European scale.
For ease of use, the collection includes sections Methodological support with a detailed analysis of two tests that participated in the All-Russian Olympiad for schoolchildren, and Keys to all...
The collection contains tests designed to test language competence at the lexical and grammatical level. Difficulty corresponds to levels B1-B2 according to
European scale.
The tests are developed on the basis of authentic coherent texts. Their implementation confronts the test taker with the need to implement not only linguistic, but also other important components of communicative competence: discursive, sociolinguistic, sociocultural and strategic.
When creating tests, the author uses all the variety of currently existing methodological developments in the field of testology. This will allow students to prepare for exams of various formats: Unified State Examination, State Examination, Entrance Tests and Olympiads in French, DELF-DALF, TCF, and their teachers to master modern testing methods.
For ease of use, the collection includes sections Methodological support with a detailed analysis of two tests that participated in the All-Russian Olympiad for schoolchildren, and Keys to all tests.
The second, revised and expanded edition included tests from 2012-2013.
2nd edition, corrected and expanded.
The All-Russian French Language Olympiad for Schoolchildren is held annually in four stages: school, municipal, regional and final, which involves qualitative and quantitative complication of tasks from stage to stage.
To solve this problem, a level model of the Olympiad has been developed, which is presented in detail in the book French. All-Russian Olympiads, published by the Prosveshchenie publishing house in 2008.
At the final stage, the Olympiad includes five competitions: vocabulary and grammar test, understanding of oral and written texts, production of oral and written speech.
Students in grades 9-11 complete tasks of the same difficulty level (B2+) and the same format. The scoring is done in the form of a single rating for all participants.
The selection of candidates for the final is carried out on the basis of their results at the three previous stages, which are thus designed to solve a double task: to select the best and prepare them for the next stage. This determines the feasibility of holding all stages of the Olympiad according to a single scheme of five competitions, within each of which the following basic conditions are ensured: increasing difficulty and methodological continuity compared to the previous stage.
The purpose of this article: to help teachers prepare students for participation in the All-Russian Olympiad at all stages. It presents the content and structure of the competition for understanding oral text, held in April 2009 in Ulyanovsk, as well as analysis of tasks and analysis of the work of students in grades 9-11 who participated in the final stage of this year’s Olympiad.
Oral text comprehension competition: content and structure
To conduct a competition for understanding written texts, the Central Methodological Commission under the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation is developing six documents: rules for the competition, a disk with a recording of the text and the entire competition procedure, a transcription of this procedure, a task sheet, an answer sheet and keys.
Transcription contains (see "Appendix")
- announcement in French of all stages of work,
- announcement of each stage provided for in the procedure,
- pauses provided for performing stages 1, 3 and 5,
- spoken text repeated twice.
Texts.
For the competition, modern, authentic-sounding texts (informative and argumentative types) are selected, which represent the implementation of the standard style used in French media aimed at youth audiences. They are selected from broadcasts of such radio stations as France inter, France info, France culture, RFI (Radio France internationale), Europe 1, RSR (Radio Suisse romande) and represent the following radiophonic genres: bulletin d'information, reportage, journal d' information, interview, entretien, émission thématique sur des sujets différents (écologie, science, études, transports, médias, etc.).
The topics of the texts are thus related to modern social problems, education, choice of profession and the life of the younger generation, and the discursive and pragmatic parameters are related to the current sociocultural situation in France, therefore their adequate understanding requires the contestants to possess sociocultural and sociolinguistic competencies at a verifiable level of complexity . Such sounding material makes it possible to test sociocultural competence through the understanding of texts by including in the questionnaire tasks the implementation of which requires the contestants to interpret the elements of a sociocultural nature contained in the text.
During pre-test processing, abbreviations are allowed in sound passages that do not lead to a distortion of the general meaning, and a general “finishing” of the acoustic signal is allowed (leveling the recording level and slightly slowing down the speech tempo). The selected texts have the supports necessary to apply global and search listening strategies: title, bibliographical reference, short oral introduction and/or conclusion.
The linguistic complexity of the texts (they may contain 3-5% of unknown lexical units that are not key to understanding) corresponds to the selected level of complexity, and the intellectual complexity of the extralinguistic problems proposed for solving corresponds to the age of the Olympiad participants.
