Inferential reading in language 1 and language 2 (french). The argumentative text.

This thesis focuses, on the one hand, on the study of inferential reading and, on the other, on the argumentative text. The reader’s ability to infer is one of the most important steps in the process of making the text meaningful. It plays a major role since, without inference, understanding of the text would fail. Argumentation is one of the text types whose mastery is essential within the academic sphere. However, as this is one of the most complex text types, it has been one of the least developed at secondary school. Starting from the premise that comprehension is boosted if the text’s discursive organization is known, this research explains how the degree of comprehension of an argumentative text varies in different languages. Thus, analysis was carried out on the reading ability of both native Spanish students (L1) and students of French as a foreign language (L2). As a result, the degree of comprehension of the argumentative text of Group L2 proved to be higher than that of Group L1. Therefore, the origin of this difference was determined, and a series of educational proposals were put forward for the Argentinean educational system consideration.

Received: Ago. 2008 | Accepted: Oct. 2008