The All-Russian Olympiad for schoolchildren in French is held annually in four stages: school, municipal, regional and final, which implies a qualitative and quantitative complication of tasks from stage to stage.

To solve this problem, a level model of the Olympiad has been developed, which is presented in detail in the book French. All-Russian Olympiads, published by the Prosveshchenie publishing house in 2008.

At the final stage, the Olympiad includes five competitions: a lexical and grammatical test, understanding of oral and written texts, production of oral and written speech.

Students in grades 9-11 perform tasks of the same level of complexity (B2+) and one format. The calculation of points is made in the form of a single rating for all participants.

The selection of candidates for the final is carried out on the basis of their performance in the three previous stages, which, therefore, are designed to solve the dual task of selecting the best and preparing for the next stage. This predetermines the expediency of holding all stages of the Olympiad according to a single scheme of five competitions, within the framework of each of which the following basic conditions are met: increasing difficulty and methodological continuity compared to the previous stage.

The purpose of this article is to help teachers in preparing students for participation in the All-Russian Olympiad at all stages. It presents the content and structure of the oral text comprehension competition held in April 2009 in Ulyanovsk, as well as the analysis of tasks and analysis of the work of students in grades 9-11 who participated in the final stage of this year's Olympiad.

Oral text comprehension competition: content and structure

To conduct a competition for understanding written texts, the Central Methodological Commission under the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation develops six documents: the rules for the competition, a disk with a record of the text and the entire procedure of the competition, a transcription of this procedure, a sheet of tasks, a sheet of answers and keys.

Transcription contains (see Appendix)

• announcement in French of all stages of work,
• announcement of each step in the procedure,
• pauses provided for the implementation of stages 1, 3 and 5,
• sound text repeated twice.

Texts. For the competition, modern, authentic sounding texts (informative and argumentative) are selected, which represent the implementation of the standard style used in the French mass media, aimed at a youth audience. They are selected from the broadcasts of such radio stations as France inter, France info, France culture, RFI (Radio France internationale), Europe 1, RSR (Radio Suisse romande) and represent the following radiophonic genres: bulletin d'information, reportage, journal d' information, interview, entretien, émission thématique sur des sujets différents (écologie, science, études, transports, medias, etc.).

Thus, the subject matter of the texts is related to modern social problems, education, the choice of a profession and the life of the younger generation, while discursive and pragmatic parameters are related to the current sociocultural situation in France, so their adequate understanding requires the contestants to possess sociocultural and sociolinguistic competencies at a testable level of complexity. . Such sounding material makes it possible to test socio-cultural competence through understanding of texts by including tasks in the questionnaire, the fulfillment of which requires the contestants to interpret the elements of a socio-cultural nature contained in the text.

In the course of pre-test processing, abbreviations are allowed in the sounding passages that do not lead to a distortion of the general meaning, and a general “finishing” of the acoustic signal (leveling the recording level and a slight slowdown in the speech tempo). The selected texts have the supports necessary for the application of global and retrieval listening strategies: title, bibliographic reference, short oral introduction and/or conclusion.

The linguistic complexity of the texts (they may contain 3-5% of unknown lexical units that are not key to understanding) corresponds to the chosen level of complexity, and the intellectual complexity of the extralinguistic tasks proposed for solving - to the age of the participants in the Olympiad.

Level B1 / B1 + provides for: informative-explicative sounding text lasting about 3 minutes.

Level В2/В2+: informative and explicative text with elements of argumentation lasting about 4 minutes. The total number of points is 25, the time to complete is about 30 minutes.

Job sheet (LZ) is a questionnaire with tasks to test understanding of the sounding text. The informative heading of the LZ indicates the level of difficulty according to the European scale, the duration of the competition and the maximum number of points that can be obtained upon successful completion of all tasks (25 points).

The questionnaire contains (see the tasks of the competition in the "Appendix"):

I. Selective tasks for multiple (A) and alternative (B) choices (see tasks 6-12, 17-23);

II. Tasks with freely constructed answers of a closed type, that is, requiring a short answer (see tasks 1-5, 14-16).

Each task of the questionnaire is accompanied by an indication of the number of points that is given for the correct answer. As a rule, it corresponds to the number of informative components of the expected response.