Level B1/B1+ provides: informative and explanatory sound text lasting about 3 minutes.
Level B2/B2+: informative and explanatory text with elements of argumentation, lasting about 4 minutes. The total number of points is 25, time to complete is about 30 minutes.
Task sheet (TL) is a questionnaire with tasks to test the understanding of the spoken text. The informative header of the LS indicates the level of difficulty on the European scale, the duration of the competition and the maximum number of points that can be obtained upon successful completion of all tasks (25 points).
The questionnaire contains (see competition tasks in the “Appendix”):
I. Selective type tasks for multiple (A) and alternative (B) choice (see tasks 6-12, 17-23);
II. Tasks with freely constructed answers of a closed type, that is, requiring a short answer (see tasks 1-5, 14-16).
Each question in the questionnaire is accompanied by an indication of the number of points given for the correct answer. As a rule, it corresponds to the number of informative components of the expected answer.
The task sheet is not checked by the examiners; it is actually a draft. When working with the questionnaire, competitors can make any notes on them: underline and mark the main ideas, make various notes in the margins. Unfortunately, reviewing the LPs submitted after the competition shows that students do not know how to effectively work with the questionnaire and do not use it as a basis for note-taking.
The ability to work with task sheets, listen to a text with a pencil in hand, master note-taking techniques, plan your time, taking into account that the answers must be transferred to a special form called “Answer Sheet”, correctly fill out the registration number and tables - all this does not come by itself. When preparing students to participate in Olympiads, to pass the Unified State Exam and other European exams, the teacher must develop this key competency, which has become very popular today.
Answer Sheet (LO)- a document that is subject to verification, so its completion must be carried out with the utmost care. LO is a table in which, depending on the type of expected answer, there are either cells into which the letters selected by the competitor are inserted, or “windows” for entering words or sentences.
When filling out these windows, contestants often ignore the scope of the answer provided by the compilers, mostly going beyond the table and entering information (usually secondary) in the margins or on the back of the page. For some reason, the idea that the window left and the expected answer may coincide in volume does not occur to the contestants. This indicates that filling out tables - a competence that is increasingly in demand both in the professional and everyday practice of every modern person - is not sufficiently developed among high school students.
Keys are developed for jury members checking works. They, as noted above, represent a correctly completed answer sheet.
Rules– a regulatory document intended for the Organizing Committee of the Olympiad. It provides a detailed and step-by-step description of the main stages of the competition, the necessary technical support, the responsibilities of the participants and the person directly responsible for its conduct.
The final stage of the VI All-Russian School Olympiad for students in grades 9-11, Ulyanovsk, April 2009.
The audio text (see “Appendix”) is an excerpt from Ivan Amar’s original program “La danse des mots” (RFI, 07/11/2008).
Topic: discussion of the results of a sociolinguistic study of speeches that were made in different situations by managers of the 10 largest French corporations.
Participants: two invited specialists who took part in the study.
Language complexity corresponds to level B2+.
Only the semantic (informative) component of the answer is subject to evaluation. The linguistic aspect is not taken into account, provided that linguistic errors do not distort the meaning of the message (when answering questions with a short freely constructed answer). In this case, we can consider that the communicative task has been completed successfully.
Thus, based on the points indicated in the task, competitors can:
1) determine the amount of information requested, thereby making it easier to find it in the text,
2) classify questions into simple and complex, which allows them to choose the optimal text processing strategy,
3) be reasonable about possible language errors.
General scheme for completing tasks that test understanding of oral text
Completing this test requires participants to implement the following strategies:
1) In a 2-minute pause before the first listening
- quickly read the questions in the questionnaire,
- determine the topic of the text,
- relate tasks to each other,
- quickly and, if possible, positively answer the question: “What do I know about this topic?”
Goal: to determine the topic of the program, the purpose of the presenter, the participation of those invited, to activate background knowledge on this issue.
2) During the first listening to the text:
- apply a global listening strategy, focusing on understanding the overall meaning of the passage,
- in the task sheet (this is a draft), write down during the listening the information that is requested in the questionnaire and which was understood already during the first listening,
- write down in the LS the key words necessary to formulate short answers.
Goal: determine the genre of the program, record the maximum amount of information requested in the questionnaire.
