A Comparative Study of the Effects of Poetic, Dramatic, and Narrative Genres on the Language and Cognitive Skills of Learners of French as a Foreign Language (FFL)

This study aims to examine the effects of literary genres on the development of language skills as well as on a pedagogical index of cognitive reserve among learners of French as a Foreign Language (FFL). Adopting a quasi-experimental pre-test–post-test design, the study was conducted with 72 A2-level learners divided into four groups: three experimental groups exposed respectively to poetry, drama, and the novel, and a control group receiving conventional instruction. The instructional intervention was implemented over a six-week period. Data were collected using a test assessing the four language skills and a pedagogical cognitive reserve index designed to evaluate the mobilization of specific cognitive resources within the learning context. The central research question of this study is to determine how instruction based on poetic, dramatic, and narrative genres produces significant effects on the development of the four French language skills as well as on learners’ pedagogical cognitive reserve index. The findings indicate that the structured integration of literary genres into French language instruction promotes the development of language skills and the mobilization of the cognitive resources examined. They also reveal differentiated effects according to the literary genre employed, suggesting that poetry, drama, and the novel may contribute in complementary ways to learners’ linguistic and cognitive development.