Ability Of French Research Articles

SỬ DỤNG GOOGLE DOCS VÀ MERCI APP TRONG LỚP HỌC VIẾT TIẾNG PHÁP

This study compares the effectiveness of two automated feedback tools, Google Documents, which will be further addressed as Google Docs, and Merci App, in improving writing ability in French as a foreign language. Forty second-year students used these two reviewer tools to correct their B2-level texts. The data includes 80 student drafts edited on two tools and a survey questionnaire after using these two applications. The results show that both tools help students correct many errors at the sentence, word, and fragment levels but cannot correct errors at the inter-sentence, idea, and coherence levels. Google Docs detects more grammatical errors than Merci App, but Merci App is superior when it comes to finding errors in spelling, vocabulary, expression, and punctuation. Students use the application's error correction suggestions to correct their papers at a very high rate, 92.6% with Google Docs and 81.7% with Merci App. The number of students who prefer Google Docs is also higher than the number of students who prefer Merci App. The study proposes to use both tools to correct students' writing errors and to help students become familiar with error explanations in Merci App to help them systematize language knowledge and develop auto-learning capacity.

The role of exposure on school-aged bilingual language abilities – it depends on what you measure

ABSTRACT Few studies have focused on bilingual language development in school-aged simultaneous bilingual children. The current study tackles this gap in the literature by examining the influence of language exposure on the development of both languages in school-aged simultaneous bilingual living in additive bilingual contexts. The language abilities of 19 school-aged simultaneous bilingual children were assessed using standardised language measures in French. Their amount of language exposure was also measured using a parent questionnaire. No correlation was found between language abilities in French and exposure to French. Results did, however, show that most of the children who received as little as 20% of their lifetime exposure to French, obtained scores within the average range on all of the measures. Additionally, children who were exposed to both of their languages on a daily basis were more likely to have better performances than their peers who used one of their languages less frequently. This effect was observed even though children in the former group received less exposure to their strongest language than children who were not exposed to both of their languages daily. Therefore, while exposure is important, other factors may have a positive influence on simultaneous bilinguals’ language proficiency levels.

English and French language ability and the employability of immigrants in Canada

PurposeBoth potential immigrants to Canada and policymakers in Canada continually compare and contrast the economic returns of immigrants' language ability and proficiency. They ask which of the two official languages has a higher economic return in terms of employment and earning. This study examines how ability and proficiency in Canada's two official languages, separately and/or jointly, influences immigrants' quick absorption into the labour market.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses all three waves of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC) and employs logistic regression on the relationship between employability, language ability/proficiency and various non-linguistic factors.FindingsThe study reports that language ability in French is as valuable as language ability in English for immigrants who are aspiring to work, full-time or part-time, when they arrive in Canada. The advantages of language ability and proficiency continue a few years after an immigrant's arrival. Using disaggregated speaking, reading and writing competencies, the authors observe that speaking proficiency in English has a greater impact on employability than reading and writing in English.Originality/valueThere are very few studies looking at the effects of language ability and proficiency on the employability of immigrants in countries with multiple official languages. Most studies are mainly focused on earning and not employability. This study is focused on employability, particularly in the context of Canada. Furthermore, this study specifically disaggregates the impact of speaking, reading and writing competencies in both languages on employment in Canada.

A universal reading network and its modulation by writing system and reading ability in French and Chinese children.

Are the brain mechanisms of reading acquisition similar across writing systems? And do similar brain anomalies underlie reading difficulties in alphabetic and ideographic reading systems? In a cross-cultural paradigm, we measured the fMRI responses to words, faces, and houses in 96 Chinese and French 10-year-old children, half of whom were struggling with reading. We observed a reading circuit which was strikingly similar across languages and consisting of the left fusiform gyrus, superior temporal gyrus/sulcus, precentral and middle frontal gyri. Activations in some of these areas were modulated either by language or by reading ability, but without interaction between those factors. In various regions previously associated with dyslexia, reading difficulty affected activation similarly in Chinese and French readers, including the middle frontal gyrus, a region previously described as specifically altered in Chinese. Our analyses reveal a large degree of cross-cultural invariance in the neural correlates of reading acquisition and reading impairment.

