FRIT at the AATF National Convention in Martinique

 

Brian Barnett, Director of Language Instruction in French, and Sean Killackey, PhD candidate, presented their analysis of French proficiency data gathered by the PACE project at the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF) national convention in Pointe du Bout, Martinique, this summer. 

 

The Proficiency Assessment for Curricular Enhancement (PACE) project is a joint research initiative funded by a 3-year Language Flagship grant and led at the University of Minnesota by the CLA Language Center and the Center for Advanced Research in Language Acquisition (CARLA). The annual AATF convention took place over four days in July 2018 on the Caribbean island of Martinique, which is officially a part of France (a Département français d’Outre-Mer). Barnett and Killackey's research into the PACE data focused on three themes: the role that language study prior to university has on proficiency, the student background for achieving “advancedness,” and the accuracy of students’ French proficiency self-assessment scores. The study also examined possible avenues for improving listening proficiency.

 

Barnett and Killackey will bring this presentation back from the “île aux fleurs” (Martinique) to discuss the research again at the University of Minnesota this fall, date still to be determined.