Research sessions completed with new FFL students
March 2025
Aix Marseille Université (AMU), Aix-en-Provence
During the month of March, the STAR-FLE research team from the Laboratoire Parole et Langage (LPL) completed a series of four study sessions with 82 new FFL students at the Service Universitaire des Langues (SUL) at Aix Marseille Université (AMU) in Aix-en-Provence. Students were invited to the computer labs to complete an online questionnaire in order to construct their individual learner profiles (langauges spoken, experience with French, motivations, learning preferences, reading habits, etc.) and annotated two B1/2 level texts according to the perceived difficulty level of unknown words and polylexical expressions. Their reading comprehension was also tested. Data analysis will examine the relationship between reading comprehension and word and expression types B1 learners find most difficult and will consider how lexical difficulty ratings may be predicatable based on individual learner profiles.
3rd Meeting of the ANR STAR-FLE Project
January 20-21, 2025
Nancy
On January 20th and 21st, the 3rd meeting of the ANR STAR-FLE project took place in Nancy. This event provided an opportunity to delve deeper into several key aspects of the project, including the annotation of multiword expressions, the development of typologies adapted to NLP tools, the analysis of factors influencing lexical complexity, and the evaluation of reading tests for language learners. These discussions strengthened collaboration among participants to better structure the next steps of the project.
Pilot study #2
November 26, 2024
On November 26 we conducted a second pilot at the Schuman Campus of Aix Marseille Université (AMU) in Aix-en-Provence to test out the PADDLe reading platform. Although the first part of the study with the learner questionnaire went well, we experienced some technical difficulties with the PADDLe platform and had to move the reading tests onto Zoom on a different day. In total, 30 students at the B1 level completed the full study. We plan to conduct the main study with a larger group of participants at the B1 level in February of 2025.
Pilot study #1
October 23, 2024
On October 23, we conducted a pilot study on the Aix Marseille University (AMU) campus in Marseille with 12 B1-level French learners. We were able to test out our reading test platform (PADDLe) and observe how participants complete the individual learner survey. With this information in hand, we made a few adjustments to the study procedure, including reducing the reading tests to only two texts and moving the individual questionnaire to an online format via Google Forms. We will implement these changes for our next data collection procedure on November 26, where we will have about 70 participants complete the study on the AMU campus in Aix-en-Provence.
New Appointments
September 2, 2024
We are excited to announce that:
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Martha Black has joined the ANR STAR-FLE project as a postdoctoral researcher at the LPL laboratory (Aix-Marseille University)
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Anna Kalinina has joined the ANR STAR-FLE project as a PhD candidate at the LiLPa laboratory (University of Strasbourg)
Please join us in welcoming them to the team and wishing them every success in their work!
2nd ANR STAR-FLE Project Meeting
June 6-7, 2024
Aix-en-Provence
ANR STAR-FLE Kick-off Meeting
January 23-24, 2024
Strasbourg