3) In a 5-minute pause between the first and second listening
- complete those tasks for which answers have been found,
- carefully re-read the unanswered questions,
- relate the questions to each other, use logic, conjecture, common sense,
- formulate a guess about the nature of the information that will be found during the second listening; it is the guess that helps to develop active search strategies,
- prepare for the second listening, that is, free your head from what you already understand and focus on finding the missing information.
4) During the second listening to the text
- apply a selective listening strategy, focusing on searching for specific information,
- Write it down briefly on your assignment sheet.
5) In a 10-minute pause after the second listening
- answer all questions (using background knowledge if necessary),
- once again relate the questions to each other,
- correlate the answers with each other: they should not contradict each other,
- Carefully fill out the answer sheet, transferring all the entries made to it: remember that only the answer sheet is subject to verification.
Analysis of works
In 2009, 201 competitors took part in the oral text comprehension competition, whose works were reviewed in order to systematize successful solutions and the main difficulties that arose during testing. In general, the results can be assessed as good: 120 people, that is, 60% of those tested scored from 13 to 23 points out of a possible 25.
To save space and make it easier to analyze the results, digital data is shown directly in the LS: in each task the percentages are indicated and the correct answer is highlighted in bold. In text passages quoted in the article, the information and/or keywords sought are highlighted in bold. The full text appears in the Appendix.
Commentary on the work is carried out according to the following scheme:
- Type of task and results obtained.
- Recommended procedure for finding the answer.
- Commentary on the results obtained.
I.A. Selective type tasks: multiple choice
(6, 20) Understanding the sociocultural parameters of the text (strategy of relating text information to background knowledge) and (17-19, 22-23) understanding the specific information requested (search strategy).
6. La nature de l'émission écoutée? 1 point
A.une interview 15% |
C.une émission scientifique 24 % |
B.un reportage 1% |
D. une table ronde 59% |
A task that tests the ability to correlate background knowledge (main types of radio broadcasts) with information appearing in the text. Proposed scheme of work:
1. Let’s activate background information, which, in my opinion, students in grades 9-11 should know. It is presented in the table.
Discuss social, cultural, political issues of interest to the general public |
Obtain new, never-before-published information from the interviewee if possible. |
Present to the audience the event that the journalist himself witnessed. |
|
Invited |
Representatives of different age, professional and social groups |
A well-known person in society (writer, scientist, artist, etc.) |
Witnesses of the event |
The role of the presenter |
The organizer monitors the “even” participation of invitees in the discussion |
Active participant in interaction: “spins” the interviewee, asks him provocative, “difficult” questions |
The main narrator, using eyewitness accounts as illustrations |
Obviously, the gears shown in the table are not suitable. Answer S.
However, 59% of participants chose distractor D, which indicates not only their lack of background knowledge about existing types of radio broadcasts, but also shows that they do not use their own correct answers to other questions. Thus, while answering (1) and (2) basically correctly, they do not draw any conclusions for themselves, although it would seem obvious: the author’s program rarely belongs to programs of the “table ronde” type, unless this is specifically stated.
The next important point that participants do not pay attention to when working with the task (6): these are the words used in the questionnaire when formulating the tasks (11) L'échantillon analysis comprend les discussions prononcés par 10 patrons français, (14-16) le chercheur..., (19) la chercheuse…,(20) La recherche montre…, (21) Les chercheurs ont relevé...
All these words and expressions undoubtedly belong to scientific speech and should have given the contestants an idea about the nature of the transmission.
And finally, during the program, the host addresses the invitees as follows:
YA: Alors dites-moi un petit peu, Bruno Scaramuzzino…
YA: Alors une dernière question. Est-ce que vous avez noté dans toute cette étude que vous avez faite…
Such questions are practically impossible in round table programs and, by stretch of the imagination, in interviews.
Thus, it should be noted that the main disadvantage is not so much the lack of background knowledge as the inability to compensate for it using additional information that is present in the text, in the questionnaire, and even in the correctly formulated answers of the subjects themselves.
