The Web for French grammar: a tool, a resource or a waste of time?

This paper stems from the two following questions: If I were a language student trying to learn grammar in my L2, and I wanted to use the Web exclusively to do so, what would I be liable to find there? What more would I be entitled to expect from a Web-based approach to French grammar than is already available in traditional form? Before answering these questions, I need to say a little about 'exclusively', 'Web' and 'grammar'. By 'exclusively', I mean that I have ruled out formal Web-based courses of study, as these are fee-paying and restrictedaccess. Instead, I have in mind a constituency of learners using public-access presentational Web-sites and Web courses, as well as other Internet tools, such as Usenet newsgroups and MOOs. Such learners are any age, and they can also be teachers looking for resources for their learners, or using the Web as L2 improvers for themselves. They may want to find particular grammar-related topics, grammar clinics, exercises, tool kits, on-line magazines or journals specialising in grammar, or they may just want to browse. Finally, the word 'grammar' is being used here as a convenient form of shorthand for 'grammatical competence and accuracy in the use of the L2', including in its spoken form. French is the L2 chosen for the purposes of this review. Those teaching French on the Web generally use French as the medium for teaching. Mostly, Web addresses (Uniform Resource Locators or URLs) relevant to this study are from North America, the highest number being Canadian, with English-French bilingual sites. There are hundreds of sites dealing with