Audio glossing during information-gap activities: The effect on learner output

Abstract This article reports on a study of novice-level learners of French completing information-gap activities, contrasting the language produced by participants with access to audio glosses to that produced by those with no such access. Results suggest multiple benefits from the audio glosses. Quantitative benefits were demonstrated in a higher total percentage of targeted vocabulary items produced by those with access to the audio glosses compared to those without. Participants with glosses also introduced the noun into the conversation in French to a greater extent than those without, who frequently requested forms from their interlocutors in English. Close examination of language forms produced by the learners also indicated greater accuracy of recall of the targeted nouns. Learners with access to the glosses avoided coining new forms, using the glosses to retrieve lexical items when necessary. Learner comments concerning their abilities in French were also less negative from participants in the gloss context. Overall, the results of the study show that participants with access to the audio files produced more of the targeted vocabulary more accurately, with less disruption to communication. In addition, they appeared to benefit from an improved self-image of their ability in French throughout the activity.

Code Switching in the Classroom: A Case Study of Economics and Management Students at the University of Sfax, Tunisia

This case study explores the motivations for code switching (CS) in the interactions of Tunisian students at the faculty of Economics and Management in Sfax, Tunisia. The study focuses on students' (EMSs) classroom conversations and out-of-classroom peer interactions. The analysis of the social motivations of EMSs' CS behaviour shows that classroom conversations are teacher controlled and that CS instances are mostly uttered for clarification or to enhance participation. The switches are motivated by the students' low abilities in French enhanced by the unstable linguistic situation of Tunisia after the Arabisation process. However, out-of-classroom conversations are mostly uncontrolled, unless in the presence of out-group members. All types of CS encountered explain the motivations for the emergence of an unconscious monolect as a means of interaction among in-group members. This monolect is set to achieve communicative goals where more importance is given to the message and less significance to the code.

Decoding Ability in French as a Foreign Language and Language Learning Motivation

This study examined the relationships between decoding ability (the ability to relate graphemes to phonemes) in French as a foreign language, self‐reported use of such decoding, and dimensions of motivation, specifically self‐efficacy and attribution, among young‐beginner learners in England. It investigated whether these factors were related to a desire to continue studying the language beyond the compulsory learning age of 14. Previous research has found low levels of motivation for learning the language after only a few years of instruction and a number of authors have called for research to discover why this should be. With a large stratified sample of participants aged 11–14, decoding ability was elicited via written rhyme and word segmentation tests. Self‐efficacy, attribution, perceptions of learning French and use of decoding were elicited via self‐reported statements. Findings suggest that, after 3 years of studying French, students were unable to decode accurately even though they claimed to use decoding regularly in a range of language learning tasks. At all stages of learning, students’ ability to decode, together with their belief that they could do it, appeared to contribute to the likelihood of their continuing with French study. They attributed inability to decode not to the teacher or teaching method but to the “strangeness” of French. Given the potential generalizability of these results, important implications for teaching and for curriculum review are drawn.

Early predictors of biliteracy development in children in French immersion: A 4-year longitudinal study.

English language predictors of English and French reading development were investigated in a group of 140 children who were enrolled in French immersion programs. Children were first tested in kindergarten, and their reading achievement was tested yearly in both English and French from Grades 1 to 3, with word-level and passage-level measures that assessed accuracy as well as fluency. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine which English variables predicted Grade 3 outcomes and growth rates in English and French, and to determine the set of predictors that accounted for the most variance in outcomes and growth rates in English and French reading. The variables that predicted English reading development were consistent with studies of monolingual English children, even though participants were concurrently learning to read in French. Our findings provide evidence that at least some of the skills that play a role in learning to read are general cognitive and linguistic skills that transfer across languages. Phonological awareness, letter-sound knowledge, rapid automatized naming, and grammatical ability in English were able to predict reading ability in French. In contrast, English receptive vocabulary was a language-specific predictor. These findings demonstrate that first-language measures can be useful in the early identification of children at risk for difficulty in learning to read in a second language.

Are Self-Efficacy, Language Learning Strategies, and Foreign Language Ability Interrelated?

