Progression Corpus

Tasks

For the purpose of eliciting spoken French data from these beginning classroom learners, a variety of oral tasks was specially devised. A portfolio of distinct oral tasks was produced, including a story re-telling task (Task L), an informal conversation task using school and family photos as prompts (Task A), and an interrogatives elicitation task (Task I), all to be undertaken one-to-one with a member of the research team. Further tasks to be done in learner pairs or groups included a variety of role plays and information exchange tasks, such as planning a day out (Task G), or instructions to draw a picture (Task R). Clusters of 2-4 tasks were used during each Assessment Round, with some recycling of pair and individual tasks (group tasks proved unwieldy and were not repeated however). Once a term, the entire research team, supplemented on occasion by University of Southampton graduate students, visited the collaborating schools for 2-3 days, in order to administer the Assessment Round tasks to cohort learners, who were withdrawn from their usual lessons and supervised by research team members. All task performances were audiorecorded, with kits comprising individual lapel mikes and small cassette recorders. A pencil-and-paper vocabulary test was also developed and administered on two occasions.

From the range of tasks administered over the life of the project, two tasks have been selected to represent each Round of data collection within the FLLOC database. The tasks selected are as follows:

Round and Year	Task	Task description
Round 1 Year 7	Ai	One to one with investigator (photos stimulus)
	Di	Pair task (conversation and role play)
	Ri	Pair task (picture description)
Round 2 Year 7	Aii	One to one with investigator (photos stimulus)
	Dii	Information gap pair task (conversation and role play)
Round 3 Year 8	Liii	Loch Ness narration
	Riii	Pair task (picture description)
Round 4 Year 8	Aiv	One to one with investigator (photos stimulus)
	Giv	Information gap pair task
Round 5 Year 8	Iv	Interrogative elicitation task (picture description)
	Dv	Open-ended pair task (conversation and role play)
Round 6 Year 9	Lvi	Loch Ness narration
	Gvi	Information gap pair task

Progression Project: Individual tasks

The tasks are described below by Round, i.e. in sequence as the learners encountered them. All tasks are identified by task type (A, D, G etc), by school year (7, 8, 9) and by data elicitation round (i, ii, iii etc).

Round 1 (Year 7 Term 2, learners aged 11-12): Tasks A7i, D7i, R7i

Task A7i: One to one with investigator (photos)

For this task learners worked on a one-to-one basis with an investigator. The aim of the task was for learners to ask and answer questions in French about family and daily life, their own and other people’s. The investigators contributed sets of their own family photos as a stimulus.

Time allowed: 10 minutes
Number of learners successfully recorded: 14/60

Task D7i: Pair task

The aim of the task was for learners to exchange personal information, asking and answering questions and completing a written information card about their partner.

Time allowed: 10 minutes
Number of learners successfully recorded: 57/60

Task R7i: Picture description pair task.

For this task learners worked in pairs. The aim of the task was for learners to use French in order to describe a picture to a partner, who would then attempt to reproduce the picture. The learners sat facing each other with a low divider in between. They were each given a different cue card (A or B), plain paper, clipboards, pencils, and coloured pencils. On the cue cards were coloured cartoon drawings of three imaginary people, with names. The cartoon characters differed in gender, size, shape, hairstyle, and dress. Learner A picked at least one of these imaginary people and described them to their partner Learner B, who attempted to produce a matching drawing. Roles were then reversed so that Learner A gave instructions and Learner B did the drawing. The task instructions encouraged the partners to interact, in particular advising the person who was doing the drawing to ask questions actively.

Time allowed: 10 minutes.
Number of learners successfully recorded: 51/60

Round 2 (Year 7 Term 3, learners aged 11-12): Tasks A7ii, D7ii

Task A7ii: One to one with investigator (photos).

For this task learners worked on a one-to-one basis with an investigator. The aim of the task was for learners to ask and answer questions in French about school and family life. Photographs were specially taken around School 1 and School 2, and used as the basis for conversations about daily school routine, the learner’s likes and dislikes regarding school subjects, leisure interests etc. The investigator also introduced personal family photos and the learners were encouraged to ask questions about these. The investigator followed up with further questions about the photos and also asked the learner about related aspects of their own home life.

Time allowed: 10 minutes
Number of learners successfully recorded: 53/60

Task D7ii: Information gap pair task.

The aim of the task was

a) for learners to exchange information in French about their personal likes and dislikes,
b) to compare these with information provided about two French children, and
c) to decide whether either of them could be a suitable penfriend.

