DThe alarming results, far from expectations and the required level. As reported The Parisian, more than half of ninth-grade pupils (50.5%) do not have the necessary level in English. Among the 800,000 pupils who took the Ev@lang digital test last spring, 404,000 of them did not reach the level required by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).
This exam, made up of multiple-choice questions, assesses the written and oral comprehension of college students, as well as notions of grammar and vocabulary. But even in the highest spheres of National Education, the time is far from being for rejoicing. “The results of the Ev@lang tests carried out by the pupils of 3e are quite average. And the level in English at the end of college is not satisfactory, ”pointed out the Minister Pap Ndiaye, during his back-to-school press conference.
The significant effects of the Covid-19 crisis
However, some professors qualify this result. “Each start of the school year, we give our second year students two tests, one based on oral comprehension and the other on expression. And the results are more or less always the same, with two thirds of the students reaching the required level and the last third falling below. We experienced a setback last year, but we analyze this as the effects of the Covid with middle school students who have not had enough speaking practice and have not trained their ear, ”explains one of them. ‘they.
READ ALSOWhy you should learn languages before age 10
While 98% of French students have weekly English lessons, teachers are calling for a change in method more than in program to improve their results. With in the first place less full classes and an increase in the hours of modern language lessons, they offer to our colleagues.