Peer Review

Commission nationale DELF DALF - Langue française - CIEP

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Reviewed:: Feb 19, 2003 by World Languages

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: A section of the French Centre International d'Etudes Pedagogiques website,
this resource focuses on the DELF and DALF exams. It contains two main folds:
practical information on the exams and the various centers where one can take
them in the world and a selection of tests that have been administered in
various countries during the past ten years.

The Diplome d'Etudes en Langue Francaise (DELF) and Diplome Approfondi de Langue
Francaise (DALF) are awarded by the French Ministry of Education as
certificates of French language ability for non-native speakers. Both exams may
be taken in official examination centers in France and some 130 countries
worldwide.

The first level DELF certificate is an accreditation of French language ability
(written, speaking and listening). The second level DELF certificate includes
two unit credits on French and Francophone Civilization and on specialized
expression.

The DALF is an advanced certificate of language proficiency and is recognized as
fulfilling French language requirements for university entrance in France and
French-speaking countries. It is organized into 4 unit credits: reading
comprehension and composition , listening comprehension , specialized reading
comprehension and composition, specialized listening comprehension and spoken
expression.

The DELF/DALF web pages consist of a comprehensive overview of the two exams as
well as past examination samples, practical information regarding test sites and
fees, and bibliographical information.
There are versions of the pages in French, Spanish and English.
Type of Material:: Reference, practice and test.
Recommended Uses:: Potential DELF/DALF examinees will use the site to prepare for the examination,
practice listening and reading comprehension and write compositions on
assigned topics.
Technical Requirements:: Media player for oral exam samples
Identify Major Learning Goals:: Assessment of functional competency in all four skills and French culture,
through progressively difficult tasks (from novice to advanced level). The user
will become familiar with the DELF/DALF examination format.
Target Student Population:: Intermediate and advanced FSL students; students who independently prepare for
taking DELF and DALF; student teachers who want to become acquainted with
foreign languages assessment resources; teachers preparing their students for
DELF and DALF exams or seeking models for their own exams.Potential DELF/DALF
examinees and students of French who wish to test proficiency.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Measurable French language proficiency. Two semesters of French seems the
minimum requirement to take full advantage of the site.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: This is the best place to start to prepare for taking DELF and DALF exams. The
information is clearly presented, up to date, and will soon be fully available
in French, Spanish and English. Teachers and students can absolutely rely on
the quality of the language used throughout the site.

The Overview page provides a clear explanation of the testing procedure. Under
Practical Information, the only active link is to the centers where the
examinations are administered. The Bibliography offers a comprehensive list of
print and audio resources that the examinee can use to prepare for the
examination.

Perhaps the most useful resource on the DELF/DALF pages is the Past Examination
page. It provides the user with an adequate glimpse of what to expect on the
examinations. The French version of the past examinations page is more detailed
than the English version. For example, in the French version of past exams for
Unit A1, descriptions of a listening comprehension task and a speaking task
are
provided. In the English version, the table of sample speaking exam topics that
is found in the French version is not provided. To address this difference, the
author of this site could simply mention on the translated pages that a more
comprehensive description exists on the French version of the page.

The English version Past Papers section begins with oral and written test
samples for Unit A1. These samples give the user an idea of the level of exam
questions to be expected. Feedback and scoring is provided with these exams,
which is a nice feature.

At the time of this review, only one of the seven oral samples in the English
version Unit A1 listening comprehension sample is a sound file. The rest are all
transcriptions, which provide a sample of the level, but do not allow for
listening practice. This is also the case in Unit A2. The written expression
sample in Unit A1 contains a writing assignment based on three illustrations and
an accompanying set of instructions. The sample gives the user a general
impression of the type of activity to expect in the written test.

In Unit A2, under the rubric of written expression, there is a task that would
more aptly be labeled a reading comprehension exercise. Examinees are asked to
read a passage and answer comprehension questions.
Concerns:: Since the site is apparently a work in progress, some important information is
not yet available. For example the readers will not find information on
eligibility, dates of sessions, registration, and fees, although these items
appear in the list of the subjects that the website covers. While we can choose
the language in which we want the information to appear, some sections of the
website have not been translated. For example with English as the main
language, one cannot find "United States" in the country list under the letter
"U". It will show under the letter "E" - Etats-Unis, and the information
retrieved from the database is still in French.

It would be helpful to point out to the examinee that the French version of the
past examinations page is more comprehensive than the English and Spanish
language versions. On the English and Spanish Past Papers pages the same samples
are used as examples for a variety of units (A1, A2, A3 etc.) It would be more
useful to have a wider variety of samples from past tests. When the user
clicks on B1 and
get the A1 sample paper, it could be confusing.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: This site can be very helpful to the individual preparing the DELF/DALF
examinations. It will be an excellent resource for teachers and all category
students, including independent learners. It can be incorporated into regular
instruction, without the objective of preparing the students for taking the
French exams. Teachers can use the test samples to assess functional competency
in all skills and at various levels. They may direct their students to the
website for individual review or additional practice and use the samples as
models to design their own assignents or tests. . For those preparing other
proficiency examinations such as the International Baccalaureate or the AP
Exams, the DELF/DALF pages provide effective practice material.
Concerns:: As the test is given in 130 countries worldwide, it would be an enhancement to
include versions in languages other than French, English and Spanish.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: The presentation is clear and straighforward without bells and whistles.
First-time users will easily learn to navigate in the website using the back
button or the menu in the left frame to return to a previous step. Since no
special plug-ins are required, the site is ready for use at home by students or
projected in class.
Concerns:: The DELF/DALF pages are currently located on the web site of the Centre
International d"Etudes Pedagogiques (CIEP) under Tests et Diplomes. Navigation
would be easier if the DELF/DALF pages were organized as a separate web site.
At present, the left hand navigation scheme refers to the larger CIEP site
whichcould be confusing to some users.

There seems to be limitations in the website functionality when one uses
Netscape. For example, the link to "centers of examination" in the English
page will retrieve an error page. Also the sound file for A1 does not stream
as well with Netscape: it skips a segment when it plays for the first time
after being downloaded and one needs to replay it in order to hear the complete
message.

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