As a student learning French, how many different ways was your French reading assessed? I don’t know about you but the only way I can remember my teachers assessing French reading comprehension is with individual novel studies and French reading comprehension texts with multiple choice questions. I’m not here to say that those are bad ways of doing it, because I use those two, but it can get old. I’m here to give you more ideas for how you can assess reading in class.
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Exposé bouquine
This first one is kind of a combo between reading comprehension and speaking. This is on my list of speaking resources from the first article in this series: Évaluer la production orale
The exposé bouquine is a short presentation where the kids present the book or a book that they have read. In English, it is often called a Book Talk. The kiddos introduce the book, talk about the general idea of the novel, character, setting, any type of topics or themes, that kind of thing but they don’t give away the ending. It’s kind of like the book jacket but with more detail so that you’re still seeing their comprehension of the book. This can either be done in front of the class or in small groups.
Cahier de lecture (étude de roman) individuel
The novel study is kind of a traditional way of assessing French reading comprehension. Whether you are reading the book as a class or the students are reading a book individually, the novel study often allows students to read and work at their own pace. Just because novel studies are a traditional way of assessing reading, that doesn’t mean that they need to be crossed off the list, maybe it’s just that moderation is key? For an example of what I use with my Gr 8 students, take a look at this student workbook: L’assassin impossible
Texte de compréhension et questions
If you follow me on Instagram you have seen/heard me talk about Les éditions de l’envoleé before. These workbooks and text resources are great when you want a short and quick level-specific French reading comprehension assessment. Some of the workbooks are fiction texts, some are nonfiction texts, some are multiple-choice questions, and some are short answer questions, you can essentially choose what you need. This style of reading assessment may be considered traditional, but when you’re short for time, in a pinch or need sub-plans they are a tried-and-true way to go.
Just a heads up, most of these resources are created for francophone students so take a look at the example pages to make sure you choose the right level (I go 1-2 levels down for my French immersion students).
Annoter un texte
Teaching students how to annotate a text allows students to enter at their own level. Providing multiple entry points when doing French reading comprehension assessments can be difficult to do but text annotation allows for all students to participate at their level.
Start by teaching the students how to annotate the text, practice together, and then have one of them do one on their own. This can be an entire unit, this can be done periodically throughout the year, or this can be integrated into other units that you are doing such as social studies and/or science.
Comparaison de livres ou livre vs. film
How fun is it to finish a novel study and then watch the film adaptation of the story with your class? Asking the students to compare the similarities and differences between the book and the movie is a great way for them to show you their understanding of the book. This is another activity that allows for multiple entry points because there is no right or wrong answer, the students simply show you what they have understood. This is also a great way to authentically incorporate listening comprehension into your classroom activities.
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Assessing French language competencies is not easy and coming up with new, fresh, authentic ways to assess our students’ learning and understanding can be difficult. If you missed my past blog posts on how to assess listening comprehension and how to assess verbal production, you can check them out here:
Assessing French Speaking Production
Assessing French Speaking Comprehension
See you next time with the last article of the series where we’ll be looking at different activities for assessing French writing (content).