Processus de différenciation et compétences langagières: expertise et formation dans les métiers de service en restauration

Grounded in the field of interactional linguistics applied to professional practices and training, our study is based on a two-year ethnography of communication of the table waiting vocational training in restaurant-schools at the Paul Bocuse Institute (Ecully, France). This contribution addresses the processes of differentiation that lead to distinguish an expert maître d'hôtel from a non-expert. To this end, after a short presentation of our study, we first report on educational choices related to table waiting skills training that focus on the mastery of technical gestures. Second, in comparison, we examine work expertise, crucially based on interactional competencies that are overshadowed in the training. Third, we discuss the contradictory phenomena observed and consider their consequences and stakes in terms of training and professional identity.