The sheet of tasks is not checked by the examiners, it is actually a draft. When working with the questionnaire, the contestants can make any notes in them: underline and mark the main ideas, make various marks in the margins. Unfortunately, reviewing the LZ submitted after the competition shows that students do not know how to work effectively with the questionnaire and do not use it as a basis for taking notes.

The ability to work with worksheets, listen to the text with a pencil in hand, master note-taking techniques, plan your time, considering that the answers must be transferred to a special form called "Answer Sheet", correctly fill in the registration number and tables - all this does not come by itself. Preparing students to participate in Olympiads, to pass the Unified State Examination and other European exams, the teacher must form this key competence, which has become very popular today.

Answer sheet (LO)- a document subject to verification, therefore, its completion should be carried out with the utmost care. The LO is a table in which, depending on the type of expected answer, there are either cells into which the letters selected by the contestant are inserted, or “windows” for entering words or sentences.

When filling in these boxes, contestants often ignore the scope of the answer provided by the compilers, mostly going beyond the table and entering information (usually secondary) in the margins or on the back of the page. For some reason, the idea that the left window and the expected answer may coincide in volume does not occur to the contestants. This indicates that filling in the tables - a competence that is increasingly in demand both in the professional and everyday practice of every modern person - is not sufficiently formed among high school students.

Keys are developed for the jury members who check the work. They, as noted above, are a correctly completed answer sheet.

Rules for holding- a regulatory document intended for the Organizing Committee of the Olympiad. It provides a detailed and step-by-step description of the main stages of the competition, the necessary technical support, the obligations of the participants and the person directly responsible for its conduct.

The final stage of the VI All-Russian Olympiad for schoolchildren for students in grades 9-11, Ulyanovsk, April 2009

The sound text (see "Appendix") is an excerpt from Yvan Amar's author's broadcast La danse des mots (RFI, 11/07/2008).

Topic: discussion of the results of a sociolinguistic study of speeches that were delivered in different situations by the managers of the 10 largest French corporations.

Participants: two invited experts who took part in the study.

Language complexity corresponds to the B2+ level.

Only the semantic (informative) component of the response is subject to evaluation. The linguistic aspect is not taken into account, provided that language errors do not distort the meaning of the message (when answering questions with a short freely constructed answer). In this case, we can assume that the communicative task was completed successfully.

Thus, focusing on the points indicated in the task, the contestants can:

1) determine the amount of requested information, which makes it easier to find it in the text,

2) classify questions into simple and complex, which allows them to choose the optimal text processing strategy,

3) be reasonable about possible language errors.

General scheme for completing tasks that test understanding of oral text

Completing this test requires participants to implement the following strategies:

1) In the 2-minute pause before the first listening

• quickly read the questions of the questionnaire,
• determine the topic of the text
• relate tasks to each other
• respond quickly and, if possible, positively to the question: “What do I know about this topic?”

Purpose: to determine the topic of the program, the purpose of the presenter, the participation of the invitees, to activate background knowledge on this issue.

2) During the first listening to the text:

• apply the strategy of global listening, focusing on understanding the general meaning of the passage,
• in the task sheet (this is a draft) write down during the hearing the information that is requested in the questionnaire and which is already understood at the first listening,
• write down in the LZ the keywords necessary for formulating short answers.

Purpose: to determine the genre of the program, to record the maximum amount of information requested in the questionnaire.

3) In the 5-minute pause between the first and second listening

• complete the tasks for which the answers are found,
• read the unanswered questions carefully
• relate questions to each other, draw logic, conjecture, common sense,
• to formulate a guess about the nature of the information to be found during the second listening, it is a guess that helps to develop active search strategies,
• prepare for the second listening, that is, free your head from what has already been understood and focus on finding the missing information.

4) During the second listening to the text

• apply a selective listening strategy, focusing on finding specific information,
• Briefly write it down on your worksheet.

5) In a 10-minute pause after the second listening

• answer all questions (involving background knowledge if necessary),
• re-correlate the questions with each other,
• correlate the answers with each other: they should not contradict each other,
• carefully fill out the answer sheet, transferring all the entries made to it: remember that only the answer sheet is subject to verification.

