Learners between Childhood and Adulthood: Assessing Writing Competences of Teens Learning French as a Foreign Language

Abstract

The article introduces learners between two age groups: childhood and adulthood. The aim of the author is to analyse the writing skills of French primary school learners – mostly 14 years old – and to determine which descriptors could be used to assess them. The article begins with a presentation of the learners’ characteristics and continues with a review of the position of the French language in Slovenian primary schools, where French is taught as a second foreign language and an elective subject. Since French is a rather infrequent subject in primary schools, it is difficult to obtain comparable materials. Finally, 36 written compositions from the national French competition serve as the basis for analysis. The detailed analysis is accompanied by a presentation of the CEFR and AYLLIT descriptors for writing, as well as reflection on which descriptors are appropriate for assessing compositions and placing them on the CEFR levels. The AYLLIT descriptors seem more relevant, as they are more explicit and appropriate for the target group.