UW-Stevens Point’s Parker co-authors French composition book

Marcia Parker, associate professor of French at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, is one of three authors of a textbook for French composition and conversation. "Generations: Composition et conversation en francais" is designed for composition and conversational French for students beyond fifth semester level.

Co-authors with Parker are Lydie Meunier, assistant professor and language director at the University of Tulsa and Beatrice Guenther, associate professor at the College of William and Mary. The book is published by Harcourt College Publishers, Fort Worth, Texas, and is available at the University Store.

Parker is no stranger to conversational French. She has been a teacher of French for more than 25 years and a regular visitor to France, often as a leader of study abroad groups. "Language is the basis for intercultural understanding," says Parker. She stresses constant verbal interaction in her classes, which are conducted entirely in French. Outside of the classroom, she regularly holds French "chat" sessions at the Language House, a designated foreign language living area in Baldwin Hall. In addition, she has been known to play French versions of the board games Pictionary and Trivial Pursuit with her students.

"This book is geared toward improving the communication skills of serious French students," said Parker. "The title refers to generations of families and societies, the spoken and written word and the generations of successive drafts that all good writers use to generate creative writing ideas."

The 288-page paperback, except for the preface, is written entirely in French. "Generations" features the exploration of cross-cultural differences, allows students to develop and utilize composition ideas in an interactive manner, offers guidelines for evaluating writing as well as exercises on a CD-ROM that parallels an activities manual and includes a review of problematic grammar points.

Parker also authored two essays in the 1998 French literary dictionary, "French Dramatists from 1789 to 1914."

Last year she received UWSP's Excellence in Teaching award after her third department nomination in five years. She also has been recognized by the Wisconsin Association of Foreign Language Teachers for "significant contributions to foreign language education."

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