Task-Oriented Creative Writing with Système-D

The Système-D software package authored by Noblitt, Sola and Pet is a unique word processing program for creative writing in French. Geared toward elementary and intermediate level students, this program is designed to encourage students to write in French using a dictionary, a verb conjugator, a grammar index, a vocabulary index, and a phrase index. While confirming that Système-D provides challenging opportunities for autonomous expression in writing, this paper gives evidence from experience at Vanderbilt University that students are unlikely to use the features other than the dictionary. In order to profit from all that Système-D has to offer, this paper suggests a framework of task-oriented writing exercises built around meaningful situations which guide the students explicitly to exploit the important linguistic features easily accessible in the software. In addition, this paper discusses the importance of Système-D as it relates to evaluating written work and also its value with regard to the goals of proficiency-oriented instruction. Finally, this paper provides teachers with a comprehensive list of all the categories within the grammar, vocabulary and phrase indexes included in Système-D.