This study investigated the interrelationships among three variables: self-efficacy, language learning strategies, and language ability. The study participants were thirty-seven college students studying French at a midwestern, medium-size, university located a large metropolitan area. All the students were at the intermediate level of proficiency in French. The students’ self-efficacy was measured through a forty-item questionnaire in which they expressed their levels of certainty that they could perform learning tasks at desired levels of proficiency. Their use of language learning strategies was also measured through a forty-item questionnaire that was an adaptation of Oxford’s (1990) Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL). Their language ability in French was measured through a sixty-item cloze test. The results of the study revealed the existence of positive and statistically significant relationships among the three variables. Recommendations for second language students, programs, and instructors were suggested to help students achieve higher communicative competence.

POWER AND PREJUDICE: THEIR EFFECTS ON THE CO-CONSTRUCTION OF LINGUISTIC AND NATIONAL IDENTITIES

This article addresses how different types of, and differences in, power affect the micro-processes of face-to-face interaction as they contribute to the dynamic co-construction of identity of the interactants. The specific focus will be on linguistic and national identity when a French L1 speaker who is bilingual in American English and lives in the United States interacts with French speakers in France. Based on an authentic conversation, it will be shown that this speaker at first is proud of being bilingual and binational but then evidences ambivalence about and lack of confidence in his two languages when confronted by a native speaker with greater symbolic power who challenges his abilities in French and who is prejudiced against English and the United States. It is concluded that we must take into account the issue of symbolic power when studying those who are at the boundaries of linguistic and national identities.

Entrée dans l’écrit en contexte plurilingue et défavorisé : développer les capacités métaphonologiques et sensibiliser à la diversité linguistique

Abstract:This article presents the results of research conducted in multilingual and underprivileged schools in Montreal. The goals of the first study were to observe the effects of participation in activities involving metaphonological capacities and the development of these capacities, as well as pre-reading abilities in French as a second language, among 107 students of immigrant origin in seven kindergarten classes (age five). A further analysis was conducted in order to determine whether there were differences in the results according to the type of intervention (with or without language awareness) and according to the type of class (regular or welcoming class). The second study involved the participation of a smaller number of students, specifically those attending the three welcoming classes in the school. In particular, it aimed to observe the effects of activities promoting language awareness on the students’ representations of the status of their first language (L1) in relation to that of the French language (L2) at their school and, in general, how they viewed linguistic diversity.

Régulation métacognitive du contrôle de la compréhension orale en FLE

In this paper the importance of monitoring the process of listening, both in presential and non-presential learning of a foreign language, is underlined. Evolution of awareness in the use of this strategy has been analyzed through a metacognitive approach. Some procedures used by two groups of Spanish university students with different listening abilities in French, have been identified through their retrospective verbalisations. The results obtained show that qualitative changes occur both in awareness and in the strategies involved in monitoring of listening. The statistical significance of these changes has been validated in both groups and the differences due to their level of knowledge has been identified.

Variété des activités narratives dans des contextes scolaires et extrascolaires

Laurent Gajo, Petra Koch, Lorenza Mondada - Diversity of narrative activities in and out of school. By studying narrative sequences, this article aims at describing a number of interactive mechanisms linked to curricular and extra-curricular contexts. Using a holistic approach and relying upon conversational analysis, it wishes to show how young non native French-speaking migrants develop and build up their activities and their discursive abilities in French and in German. The opposition school/out-of-school is modalized through a large range of contexts the configurations of which, though sensitive to external constraints, are broadly re-defined within the interaction itself.

Factors influencing elective language choice

Abstract Factors influencing the decision of secondary school students to continue or discontinue the study of French beyond the compulsory years were investigated in a government secondary college in an outer eastern suburb of Melbourne. Six classes of year 8 French students were surveyed. The results of the study indicate that gender, perceived ability in French, encouragement from parents and teachers, peer group preference, and beliefs about the career relevance of French influence the decision of students to opt in or out of the language programme.

Education, Attitudes, and Language of Higher Education: Francophone Students in Northern Ontario

Data from 1586 Francophone students in Northeastern Ontario concerning their attitudes towards French and English show seven independent factors affect linguistic beliefs. Three factors -believing French unimportant, believing English practically dominant, and believing their French inadequate - lead students to continue their post-secondary education solely in English. Believing French more pleasurable is positively, and believing English superior is negatively, related to continuing post-secondary education solely in French. Educational level is negatively related to believing English superior and to believing French unimportant but positively related to believing English dominant, French pleasurable, and their French inadequate. Policy should therefore focus on countering the belief in English dominance and the belief in the inadequacy of their ability in French.

