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The Long-Term Retention of French by Dutch Students

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2008

Bert Weltens ,
Theo J. M. Van Els  and
Erik Schils
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Abstract

The present study investigated the retention of school-learned French language skills in Dutch students across a period of 4 years following the training period. Two training levels were investigated: 4 and 6 years of French training. The skills tested were all receptive: general receptive proficiency; listening and reading comprehension; and receptive phonological, lexical, and grammatical skills. In addition, self-assessment measures were administered.

The results indicated that global skills improved, if anything, and that only lexical and, particularly, grammatical skills “attrited” during the period investigated. On the other hand, subjects' self-perception of their retention was much more negative.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , June 1989 , pp. 205 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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