Etudes de Linguistique Appliquee - N2/2011

We propose here to study the complex reality of the Erasmus student mobility in that it influences the emergence and development of metalinguistic awareness of students. We see that in the language learning process (the language of the host country but also sometimes other languages), students will develop spontaneous target language theories, called ordinary or lay knowledge (Beacco, 2004; Paveau, 2005, 2008), which are based on representations more or less axiological or a purist linguistic imagination. We analyze the development discourse of these representations to see how language learning conditions for the students see themselves governed by different standards, socially and culturally constructed. Excerpts from the corpus in the context of our doctoral research will underpin our purpose.