Job Analysis

In 2009, 201 contestants participated in the oral text comprehension competition, whose works were reviewed in order to systematize successful solutions and the main difficulties that arose during testing. In general, the results can be assessed as good: 120 people, that is, 60% of those tested, scored from 13 to 23 points out of 25 possible.

To save space and make it easier to analyze the results, the numerical data are shown directly in the LZ: percentages are given in each task and the correct answer is highlighted in bold. In the text passages cited in the article, the required information and/or keywords are highlighted in bold. The full text appears in the Appendix.

The commentary of the work is carried out according to the following scheme:

• Job type and results.
• Recommended procedure for finding an answer.
• Commentary on the results obtained.

I.A. Selective type tasks: multiple choice

(6, 20) Understanding the socio-cultural parameters of the text (strategy for correlating text information with background knowledge) and (17-19, 22-23) understanding the specific information requested (search strategy).

6. La nature de l'émission écoutee? 1 point

A.une interview 15%	C. unémission scientifique 24 %
B. un reportage 1%	D.une table ronde 59%

A task that tests the ability to correlate background knowledge (the main types of radio programs) with the information appearing in the text. Suggested workflow:

1. We activate background information, which, in my opinion, students in grades 9-11 should own. It is presented in the table.

	Discuss social, cultural, political issues of interest to the general public	Obtain, if possible, new, never before published information from the interviewee	Present to the audience the event witnessed by the journalist himself.
Invited	Representatives of different age, professional and social groups	A well-known person in society (writer, scientist, artist, etc.)	Witnesses of the event
Lead role	The organizer who monitors the "uniform" participation of the invitees in the discussion	An active participant in the interaction: “spins” the interviewee, asks him provocative, “difficult” questions	The main narrator, using eyewitness accounts as an illustration

It is obvious that the transfers appearing in the table do not fit. Answer S.

However, 59% of the participants chose distractor D, which indicates not only their lack of background knowledge about existing types of radio broadcasts, but also shows that they do not use their own correct answers to other questions. Thus, answering (1) and (2) mostly correctly, they do not draw any conclusions for themselves, although it would seem obvious: the author's program rarely belongs to the "table ronde" transmissions, unless it is specifically stipulated.

The next important point that participants do not pay attention to when working with task (6): these are the words used in the questionnaire when formulating tasks (11) L'échantillon analyse comprend les discours prononcés par 10 patrons français, (14-16) le chercheur..., (19) la chercheuse…,(20) La recherche montre…, (21) Les chercheurs ont relevé...

All these words and expressions undoubtedly belong to scientific speech and should have prompted the contestants to think about the nature of the program.

And finally, during the transmission, the host addresses the invitees as follows:

YA: Alors dites-moi un petit peu, Bruno Scaramuzzino…

YA: Alors une dernière question. Est-ce que vous avez noté dans toute cette étude que vous avez faite…

Such questions are practically impossible in round-table programs and, by a stretch, in interviews.

Thus, it should be noted that the main disadvantage is not so much the lack of background knowledge, but the inability to compensate for them using additional information that is present in the text, in the questionnaire, and even in the correctly formulated answers of the subjects themselves.

17. Dans le discours patronal analysé le center d’intérêt porte sur … 1 point

A. les concurrents qu'il s'agit d'écarter 2%	C. la fragilité du système économique actuel 33%
B. l'entreprise en tant qu'organisme vivant 30%	D. le projet qu'on est en train de realiser 34 %

Applying a listening strategy. The necessary information is repeated in the sounding text several times:

Bruno Scaramuzzino:(…) c'est-à-dire que effectivement on est dans l'action Mais on est tellement dans l'action qu'on s'inscrit absolument pas dans l'histoire, (...) on mobilise, bien sûr on invite à agir,(…) l’institution-enterprise (…) est la and elle est agissante and elle est mobilisee et tout ça dans une emphase

Celine Labat: (…) leur discours qui est tres porte par le projet,(…) la somme des mots, des verbes, des noms, des adjectifs qui portent sur le projet"le défi à relever", etc., bon tout ça c'est très très important dans l'ensemble des discours.

Commentary on the results

Both researchers are talking about the same thing: the main goal of managers is to show that the enterprise they manage effectively solves the tasks set by life, but each of the speakers expresses his thoughts in different ways. In my opinion, the main difficulty for 65% of the participants was not to understand this passage, but to generalize the information received in different formulations.