17. Dans le discours patronal analysé le center d’intérêt porte sur … 1 point
A. les concurrents qu'il s'agit d'écarter 2% |
C. la fragilité du système économique actuel 33% |
B. l'entreprise en tant qu'organisme vivant 30% |
D. le projet qu’on est en train de réaliser 34 % |
We apply a search listening strategy. The necessary information is repeated several times in the spoken text:
Bruno Scaramuzzino:(…) c’est-à-dire que effectivement on est dans l'action mais on est tellement dans l'action qu’on s’inscrit absolument pas dans l’histoire, (...) on mobilize, bien sûr on invite à agir,(…) l’institution-entreprise (…) est la et elle est agissante et elle est mobilisée et tout ça dans une emphase
Celine Labat: (…) leur discours qui est très porté par le projet,(...) la somme des mots, des verbes, des noms, des adjectifs Qui portent sur le projet“le défi à relater”, etc., bon tout ça c'est très très important dans l'ensemble des discours.
Commentary on the results obtained
Both researchers talk about the same thing: the main goal of managers is to show that the enterprise they manage effectively solves the problems posed by life, but each of the speakers expresses their thoughts differently. In my opinion, the main difficulty for 65% of the participants was not in understanding this passage, but in summarizing the information received in different wording.
18.
We apply a search listening strategy:
CL: Donc l'entreprise, elle est peu citée puisque ça représente 0.8% des mots, donc c'est peu. Et les salariés, c'est 0.2%. Donc autant dire qu'ils sont quasiment absents. Donc quand on est comme ça porteur patron et porteur d’un discours. On dit on va faire ci on va faire ça on va développer ça, … Et on dit jamais qui, quoi et avec qui, y a un petit un petit problem. Avec qui on va faire et on va réussir à mener tout ça de front?
We remove distractor B without hesitation: there is a comment in the text. Distractors (C) and (D) are not suitable. A linguist studying speeches made by managers need neither explain nor evaluate the fact asked for in (19). This is not within the scope of his research competence. But it can reveal the contradiction observed in the material studied. Answer A.
Commentary on the results obtained
Insufficient mastery of search listening strategy. A very naive and far-from-real understanding of the challenges that scientific research may face.
20. La recherche montre que les patrons utilisent des métaphores pour … 1 point
A. souligner leur difficulté à conduire l’entreprise 12%
B. mettre en relief leur rôle de dirigeant 4%
C. rendre leur discourse plus accessible au public 43 %
D. montrer que l'entreprise est un organisme vivant 40%
A task that tests the ability to correlate background knowledge (what a metaphor is) with information appearing in the text.
Proposed scheme of work:
1. Let’s activate background information, which, in my opinion, students in grades 9-11 should know: metaphor is a rhetorical device.
2. When reading the task, pay attention to the definite article les patrons, in other words, we are talking about a common goal for all speaking managers.
3. Having read the distractors, we understand that in C we are talking about the impact on listeners regardless of the topic of speech, and in A, B, D specific subject areas (semantic fields) are indicated, for the explanation and illustration of which metaphors are created.
4. We conclude: all managers who use metaphors set the task of influencing listeners, but each does this in the semantic space that he needs. Answer S.
5. The sound text confirms this conclusion:
BS: Tous ceux qui utilisent des métaphores. Déjà le fait d'en utiliser ou pas traduit la volonté la volonté ou pas de se rendre très accessible. En moyenne, ils en utilisent mais tous n'en utilisent pas. Ça c’est la première chose. Quand on utilise des métaphores c’est qu’on fait un effort pour aller vers l’autre et si on veut aller vers le plus grand nombre on va essayer de puiser ses métaphores dans des univers accessibles au plus grand nombre: le sport, le combat, etc., en est un, la santé en est un autre.
Commentary on the results obtained
As in the previous task, it should be noted that 57% of the competitors were unable to collect and summarize diverse information about the object of interest. This required: correlating background knowledge and questionnaire information, putting forward a hypothesis of understanding, and developing an active search listening strategy based on it.
21. Les chercheurs ont rélevé les 3 métaphores les plus fréquentes. Choisissez dans la liste ci-dessous les champs sémantiques qu’elles recouvrent: 3 points réponses correctes – 89%
A. la metaphore du combat |
D. la métaphore de la prospérité |
B. la metaphore de l'histoire |
E. la métaphore de la santé |
C. la métaphore de la fragilité |
F. la métaphore de l'incertitude |
G . la metaphore du sport |
We apply a search listening strategy. The necessary information is repeated several times in the spoken text:
YA: Alors une dernière question. Est-ce que vous avez noté dans toute cette étude que vous avez faite des métaphores qui reviennent souvent et qui signent d'une certaine façon la langue du patron ?
