A assessment of an audio-visual French reading course for use in the primary school

Abstract

Prior to the work carried out in 1968 by the author of this thesis, a French reading course for use in the primary school had been designed in the Department of Education at Durham University and given a small-scale trial. This thesis describes the work carried out in assessing the use of the course in a larger number of primary classes under as near as possible normal conditions. Part I of the thesis describes the background to the experiment: the rapid growth of primary French teaching in the sixties, the basic need for oral competence, and the problems expected in introducing reading. In Part II of the thesis the designing and initial trial of the reading course is described. After it had been established that the introduction of French reading did cause problems, an audio-visual reading course was designed which used a partly look-and-say, partly phonetic method. At the same time tests were designed which were to indicate how successful the course was. The course was taught to two primary classes in 1967 by a research student and the results, compared to a grammar school control group, were promising. Part III of the thesis describes the preparations made for a larger-scale assessment of the material using firstly a group of eight primary school classes taught by their usual teachers, and then in the following year a smaller group of five similar classes. The make-up of the sample and the running of the assessment programme are described. In Part IV the results of the experiment are given, and reasons suggested for the lower level of success achieved. The results of the five-class group are examined separately. Part IV concludes with a consideration of some of the linguistic problems brought to light.