Abstract
This chapter presents the French didactic tradition. It first describes the emergence and development of this tradition according to four key features (role of mathematics and mathematicians, role of theories, role of design of teaching andlearning environments, and role of empirical research), and illustrates it through two case studies respectively devoted to research carried out within this tradition on algebra and on line symmetry-reflection. It then questions the influence of thistradition through the contributions of four researchers from Germany, Italy, Mexico and Tunisia, before ending with a short epilogue.