BS: Y a la metaphore du combat, y a la Métaphore de la santé. (…)
CL:"Sur le podium de la croissance", "les deux acteurs doivent jouer à armes égales", "nous sommes maintenant prêts pour partir à l'offensive", "je vais me battre pour" euh "mes adversaires ont gagné une bataille juridico- mediatique", etc.
YA: Et ça on a retrouvé, alors là, y avait en effet à la fois du sport et de la bataille dans ce que vous venez de citer. (...)
BS:(…) Quand on utilise des métaphores (…) on va essayer de puiser ses métaphores dans des univers accessibles au plus grand nombre: le sport, le combat, etc., en est un, la santé en est un autre.
Commentary on the results obtained
The results obtained show that this passage is understood quite satisfactorily.
22. Dans le discours patronal l’expression “il faut rajouter du sang neuf” veut dire… 1 point
A. s'allier avec une autre entreprise 15 |
C. s’installer sur de nouveaux marchés 14 |
B. apporter des capitaux nouveaux investis 13 |
D. embaucher des jeunes cadres dynamiques 55 |
A task that tests the ability to find an answer to a question that is not directly discussed in the text. To do this, it is necessary, firstly, to attract background knowledge (for an enterprise, “an influx of new blood” means an influx of new capital, this is the basics of economic knowledge provided for in the school curriculum) and, secondly, to creatively use the information that appears in the text. This task turned out to be the most difficult.
Proposed scheme of work
1. Expression "Il faut rajouter du sang neuf" is a metaphor, which is made explicit in (23). It belongs to the semantic field (E) la métaphore de la santé and 50% of participants choose answer E in (23).
2. We activate background knowledge: the health of an enterprise is ensured, first of all, by investments. Candidate for answer B.
3. The following passage is devoted to the semantic field of health, although, I emphasize once again, it does not contain a direct answer to the question posed in (22):
YA: La santé, ils parlent de la santé de quoi, de l'entreprise? Y a donc cette idée que l’entreprise est considérée comme un organisme vivant?
CL: Tout à fait, et qu'elle est menacée, c'est-à-dire que ce qu'on nous dit c'est que "l'euro va asphyxier l'industrie européenne", que "il faut rajouter du sang neuf" .
YA: On parle de santé quand il y a une présomption de maladie?
4. So, an enterprise is a living organism that needs to be strengthened by injecting new blood in the form of new investments. Answer B.
Commentary on the results obtained
1. Choosing the semantic field to which the metaphor belongs "Il faut rajouter du sang neuf", The competitors showed the following results:
23. Dans la liste de l'exercice 21 relevez le champ sémantique auquel appartient cette méthaphore. 1 point
A. la metaphore du combat 11% |
D. la métaphore de la prospérité 6% |
B. la métaphore de l'histoire 4% |
E. la métaphore de la santé 50% |
C. la métaphore de la fragilité 16% |
F. la métaphore de l'incertitude 6% |
G. la metaphore du sport 0% |
Let's compare with the results (21): 89% correctly indicated that the metaphors used by managers belong to 3 semantic fields: (A) la métaphore du combat, (E) la métaphore de la santé and (G) la métaphore du sport.
It turns out that only 61% (A + E) of these 89% remain within the previously selected semantic fields, and the rest seem to forget about it. I note that 7% of the participants did not show any results, that is, they decided not to complete the task.
2. Answering question (22), 55% of participants choose distractor D (embaucher des jeunes cadres dynamiques). However, above, when completing task (18), the overwhelming majority correctly indicate that managers practically do not talk about “employees” in their speeches.
18. L’étude montre que l’interne (les salariés) représente dans le discours … 1 point
A. 0.8% – 7 % |
C. 0.6% – 1 % |
B.0,2 % – 91 % |
D. 0.4% – 1 % |
Why is this correctly understood information not taken into account when answering question (22)?
As in the two previous tasks, it should be noted that the contestants lack an active search strategy and have poor knowledge of key competencies that allow them to collect and summarize diverse information about the object of interest. I would also emphasize that many simply did not have enough strength or time to complete tasks (22-23).