18.

We apply the search strategy of listening:

CL: Donc l'entreprise, elle est peu citée puisque ça représente 0.8% des mots, donc c'est peu. Et les salariés, c'est 0.2%. Donc autant dire qu'ils sont quasiment absents. Donc quand on est comme ça porteur patron et porteur d'un discours. On dit on va faire ci on va faire ça on va developper ça, … Et on dit jamais qui, quoi et avec qui, y a un petit un petit probleme. Avec qui on va faire et on va réussir à mener tout ça de front?

Distractor B is removed without hesitation: there is a comment in the text. Distractors (C) and (D) are not suitable. The linguist who studies the speeches made by managers should neither explain nor evaluate the fact that is requested in (19). This is not within the scope of his research competencies. But it can reveal the contradiction observed in the studied material. Answer A.

Commentary on the results

Insufficient mastery of the listening search strategy. A very naive and far from life understanding of the tasks that scientific research may face.

20. La recherche montre que les patrons utilisent des metaphores pour … 1 point

A. souligner leur difficulté à conduire l'entreprise 12%

B. mettre en relief leur rôle de dirigeant 4%

C. rendre leur discours plus accessible au public 43 %

D. montrer que l'entreprise est un organisme vivant 40%

A task that tests the ability to correlate background knowledge (what a metaphor is) with the information appearing in the text.

Suggested workflow:

1. We activate the background information, which, in my opinion, students in grades 9-11 should own: a metaphor is a rhetorical device.

2. Reading the task, pay attention to the definite article les patrons, in other words, it is a common goal for all acting managers.

3. After reading the distractors, we understand that in C we are talking about the impact on the listeners, regardless of the topic of speech, and in A, B, D, specific subject areas (semantic fields) are indicated, for the explanation and illustration of which metaphors are created.

4. We conclude: all managers who use metaphors set the task of influencing the listeners, but everyone does this in the semantic space that he needs. Answer S.

5. Sounding text confirms this conclusion:

BS: Tous ceux qui utilisent des metaphores. Deja le fait d'en utiliser ou pas traduit la volonté la volonté ou pas de se rendre très accessible. En moyenne, ils en utilisent mais tous n'en utilisent pas. Ça c'est la première chose. Quand on utilise des metaphores c'est qu'on fait un effort pour aller vers l'autre et si on veut aller vers le plus grand nombre on va essayer de puiser ses métaphores dans des univers accessibles au plus grand nombre: le sport, le combat, etc., en est un, la santé en est un autre.

Commentary on the results

As in the previous task, it should be noted that 57% of the contestants were unable to collect and summarize diverse information about the object of interest. This required: to correlate the background knowledge and information of the questionnaire, to put forward a hypothesis of understanding, to develop an active search strategy of listening on its basis.

21. Les chercheurs ont releve les 3 metaphores les plus frequentes. Choisissez dans la liste ci-dessous les champs semantiques qu'elles recouvrent: 3 points reponses correctes - 89%

A. la metaphore du combat	D. la metaphore de la prospérite
B. la metaphore de l'histoire	E. la metaphore de la sante
C. la metaphore de la fragilite	F. la metaphore de l'incertitude
G . la metaphore du sport

Applying a listening strategy. The necessary information is repeated in the sounding text several times:

YA: Alors une dernière question. Est-ce que vous avez note dans toute cette étude que vous avez faite des metaphores qui reviennent souvent et qui sign d'une certaine façon la langue du patron ?

BS: Y a la metaphore du combat, y a la metaphore de la sante. (…)

CL:"Sur le podium de la croissance", "les deux acteurs doivent jouer à armes égales", "nous sommes maintenant prêts pour partir à l'offensive", "je vais me battre pour" euh "mes adversaires ont gagné une bataille juridico- mediatique, etc.

YA: Et ça on a retrouvé, alors là, y avait en effet à la fois du sport et de la bataille dans ce que vous venez de citer. (…)

BS:(…) Quand on utilise des métaphores (…) on va essayer de puiser ses métaphores dans des univers accessibles au plus grand nombre: le sport, le combat, etc., en est un, la sante en est unautre.

