Oral proficiency of grade three and grade six early French immersion students from selected schools in the St. John's area

Thomas, Susan Kimberly (1995) Oral proficiency of grade three and grade six early French immersion students from selected schools in the St. John's area. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[English] PDF (Migrated (PDF/A Conversion) from original format: (application/pdf)) - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Download (16MB) [English] PDF - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. (Original Version)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the level of oral proficiency of grade six and grade three early French immersion (EFI) students. Entire classes from elementary EFI schools in the St. John's area participated. The sample consisted of sixty-two students: thirty grade three students and thirty-two grade six students. -- The interviewer conducted fifteen minute taped interviews with each student and gave him/her a global rating based on the following five components of oral proficiency: comprehension, fluency, grammar, pronounciation, and vocabulary. The interview is based on the oral interview procedure used in Newfoundland's French 3200 course. Upon completion of each interview, the interviewer assigned a score. After completing all interviews, eleven French 3200 teachers, who were trained to conduct the interview also evaluated a sample of the taped interviews. While grade six students tended to perform better on the interview than grade three students, it is not possible to establish definitively the degree of difference due to the low inter-rater reliability. Furthermore, inter-rater reliability was higher with grade six students than with grade three students. - A majority of ratings from the French 3200 teachers demonstrated considerable variability when compared to scores assigned by the interviewer. -- Further research is needed to develop instruments that will yield valid and reliable oral proficiency scores for young EFI learners.

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