An intervention study to improve French listening skills in year 11 Kedi Simpson, student on MSc Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquision Teacher at the Warriner School, Bloxham

What, who, where, when? Quasi-experimental study with intervention group (n=24) and comparison group (n=21), pre-test post-test format Year 11 French. 15 lessons between pre-test and post-test. In my classroom!

Why Noticed large discrepancy between reading and listening ability Identified that a crucial element in this was the inability of many to ‘segment the speech stream’. French poses specific problems for this. Listening feels like the most ‘fundamental’ skill and weak listening skills correlate with lack of confidence in the subject more generally.

How Series of 15 lessons in which we did a lot specific exercises to help the kids divide the stream of speech into words. The activities bore very little resemblance to GCSE style questions.

The results Still in analysis. Significantly more improvement in experimental group (p=0.06), approaching statistical significance. Questionnaires suggested vastly increased confidence Interviews talked about panic melting away when listening, pupils developing their own strategies.

Implications for MFL More research is needed! Work on these listening strategies from year seven, to boost confidence and avoid panic when listening Even those whose listening was already good found that the intervention was helpful.

Wider implications Past paper questions versus a more radical approach at the end of year 11? Starting early – rolling out the techniques to lower year groups Identifying the skill or areas of the curriculum that are connected with a lack of confidence, and overteaching them.

kedi.simpson@linacre.ox.ac.uk kedisimpson@googlemail.com Reading: Graham, S. and Macaro, E. (2008) Strategy instruction in listening for lower-intermediate learners of French. Language Learning 58:4 747-783 Graham, S and Santos, D (2015) Strategies for second language listening: Current scenarios and improved pedagogy. Basingstoke: MacMillan.