Near - beginner learners of French are reading at a disability level

In this article I present empirical data which were part of the findings from an ESRC-funded research project investigating Year 7 learners' experiences of reading in French as a foreign language. 1 first make an argument for the key role which being able to decode from written French to the spoken sounds of the words plays in reading. I then describe the pupils involved in the research, the research question and the data-collecting tools which I used. The findings from the research are discussed along with the learners' self-reports on their attitudes toward decoding in French. The implications of the findings are discussed in the light of what is known about reading impairment.