Here, too, results show increasing difficulty in comprehending the different types of text: narrative, followed by news and the most difficult, the expository text.

On the other hand, the evaluation of writing ability by means of the re-writing of the fable in students’ own words has proved very difficult for all those that took part, to the extent that the established criteria were only achieved as an exception in each of the three groups. Coherence proved the most problematic aspect: only three students managed to incorporate the specific points of the fable (the intention to deceive by flattery to get hold of the cheese) and less than half (41%) managed to include in their text the basic narrative elements (characters, conflict, action and outcome). Cohesion, linked to a progressive command of grammar, is within the reach of most students who have been at school for more than three years in Catalonia. As a side note, we should mention that, although it is early days yet, spelling ability in groups A and B is extremely rare, even in ESO students, and is only apparent in half of the group C students.

The differences in results between the three groups as defined by the length of time in school are statistically significant (1), particularly between groups B and C. On the other hand, the improvement in results between groups A and B is not clearly significant in either conversation or reading. This obliges us to review the chronological boundaries of successive stages of the learning process. It is fair to say that this was not one of the objectives of this study and therefore we can only put forward a hypothesis that would necessitate confirmation.

To make this conjecture, we have placed the results of each student in order according to when they arrived in Catalonia. The student who most recently arrived did so five months earlier; the student who has been here the longest arrived 12 years ago, when he was only one year old. Let us remember that none of the students in the sample was born in Catalonia. By putting the results in this order, the graph shows from what point of the period of time spent in Catalonia, students begin to achieve acceptable or good results, according to the criteria that were fixed.

Thus, for example, results of speech proficiency in conversation [see figure 6] that can be classed as acceptable or good begin to appear after 30 months in Catalonia.

We have found similar results in the explanation of popular festivals and the dilemma-solving exercises. Indeed, the differences in results have an obvious significance for statistical analysis if we divide the students into two groups: those who have been here for less than 30 months and the rest. It would therefore seem that a minimum of two and a half years schooling in Catalonia is required to achieve an acceptable or good conversational level. As far as other, more difficult, types of speech are concerned, results are not conclusive.

From the point of view of complying with school requirements, reading ability is particularly important. With regard to the narrative texts, it would seem that, with the odd exception, the majority of students achieve acceptable results after four years in Catalonia [see figure 7]. In the case of informative texts – remember that we used a news item that is used to evaluate reading comprehension in mid-cycle Primary students – acceptable results are obtained, with exceptions, after five years in Catalonia. Finally, as far as the documentary texts are concerned, success is exceptional until at least six years have been spent in the country.