The learners sat facing each other with a low divider in between. There were each given a different cue card (A or B). The first part of the cards provided spaces to record up to six things their partner liked and six things they disliked, with the following general prompts: ‘sports’, ‘loisirs’, collège’, ‘à manger’. The second part of the cards provided ‘gapped’ information about the preferences of two possible pen pals ‘Pierre’ and ‘Monique’ (in symbols not words); by exchanging the information from Cards A and B the partners could produce a complete list of preferences for both people. The third part of the cards provided space to record decisions about the pen pal linkup. The instructions encouraged the learners to interact in French, asking and/or telling each other about their own likes and dislikes and those of Pierre and Monique, and finally making a ‘yes’/’no’ pen pal decision.

Time allowed: 15 minutes
Number of learners successfully recorded: 51/60

Round 3 (Year 8 Term 1, learners aged 12-13): Tasks L8iii, R8iii

Task L8iii: Loch Ness narration.

For this task learners worked on a one-to-one basis with an investigator. The aim was for learners to re-tell in French a simple story which had been narrated to them first of all by the investigator. The story was titled “Monstre du Lac Ness: vrai ou faux?”, and was supported by a series of cartoon drawings and a wordlist. The investigator told the story, using a prepared text and referring actively to the drawings. The learner was then asked to re-tell the story, with limited prompting and support from the investigator, who encouraged them to refer both to the drawings and to the wordlist if needed. The recordings normally include the story as told by the investigator as well as the learner’s version.

Time allowed: 10 minutes.
Number of learners successfully recorded: 58/60

Annex 1: Story text

Monstre du Lac Ness: vrai ou faux?

(Picture 1) Voilà une famille… regarde, voilà grand-mère et voilà les trois enfants… une fille et deux garçons. Ils sont en vacances… tu vois ils ont des valises… ils arrivent au bord d’un lac, le Lac Ness. La famille va passer des vacances là-bas. C’est un grand lac, le Lac Ness.
Maintenant la famille est à côté du lac … voilà le lac … maman regarde un livre … la fille pêche avec son petit frère, regarde, ils pêchent dans le lac … le garçon dessine le lac et les montagnes … et grand-mère peint.
Regarde, elle peint un monstre, le monstre du Lac Ness. Regarde le dessin de grand-mère, dit le garçon, c’est un monstre, c’est le monstre du Lac Ness
L’après-midi, maman va en ville avec le petit garçon. Elle va en voiture. ‘Au revoir’ dit grand-mère, ‘au revoir’ disent la fille et son frère.
Maman est en ville, elle fait des courses, elle regarde dans un magasin.
Grand-mère est dans le jardin avec les deux enfants. Regarde – qu’est-ce que c’est? C’est une bouée – voilà des bouées, une bouée, deux bouées, trois, quatre … grand-mère peint les bouées. Qu’est-ce qu’elle fait? Elle peint les bouées pour faire un monstre!
Grand-mère est dans un bateau avec la fille et le garçon. Elle met les bouées dans le lac – c’est un monstre, c’est le monstre du Lac Ness!
Il y a beaucoup de monde au bord du lac, il y a des touristes, des journalistes, des enfants. Ils regardent le monstre dans le lac, et ils prennent des photos.
Les enfants regardent la télé. ‘Voilà le monstre!’ Le monstre est à la télé.
Un journaliste arrive. Il parle à grand-mère. ‘Excusez-moi, je suis désolée’, dit grand-mère, ‘ce n’est pas un vrai monstre, ce sont des bouées’.
Les vacances sont finies et la famille rentre à la maison … mais regarde! … dans le lac! Est-ce que c’est un vrai monstre?

Annex 2: Word list

en vacances
on holiday

Peint
paints/ is painting

Dit
says

fait des courses
does some shopping/ goes shopping

une bouée
a rubber ring

beaucoup de monde
a lot of people

un journaliste
a reporter

prennent des photos
take / are taking photos

parle à
speaks to / is speaking to

vrai
real

Task R8iii: Picture description pair task. (As for Task R7i)

Time allowed: 10 minutes
Number of learners successfully recorded: 60/60

Round 4 (Year 8 Term 2, learners aged 12-13): Tasks A8iv, G8iv

Task A8iv: One to one with investigator (photos).

