First language proficiency and successful foreign language learning: The case of high school students learning French as a foreign language.

摘要

This study investigated whether there was a correlation between first language proficiency as measured by the Mississippi Curriculum Test (MCT II) Reading and Language Arts and foreign language proficiency as measured by the French Language Proficiency Test. Data for the independent variable, first language proficiency, was collected from the cumulative folders of 81 students enrolled in a French II class at a high school in central Mississippi. To obtain data for the dependent variable, foreign language proficiency, the French Language Proficiency Test was administered to the 81 participants who provided data for the independent variable. The Gamma Coefficient Test was used to calculate the strength and the direction of the correlation between first language proficiency and foreign language proficiency. The data analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between both variables in all the seven subgroups that made up the sample population. This led to the conclusion that first language proficiency alone does not guarantee successful learning of and proficiency in a foreign or second language. Other variables may have to be taken into consideration.