Self-regulation strategies to promote autonomy and the development of speaking skills in B1 level students of French as a foreign language.

Abstract

In the field of French as a foreing language (FFL) teaching and learning, students require
strategies in order to develop their speaking skills. In the context of this research, we have
observed that students pursuing a B1 French level face phonological, morphological and

lexical issues in speaking. This is due to the fact that students lack certain strategies to self-
regulate their speaking skills. As a result, students’ performance is characterized by

underachievement and they often struggle in expressing themselves orally.
Therefore, the purpose of this action-research study was to design and apply tasks
based on self-regulation strategies in order to to improve their speaking skills and to
enhance students’ autonomy and self-regulation. Nineteen students who were in transition
from A2 level to B1 level participated in this research. Qualitative data were collected in the
form of a diagnostic test and a semi-structured interview.
Firstly, the diagnostic test was applied in order to measure their speaking skills. After

that, we designed and applied the tasks based on Zimmerman’s (2000) cyclical model of self-
regulated learning. After the intervention, the semi-structured interview was applied to

know the student's perceptions regarding the tasks based on self-regulation strategies.
The results show that students perceived to be more aware of their speaking skills needs and
demonstrated deployment of self-regulation strategies to remedy their limitations. The

findings support the importance of designing and implementing tasks based on self-
regulation strategies to promote autonomy in the development of speaking skills of FFL

students.