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Speech proficiency was therefore
assessed taking the following factors into consideration:
The number of
turns of phrase used by the student in each section.
The number of
UIRs produced by the student in each section.
The "speech
density", or relationship between the UIR and the number of turns of phrase.
The "speech
autonomy", or number of UIRs produced in a single turn of phrase.
The degree of
subject development in each section.
The presence of
particular problem areas in speech: difficulties in understanding the enunciation;
specific grammatical limitations; incoherence; unjustifiably incomplete speech; low level
of co-operation and overuse of Spanish.
The presence of
qualitative speech elements: the contribution of clarifications and detail or thematic
expansion.
In order to
evaluate reading ability, the following factors were explored:
Ability to read
aloud, from the fable text.
Recollection of
previously-read books.
Comprehension of
narrative texts (by giving an explanation of the fable after reading it a second time in
silence).
Comprehension of
informative texts: news.
Comprehension of
expository texts.
The identification
and understanding of the key ideas in each text were of particular importance when it came
to evaluation.
To evaluate
competence in writing, students were asked to re-write the fable The fox and the
crow after having shown complete comprehension of the text in question. Points
evaluated included the coherence of the text, its cohesion, and the appropriateness of the
style and content.
5. Language use of the Moroccan Students taking part in the sample
While not being
the main aim of this research, several sociolinguistic aspects were thrown up during the
interviews which could help to define the general framework of Catalan language learning
at school for these students.
From our sample,
almost half spoke Berber (23) while the rest spoke the Moroccan form of Arabic (26).
Out of 49
students, 27 stated that their mother had no knowledge of Spanish, 11 said that she knew a
little bit and five students said that she had a good knowledge. Not one student stated
that their mother knew Catalan. All students spoke their native language with their
parents.
However, some of
the older students from group C at ESO level said that they often spoke Spanish with
brothers and sisters. No student said that they spoke Catalan with their siblings.
Out of 49
students, 33 stated that in public (playing, shopping, walking
) they mainly speak in
their native language or in Spanish. Seven students mentioned Catalan as being the
language they most used in public. Seven more students said that they used both languages
indiscriminately. Only two students stated that they used their native language
predominantly when out in public.
The majority of
students stated that they watch television in a variety of languages (Arabic, Catalan and
Spanish). Eleven students said that they mainly watch Catalan channels and another 11
mainly watch the television in Spanish. As for types of programme, the majority mentioned
the following as their favourites:
In Arabic: news,
films or series.
In Spanish:
game-shows or series.
In Catalan:
cartoons and childrens programmes (the majority of students who watch the Catalan
channels come from Primary school).
6.
Results in relation to the variables under study
In the data
gathered in this sample and within this research study, the evaluation of ability in both
oral and reading aspects has demonstrated that the variable of length of stay has
great relevance and significance, as was surmised. |