Beginners' progress in decoding L2 French: Some longitudinal evidence from English modern foreign languages classrooms

Journal article

'Decoding' - converting the written symbols (or graphemes) of an alphabetical writing system into the sounds (or phonemes) they represent, using knowledge of the language's symbol/sound correspondences - has been argued to be an important but neglected skill in the teaching of second language (L2) French in English secondary schools. Previous studies have found poor levels of L2 decoding proficiency among beginner learners of French. This, in turn, may impede other aspects of their French learning, such as vocabulary acquisition, reading comprehension and motivation. The current study provides further investigation of L2 French decoding proficiency among beginner learners in English classrooms. It addresses a gap in the research by providing a longitudinal measure of learners' progress in decoding during their second year of learning French. The sample comprises 85 pupils drawn randomly from five mixed-proficiency teaching groups in one English secondary school. Participants completed a Reading Aloud Test on two occasions: at the end of Year 7 and at the end of Year 8. Overall, the group made no discernible progress in French decoding during the year, suggesting that better ways may need to be found of developing learners' proficiency in this area of language learning.

Authors: Woore, R

• Journal: Language Learning Journal
• Volume: 37
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 3-18
• Publication date: 2009-01-01
• DOI: 10.1080/09571730902717398
• EISSN: 1753-2167
• ISSN: 0957-1736
• Language: English