Abstract
This chapter critically reviews the way discursive competence has been studied in French SLA, to identify the methodological strengths and limitations of current research. A particular focus is taken on the methods used to track the development of the means to produce cohesive speech in L2 French, at different ages of onset and proficiency levels, and across various conceptual domains; and on the approaches taken to the development of information structure at discourse level in a variety of tasks. We used a sample of 37 studies on L2 French, spanning 30 years of research on L2 development of discursive competence, to shed light on the methodological contribution of L2 French in this area to wider SLA, before identifying promising avenues for future research.