Commentary on the results

The results obtained show that this passage is understood quite satisfactorily.

22. Dans le discours patronal l'expression « il faut rajouter du sang neuf » veut dire … 1 point

A. s'allier avec une autre entreprise 15	C. s'installer sur de nouveaux marchés 14
B. apporter des capitaux nouveaux investis 13	D. embaucher des jeunes cadres dynamiques 55

A task that tests the ability to find the answer to a question that is not directly discussed in the text. To do this, it is necessary, firstly, to attract background knowledge (for an enterprise, “an influx of new blood” means an influx of new capital, these are the basics of economic knowledge provided for by the school curriculum) and, secondly, to creatively use the information that appears in the text. This task proved to be the most difficult.

Proposed scheme of work

1. Expression "il faut rajouter du sang neuf" is a metaphor, which is explicitly formulated in (23). It belongs to the semantic field (E) la métaphore de la santé and 50% of the participants choose the answer E in (23).

2. We activate background knowledge: the health of the enterprise is ensured, first of all, by investments. Candidate B.

3. The following passage is devoted to the semantic field of health, although, I emphasize again, it does not contain a direct answer to the question posed in (22):

YA: La santé, ils parlent de la santé de quoi, de l'entreprise? Y a donc cette idée que l'entreprise est considérée comme un organisme vivant?

CL: Tout à fait, et qu'elle est menacée, c'est-à-dire que ce qu'on nous dit c'est que "l'euro va asphyxier l'industrie européenne", que "il faut rajouter du sang neuf" .

YA: On parle de santé quand il y a une presomption de maladie?

4. So, an enterprise is a living organism that needs to be strengthened by infusing new blood in the form of new investments. Answer V.

Commentary on the results

1. Choosing the semantic field to which the metaphor refers "il faut rajouter du sang neuf", The contestants showed the following results:

23. Dans la liste de l'exercice 21 relevez le champ sémantique auquel appartient cette méthaphore. 1 point

A. la metaphore du combat 11%	D. la metaphore de la prospérite 6%
B. la metaphore de l'histoire 4%	E. la metaphore de la sante 50%
C. la metaphore de la fragilite 16%	F. la metaphore de l'incertitude 6%
G. la metaphore du sport 0 %

Comparable with the results (21): 89% correctly indicated that the metaphors used by managers belong to 3 semantic fields: (A) la métaphore du combat, (E) la métaphore de la santé and (G) la métaphore du sport.

It turns out that only 61% (A + E) of these 89% remain within the previously selected semantic fields, and the rest seem to forget about it. I note that 7% of the participants did not show any results, that is, they decided not to complete the task.

2. Answering question (22) 55% of participants choose distractor D (embaucher des jeunes cadres dynamiques). However, above, when completing task (18), the vast majority correctly indicates that managers practically do not talk about “employees” in their speeches.

18. L'étude montre que l'interne (les salariés) représente dans le discours … 1 point

A. 0.8% - 7 %	C. 0.6% - 1 %
b.0,2 % – 91 %	D. 0.4% - 1 %

Why is this correctly understood information not taken into account when answering question (22)?

As in the previous two tasks, it should be noted that the contestants lack an active search strategy and weak knowledge of key competencies that allow collecting and summarizing diverse information about the object of interest. I also emphasize that many simply did not have the strength or time to complete tasks (22-23).

I.B. Selective tasks:

alternative choice

(7-12) Semantic identification of sentences that reformulate mainly the specific information of the sounding text

7-12. Cochez VRAI (А) / FAUX (В) / NON MENTIONNÉ (C) 7 points

				NON MENTIONNE
	L'émission se termine dans 10 minutes.
	Dans les discours analysés les patrons évoquent très peu l "histoire de l" enterprise.
	L'échantillon analysé comprend les discours prononcés par 10 patrons français.
	Ces patrons representent sept entreprises du CAC 40.
	Tous les patrons utilisent des metaphores.

We apply a listening search strategy and note the answer while listening to the (first or second) text (see Fig. "Transcription").

Commentary on the results

In general, the task (7-12) did not cause great difficulties.

The erroneous interpretation of sentence (13) is connected, in my opinion, with the fact that each of the speakers allows self-interruptions in his speech, clarifying his thought with repetitions and paraphrases that the contestants cannot adequately correlate.

