Développer la compétence interculturelle de l'apprenant à travers la littérature francophone translingue d'exil et de migration

The article defends the advantages of introducing translingual literature of exile and migration into the teaching of French as a foreign language (FFL) to develop the learner’s intercultural competence through reflection on their experience of otherness. The benefits of literature in the FFL classroom are well established. First and foremost, literary texts can be used to work on the language. From an anthropological point of view, literature also provides the learner with keys to understanding the target culture. Finally, it enables them to develop their intercultural skills through the experience of otherness that reading provides. In this respect, translingual literature of exile and migration has a greater potential than other literary works, insofar as otherness constitutes the very fibre of translingual writing. Defined as literature written in a language other than the writer’s mother tongue, whose literary activity is also partly motivated by their experience of exile, translingual literature of exile and migration has, through the experience of otherness, many points in common with language learning. It is therefore the issue of otherness that constitutes the common thread for the use of translingual literature of exile and migration in the FFL classroom to develop the learner’s intercultural competence. To this end, the article proposes three teaching activities based on extracts from translingual works focusing on the main components of intercultural competence: positive attitudes of openness towards others, tolerance and acceptance of others, intercultural distance, and decentring.