This article focuses on the first school for indigenous girls in Algeria that opened in Algiers in 1845. The founder, Eugenie Luce, taught girls the rudiments--French language and grammar, reading, arithmetic, and Arabic, while the afternoon hours were devoted to sewing. This early focus on teaching French in order to achieve the "fusion of…

This article attempted to discover whether it would be both feasible and educationally desirable to extend the teaching of a foreign language to pupils who represented a wider range of age and ability than those to whom foreign languages had traditionally been taught. (Author/RK)

Examines a Swiss experiment in second language learning before the age of ten, which indicates that pre-puberty second language learning can be successful and can improve first language skills, and that the method used is less important than the training of the teacher. (Text is in French.) (AM)

Describes an experiment in bilingual education whereby two classes, one selective in ability and the other representing varying degrees of ability, were taught Georgraphy through French, as a first step toward French-medium instruction for other subjects. (AM)

This article feeds into debate about the feasibility and usefulness of educational experiments by discussing methodological issues arising out of a study which sought causal links between teaching and learning of one aspect of French as a foreign language. The study involved two small-scale experiments which tested a hypothesis regarding the…

Reports on an FL teaching experiment in grades 5 and 6 (gymnasium), using "La France en direct 1" (Hachette). Concludes that the text can be used with younger beginners, but is less suited for orientation classes because it is not amenable to flexibility of method. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Five teaching experiments with French songs, in grades 7, 8 and 9, are described. Aural understanding was practiced first, then use of the text. In the 9th grade, work on the content became most important, with the aim of correcting and expanding the common conception of France. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Describes an experiment at Birkbeck College, University of London, designed to encourage the spontaneous, uninhibited use of French by students. (PMP)

The author records her experiment with her daughter from birth to the age of four and a half to determine whether a child in a monolingual environment could grow up speaking two languages. The record traces the child's development in both English and French. (MF)

This study discusses the effect of early instruction in French in eight elementary schools on subsequent student achievement at the end of grades 7, 8, and 9. The Common Concepts Foreign Language Test in French was the criterion of achievement for the seventh-grade students. Results give averages, differences, and significance of the differences…

Describes a slide presentation program for French students at the elementary and intermediate levels, and offers technical and pedagogical advice on using the slide show to assist in the teaching of linguistic and cultural information. (AM)

The primary purpose of this experiment is to determine the effect of reading development based on phonemic transcription and traditional orthography on the pronunciation of French as a second language. Sixteen level 1 French classes in Western New York State schools participated in the experiment in which the control and experimental classes…

This evaluation of two programs of materials used in introductory French classes tests two basic hypotheses: (1) pretests are good predictors of subsequent French achievement at the junior high school level, and (2) students in different programs will achieve to the same degree on a final French test. Results of the groups using the "audiolingual"…

This is a preliminary report on a series of small-scale language teaching experiments, aimed primarily at demonstrating that valid research into language teaching methods is possible. Small-scale refers not to the number of subjects involved, but to the scope of the experiment. Instead of looking at a method as a whole (as happens in large-scale…

Beginning with a brief review of the growth of the audiolingual method of foreign language instruction in the United States of America, this paper examines implications and lessons drawn from an educational experiment in language instruction known as the Pennsylvania Report. The text of a memorandum to school administrators in Pennsylvania by the…