2012 Issue - Ontario Modern Language Teachers

CEFR-based teaching and learning, the
gap between my enthusiasm for French
and that of my students has narrowed
substantially. This, in turn, has led to a
dramatic increase both in my students’
confidence to speak French and in the
quality of their oral production.”
“When I was given the opportunity to
attend a CEFR meeting last year, I was
excited about the prospect of changing
my classroom practices to teaching in a
more active, relevant and engaging way.
Over the past year I have found myself
moving more towards helping students
communicate a message, building the
students’ confidence and making the
effort to find authentic opportunities for
students to demonstrate their knowledge.
I talk less and listen more. I am
excited and sometimes shocked by my
students’ ability to express themselves
and their willingness to take a chance
and make the effort in French.
The number and the quality of French
conversations that I have both inside
and outside my classrooms have increased
significantly. I was particularly
shocked one day in my Grade 8 room.
Students had been working on creating a
device that would inspire real conversation
and were creating an advertising
campaign. Our goal for the lesson was
to look at magazine ads and determine
what makes the ads stand out. I
decided to go for it and see how well we
could do as a group totally in French. As
the hour ended I was totally stunned at
the language the students had been able
to use and the number of students who
made an effort to add something to the
discussion.”
By Wendy Chan and Lori Peck
While we are waiting…
Focus on Oral Language
Development – Can do!
In Ontario, as we await the release
of our new curriculum, we can begin
to update our understandings around
learning goals in our French as a Second
Language programs. First and foremost,
our assessment will align with the principles
and learning goals identified by
our provincial curriculum. Yet, we are
now aware of and encouraged to utilize
another tool: the Common European
Framework of Reference (CEFR), to
establish clear standards of achievement
at successive stages of language
learning. It was for the very purpose of
curriculum reform that the CEFR was
developed in Europe.
Over six common reference levels, the
CEFR serves a purpose for teachers and
students since it provides an opportunity
to map learner progress as students
build proficiency. Teachers can use this
information to provide clear descriptive
feedback to their students and
as a guide to adjust their instruction.
Students can use it to focus their learning,
to set goals and to reflect on their
next learning steps. The principles of
the CEFR align directly with those found
in Growing Success, the assessment
guideline document already released by
the Ministry of Education.
The CEFR descriptors are expressed as
can-do statements in five areas: listening,
speaking, oral interaction, reading
and writing. This provides an opportunity
for us to consider the emphasis
we place on each of these strands as
separate entities. With students starting
Core French in Grade 4, we would
most certainly focus on listening (oral
comprehension) and speaking (spoken
production) as well as oral interaction
(spoken interaction) with a gradual
introduction to reading and writing.
As students continue their exposure to
the target language in later grades, the
emphasis on each strand equalizes but it
is important to remember that students
navigate language by first having opportunities
to engage in listening, speaking
and oral interaction.
You’ll notice that the CEFR separates
oral language into two distinct areas:
speaking, also known as spoken production
and oral interaction also called spoken
interaction. What’s the difference?
To clarify, let’s consider these definitions
and examples:
• Speaking (Spoken production) – a
planned statement to communicate
information to someone. An example
of this is a student presentation to
classmates.
• Oral Interaction (Spoken interaction)
-spontaneous use of language in
which a speaker listens to anothe
speaker and then responds immediately
to that input. Examples of this are
students completing group work and
asking and answering survey questions.
The CEFR also encourages us to consider
the contexts in which our students use
the target language. It is important to
note that contextualized language differs
from thematic language. Contexts
are determined by the communicative
intent (What is my purpose in using
specific language and who is my audience?)
and the accompanying functional
language used by the speaker (What
is important for me to say in order to
relay my message?) Functional language
contexts are authentic to our students’
lives and respect their interests and
environments. Associating language with
a functional context allows students to
personalize their use of the language
and allows for use and re-use of language
that in turn builds their capacity
to communicate confidently in French. It
is certainly plausible to include thematic
language like weather, food, sports, etc.
in functional language contexts. What
we don’t want is for students to recite
lists that may not contain language that
is pertinent to them. What we do want
is for students to use authentic language
that really matters to them.
Let’s bring it all together. The following
is a simple example for an authentic oral
interaction with a clear communicative
intent. I have created succinct can-do
statements for students so they will
know what is expected to be successful
in this oral exchange. On the six-scale
model of the CEFR, this scenario and the
accompanying can-do statements would
be appropriate for a learner at A1 (the
beginning stages of language acquisition).
Au téléphone! – une échange entre deux
amis pour lancer une invitation à faire
quelque chose ensemble; accepter ou
refuser l’invitation d’après leur horaire.
• Je peux saluer et me présenter.
• Je peux poser une (ou des) question(s).
• Je peux répondre à une (ou des)
question(s).
• Je peux parler d’une activité préférée.
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