured input, and for her award-winning article (with B. VanPatten) "The Evidence is IN: Drills are OUT" (Foreign Language Annals, 2003), winner of the 2005 Stephen A. Freeman Award. Dedicated to building bridges between theory and practice, she is also the lead author of the textbook LIAISONS (Cengage, 2013, 2017) as well as INPUT ENHANCEMENT: FROM THEORY AND RESEARCH TO THE CLASSROOM (McGraw-Hill, 2005) and FOCUSING ON FORM IN LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION (with D. Simard, Routledge, 2015).

Stacey Weber-Fève is Associate Professor of French at Iowa State University. She is a specialist of French cinema and has published books and articles on women's filmmaking and life writing and is currently researching French cinematic comedy and several French stars of comedy films. An award-winning teacher dedicated to "bridging the gap" between "language teachers" and "literature professors," she has also published and presented on the teaching of the French language, culture, literature, and film through integrated approaches and input-to-output processes at all levels of the foreign language curriculum, including advanced levels. She is co-author of the textbook LIAISONS and the recipient of the Nelson Brooks award (2015) given by ACTFL for excellence in the teaching of culture.

Edward Ousselin is Professor of French at Western Washington University. His main research interests are in French film and cultural studies. He is currently serving as editor in chief of THE FRENCH REVIEW.

Bill VanPatten is Professor of Second Language Studies at Michigan State University where he also directs the Spanish and French language programs. An international scholar with numerous awards for research, leadership, and teaching, Professor VanPatten is known not only for his work on theory and research in second language acquisition but also for the implications of second language research for language teaching.

"I am very impressed by the LIAISONS program. The grammar sections are outstanding; the way that vocabulary is presented is engaging and pedagogically sound; the readings are relevant; the film looks interesting, and students are led to think critically and express themselves creatively. I am excited about this book."

"A well-integrated program that provides a detailed and entertaining introduction to the study of French in a novel and creative manner."

"A rich and modern textbook trying to address present-day students with intercultural activities and questions that speak to them."

"The vocabulary and grammar presentations are excellent. They provide students with rich resources for skills development"

"[The] activities are engaging because the focus is on meaning. This in my opinion is the best part of this textbook. Students are engaged in a real task where they are trying to find information, compare it, organize it, share it, they are observing, deciphering, drawing conclusions, etc. I think the activities are well paced, there is a good flow."