Reading Corpus

Description

Publications using this data should cite: Chambers, F., & Richards, B.J. (1995). The “free conversation” and the assessment of oral proficiency. Language Learning, 11, 6-10.

Reading Corpus 1 French L2 (no sound files)

Description

This was a project funded by the Research Endowment Trust Fund of the University of Reading to provide transcripts of secondary school students taking their GCSE oral tests. The GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) is a national examination taken by school students in Britain at the age of 16. Unlike many other summative oral language tests conducted at key points in students’ education, the GCSE regulations require that candidates are both tested and their performance simultaneously scored, not by a stranger, but by their own class teacher. The fact that this situation exists in a national examination system makes it an important context for investigation.

Reading corpus II Native Speakers (no sound files)

Description

This was also a project funded by the Research Endowment Trust Fund of the University of Reading. The main objective was to provide transcripts of French students covering the same topics as the British GCSE Higher Level interviews and using a format as close as possible to that of the GCSE.