YA:… On trouve ça chez tous les patrons, alors(en)fin tous ceux que vous avez les 10 qui font partie de votre échantillon ?

BS: Tous ceux qui utilisent des metaphores. Déjà le fait d'en utiliser ou pas traduit la volonté la volonté ou pas de se rendre très accessible. en moyenne, ils en utilisent mais tous n'en utilisent pas.Ça c'est la première chose. …

II. Items with freely constructable closed-type answers (short answer)

(1-4) Localization of the listened text in the radiophonic landscape in general and France in particular (the strategy of correlating background knowledge with the information contained in the questionnaire, in the text, in correctly given answers)

(5, 14-16) Information of a specific type (search strategy)

1-5. Voici 4 noms propres et un chiffre, à quel propos apparaissent-ils dans le document? 5 points

1. The name of the program (1) and the name of the presenter (2) are announced twice at the beginning and at the end of the sounding passage. The information was adequately understood by the overwhelming majority of the contestants.

2. In (3) given name and surname. Suppose the participants know that Bruno is a male name, but even if they do not know, this is not important for completing the task.

In (6), 99% of the participants define the program as interactive, that is, almost everyone understood that the presenter is communicating on the air with the invitees.

A.une interview 15%	C. unémission scientifique 24%
B. un reportage 1%	D.une table ronde 59%

The following words are used in the items of the questionnaire: (14-16) le chercheur dit..., (19) la chercheuse fait..., (21) Les chercheurs ont relevé...

If we summarize all this information, then who could the second male voice belong to? The answer is obvious even if in the course of listening to the text this moment eluded the listeners. By the way, the answer chercheuse invitee was accepted.

3. The word "Casio" (4). We attract background information: a well-known company specializing in the production of watches, cameras, graphic calculators, electronic games and dictionaries. The word sounds in connection with the announced game (information about the game appears in the questionnaire and the participants understood it).

				NON MENTIONNE
	L'animateur annonce un jeu qui commencement.
	Le gagnant du jeu recevra un dictionnaire electronic.

How can Casio and the announced game be related? In the most direct way: as our sociocultural experience shows, such games are used by firms when conducting promotions.

4. The figure of 87% is practically not understood. In this case, what is required is not a guess, but a clear understanding of what sounds in the transmission, that is, the so-called point listening strategy.

The collection contains tests designed to test language competence at the lexical and grammatical level. Difficulty corresponds to levels B1-B2 on the European scale. Tests are developed on the basis of authentic connected texts. Their implementation puts the testee before the need to implement not only linguistic, but also other important components of communicative competence: discursive, sociolinguistic, sociocultural and strategic. When creating tests, the author uses all the variety of currently existing methodological developments in the field of testology. This will allow students to prepare for exams of various formats: USE, GIA, entrance examinations and olympiads in French, DELF-DALF, TCF, and their teachers to master modern testing methods. For the convenience of work, the collection includes sections Methodological support with a detailed analysis of two tests that participated in the All-Russian Olympiad for schoolchildren, and Keys to all tests .... About all this and not only in the book Olympiad tasks in French. Lexico-grammatical testing. In two books. Level B1 - B2 (G. Bubnova)

European scale.


For the convenience of work, the collection includes sections Methodological support with a detailed analysis of two tests that participated in the All-Russian Olympiad for schoolchildren, and Keys to all ...

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The collection contains tests designed to test language competence at the lexical and grammatical level. Difficulty corresponds to levels B1-B2
European scale.
Tests are developed on the basis of authentic connected texts. Their implementation puts the testee before the need to implement not only linguistic, but also other important components of communicative competence: discursive, sociolinguistic, sociocultural and strategic.
When creating tests, the author uses all the variety of currently existing methodological developments in the field of testology. This will allow students to prepare for exams of various formats: USE, GIA, entrance examinations and olympiads in French, DELF-DALF, TCF, and their teachers to master modern testing methods.
For the convenience of work, the collection includes sections Methodological support with a detailed analysis of two tests that participated in the All-Russian Olympiad for schoolchildren, and Keys to all tests.
The second, revised and expanded edition included tests from 2012-2013.
2nd edition, revised and enlarged.

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