For this task learners worked on a one-to-one basis with an investigator. The aim of the task was for learners to ask and answer questions in French about family, daily life and special events, their own and other people’s. The investigators contributed sets of their own family photos as a stimulus. These were selected so as to include a boy and/or a girl, engaged in routine/non-routine leisure activities, with or without other people. The learner was instructed to find out as much as they could about the people in the pictures, e.g. about personal details, locations, and events. The investigator was instructed to follow up with further questions about the photos and also to create opportunities for the learner to talk about his/her relationships and personal details, leisure interests, and holidays.

Time allowed: 15 minutes
Number of learners successfully completing Task A8iv: 57/60

Task G8iv: Information gap pair task.

For this task learners worked in pairs. The aim of the task was for learners to exchange information in French about their own likes and dislikes, to role play making arrangements by telephone to go out in an imaginary town (Belleville), and to decide whether to take a friend. The learners sat facing each other with a low divider in between. They were each given a different cue sheet (A and B); learner B was also given a stimulus sheet with illustrations of possible activities at Belleville. The cue sheets were in three parts; the first part prompted Learner A to find out from Learner B what activities were available, and prompted both learners to comment on whether they liked/disliked them. The second part provided part-completed diaries with differing information; learners had to negotiate to clarify when they were free to meet. The third part of Cue Sheet A provided information in symbol form about the likes and dislikes of a supposed ‘friend’; Learner B’s task was to find out about this person, and both learners then decided whether or not the friend would enjoy/should take part in the planned outing.

Time allowed: 15 minutes
Number of learners successfully completing Task G8iv:60/60

Round 5 (Year 8 Term 3, learners aged 12-13): Tasks D8v, I8v

Task D8v: Open-ended pair task.

For this task learners worked in pairs. The aim of this version of Task D was to promote ‘open’ discussion in French about aspects of learners’ personal life. Four cue cards were provided, on four different topics:

My home and town/village
My weekend and leisure activities
School life and daily routine
Holidays

Each cue card had a collection of keywords and symbols (for likes and dislikes), organised as a concept network. Learners were encouraged to exchange information of the kind referred to on the card, to compare activities and routines with those of their partner, to say what they enjoyed/did not enjoy, and to say why. Learners were given one card as a starter but could move to other cards as they chose.

Time allowed: 10 minutes
Number of learners successfully completing Task D8v: 56/60.

Task I8v: Interrogatives elicitation task.

For this task learners worked on a one-to-one basis with an investigator. The aim of the task was to elicit data concerning learners’ use of interrogative forms in French, in conjunction with third person reference. The learner and the investigator sat facing each other with a low divider in between. The investigator had a version of a French townscape scene, including four characters doing different activities. The learner had another version of the same scene, in which the characters were missing. The learner was provided with pencil and rubber and was instructed that they must ask four questions in order to find out about the missing characters, and draw them onto the scene: where s/he is, what s/he is doing, what s/he looks like (size, hair, clothing etc), and what his/her name is. They were also told they could ask guessing questions if needed, e.g. ‘is he playing football?’. It was suggested the investigator should prompt and guide the learner in English only (to minimise modelling the expected structures). On completion the investigator and learner compared pictures.

Time allowed: 15 minutes
Number of learners successfully completing Task I8v: 54

Round 6 (Year 9 Term 1, learners aged 13-14): Tasks G9vi, L9vi

G9vi: Information gap pair task.

For this task learners worked in pairs. The task was a revised version of Task G8iv. The aim of the task was for learners to exchange information in French about their own likes and dislikes, to make arrangements to go out in an imaginary town (Belleville), and to decide whether to take a friend. The learners sat facing each other with a low divider in between. They were each given a different cue sheet (A and B); learner B was also given a stimulus sheet with illustrations of possible activities at Belleville, and learner A was given a sheet with details about the interests of a gender-matched ‘friend’, in symbol form (‘Richard’/‘Laura’). The first part of both cue sheets provided part-completed diaries with differing information; learners had to negotiate to identify a whole day when they were free to meet and undertake a programme of activities. The cue sheet had a section where Belleville activities could be noted, plus a planner for writing down an agreed programme after discussion of preferences. Once the planner had been agreed, both learners then reviewed the interests of Richard/ Laura, and decided whether or not the friend would enjoy/ should take part in the planned outing.

Time allowed: 15 minutes
Number of learners successfully completing Task G9vi: 52/60

L9vi: Loch Ness narration. (As for Task L8iii)

Time allowed: 15 minutes
Number of learners successfully completing Task L9vi: 52/60