I.B. Selective type tasks:
alternative choice
(7-12) Semantic identification of sentences that reformulate mainly specific information of the spoken text
7-12. Cochez VRAI (A) / FAUX (B) / NON MENTIONNÉ (C) 7 points
NON |
||||
L'émission se termine dans 10 minutes. |
||||
Dans les discours analysés les patrons évoquent très peu l"histoire de l"entreprise. |
||||
L'échantillon analysé comprend les discours prononcés par 10 patrons français. |
||||
Ces patrons représentent sept entreprises du CAC 40. |
||||
Tous les patrons utilisent des métaphores. |
||||
We apply a search listening strategy and note the answer while listening to the (first or second) text (see. "Transcription").
Commentary on the results obtained
In general, the task (7-12) did not cause any great difficulties.
The erroneous interpretation of sentence (13) is connected, in my opinion, with the fact that each of the speakers allows self-interruptions in his speech, clarifying his thoughts with repetitions and paraphrases, which the contestants cannot adequately correlate.
YA:…On trouve ça chez tous les patrons, alors(en)fin tous ceux que vous avez les 10 qui font partie de votre échantillon?
BS: Tous ceux qui utilisent des métaphores. Déjà le fait d'en utiliser ou pas traduit la volonté la volonté ou pas de se rendre très accessible. En moyenne, ils en utilisent mais tous n’en utilisent pas.Ça c’est la première chose. ...
II. Tasks with freely constructed closed-type answers (short answer)
(1-4) Localization of the listened text in the radiophonic landscape in general and France in particular (strategy of correlating background knowledge with the information contained in the questionnaire, in the text, in correctly given answers)
(5, 14-16) Information of a specific type (search strategy)
1-5. Voici 4 noms propres et un chiffre, à quel propos apparaissent-ils dans le document? 5 points
1. The title of the program (1) and the name of the presenter (2) are announced twice at the beginning and at the end of the sounding passage. The information was adequately understood by the vast majority of competitors.
2. In (3) the first and last name are given. Let's assume that participants know that Bruno is a male name, but even if they don't know, it's not important for completing the task.
In (6), 99% of participants define the program as interactive, that is, almost everyone understood that the presenter communicates on air with the guests.
A.une interview 15% |
C. une émission scientifique 24% |
B.un reportage 1% |
D. une table ronde 59% |
The following words are used in the questions in the questionnaire: (14-16) le chercheur dit..., (19) la chercheuse fait..., (21) Les chercheurs ont relevé...
If we summarize all this information, then who might the second male voice belong to? The answer is obvious even if during listening to the text this point escaped the listeners. By the way, the answer chercheuse invitee was accepted.
3. The word "Casio" (4). We attract background information: a well-known company specializing in the production of watches, cameras, graphic calculators, electronic games and dictionaries. The word sounds in connection with the announced game (information about the game appears in the questionnaire and the participants understood it).
NON |
||||
L'animateur announcement un jeu qui commencement. |
||||
Le gagnant du jeu recevra un dictionnaire électronique. |
||||
How can Casio and the announced game be related? In the most direct way: as our sociocultural experience shows, such games are used by companies when carrying out promotions.
4. The figure of 87% is practically not understood. In this case, what is required is not a guess, but a clear understanding of what is being heard in the broadcast, that is, the so-called targeted listening strategy.
The collection contains tests designed to test language competence at the lexical and grammatical level. Difficulty corresponds to levels B1-B2 on the European scale. The tests are developed on the basis of authentic coherent texts. Their implementation confronts the test taker with the need to implement not only linguistic, but also other important components of communicative competence: discursive, sociolinguistic, sociocultural and strategic. When creating tests, the author uses all the variety of currently existing methodological developments in the field of testology. This will allow students to prepare for exams of various formats: Unified State Examination, State Examination, Entrance Tests and Olympiads in French, DELF-DALF, TCF, and their teachers to master modern testing methods. For ease of work, the collection includes sections Methodological support with a detailed analysis of two tests that participated in the All-Russian Olympiad for schoolchildren, and Keys to all tests.... About all this and more in the book Olympiad tasks in French. Lexico-grammatical testing. In two books. Level B1 - B2 (G. Bubnova)