Attainment in the attitudes towards French among 12 and 13 year-olds in differing school structures

Abstract

This thesis examines the relationship between attainment in French and attitude of pupils aged 12-13 years towards French in differing school structures. The thesis analyses results of attainment tests in the skills of listening, reading and writing. These three scores were also combined to form a composite measure of attainment in French; responses to an attitude to French questionnaire are also presented. The final tests for the three separate attainment skills and attitude responses were compiled after item analyses in a Pilot Study. They were administered to two populations from two distinct school structures: i) Pupils who had studied French for 4 years in 9-13 middle schools. ii) Pupils who had been taught French for 2 years from the age of 11, in 11 + high schools. These pupils had no previous primary French experience. Analysis of test data showed no significant difference in cognitive performance in French between the two populations. This applied to the total populations from each school type and also for both male and female populations from 9-13 middle schools and from 11+ high schools. However, amongst both populations, it was found that girls generally perform better in each of the separate skills and consequently achieve a significantly higher composite French attainment score. For the attitude to French questions, assessing degrees of liking or dislike for French, and for the attitude to French auestionnaire (which incorporated 3 sub-scales), there were significant differences between responses for boys and girls, with girls displaying a more positive attitude. Again, however, there was no significant relationship between the nature of the school system in which the pupil learns French and attitudes towards the subject.