Gohachiro Namura (1826-1876) and Taizo Namura (1840-1909)

The Tokugawas established the School Fuchu (Shizuoka) Gakumonjo in Suruga in the autumn of 1868 as their major undertaking after the debacle of the Shogunate. In straitened circumstances they found a gleam of light in educa-tion for their future.Gohachiro Namura was the head of the professors of English at this school. Unfortunately, however, we seldom come across his name as such in the litera-ture concerning the school. Instead, the name of Taizo Namura, who has nothing to do with the school, is often seen as a professor at the school. There are cases where Taizo's personal history is mistaken for Gohachiro's, or, vice versa.In this paper, the causes of this confusion are discussed, and personal his-tories of Gohachiro and Taizo are presented. Gohachiro was a son of Hachiemon Namura, a very able official Dutch interpreter at Nagasaki. Taizo is said to have become a stepson of Hachiemon. Both Gohachiro and Taizo learnd Dutch and worked as Dutch intepreters at Nagasaki in the beginning, and they learned English and other foreign languages in addition, which made them indispensa-ble persons for modernization of Japan.Gohachiro was one of the Japanese who studied and taught English earliest in Japan : he was one of the compilers of an English and Japanese dictionary, 1851-1854 (uncompleted), the second English and Japanese dictionary compiled in Japan. He was one of the interpreters when the Treaty of Peace and Amity was signed between the United States and Japan in 1854. He served as the chief interpreter of the first Japanese embassy to the United States in 1860, and also of the Japanese embassy to Russia in 1866.Taizo was known for his ability in French. He was appointed an interpreter for a group of French technical instructors and workers for the construction of an iron foundary in Yokohama in 1862. He went to France to work for an International Exhibition at Paris in 1867, which Japan took part in for the first time. After the Restoration of 1868 he was employed by the new government at Nagasaki, where he taught French at a language institute transmitted to the new government. He entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo in 1869. He moved to the Ministry of Justice in 1872. He was appointed as an Acting President of the Supreme Court in 1892, and as a member of the House of Peers in 1894. One of his most important contribution was, perhaps, the introduction of French law into Japan, serving as an interpreter and assistant for a famous French professor in law, Dr. Gustave Emile Boissonade de Fontarabie (1825-1910).The confusion between Gohachiro and Taizo was originated in a simple mistake in a paper published in 1917, where the author wrote “Gohachiro (Taizo) Namura”, in his judgement that Taizo must have been Gohachiro's later name. Then, another authour, in his book published in 1934, noted just “Taizo Namura” in the list of professors at the school. Because this book is one of the basic books in the field, the confusion has been handed down to many other authors.

The Effect of a Team Human Relations Training Laboratory on the Productivity and Perceptions of a Selling Group.

The article presents abstracts of dissertations on management, including “Influences of Organizational Behavior on Problem Solving,” by James W. Walker, “Occupational Ability of French and English-...

The Two Themes of Canadian Federalism

Canadian federal experience has centred around two major themes. The first relates to cultural dualism, the desire and ability of French- and English-speaking Canadians to survive as such and to use the governmental institutions which they respectively dominate in order to ensure this outcome. The second involves public action to meet the material expectations of individuals and groups living within an economy where burdens and benefits have been determined largely by the economic policies of successive federal administrations. Those who have concerned themselves with Canadian federalism have usually believed, explicitly or implicitly, that either the cultural or the economic problem was the major challenge which the federal system faced. Thus there are two versions of what our constitutional arrangements are all about, and these are most strikingly illustrated by the divergent perspectives of the Rowell-Sirois and Tremblay Commission. The former was almost exclusively concerned with the reallocation of revenues, revenue sources, and functional responsibilities between the two levels of government and did not deal in any explicit way with the impact of existing or proposed arrangements on the survival of the two cultures. To the Tremblay Commission the great theme of our constitutional history since Confederation is the attempt of English-speaking Canada to subvert the original federal compact and the resistance of these attempts by French Canadians; its Report does deal in great detail with economic issues but its basic argument is that the essential and permanent value of Canadian federalism is to make possible the survival of the two cultural groups.

Grammatical Knowledge and Reading Ability in French

Grammatical Knowledge and Reading Ability in French