This study investigated the effects of 3 different writing tasks (descriptive, narrative, and expository) and 3 different writing prompts (bare, vocabulary, and prose model) on 937 writing samples culled from 330 novice learners enrolled in 15 classes of Levels 1 and 2 high school French. In order to assess the quality, fluency, syntactic complexity, and accuracy of the writing samples, the researchers employed 4 evaluation methods: holistic scoring, length of product, mean length of T-units, and percentage of correct T-units. Results indicate that the descriptive task was the easiest and the expository task the most difficult. The prose model prompts produced the highest mean scores, and the bare prompts produced the lowest mean scores. Based on these findings, the researchers question whether the description of a novice writer in the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines (1986) should be used as a blueprint for curriculum development and textbook construction for secondary novice foreign language learners.AT WHAT POINT IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE (FL) instruction should writing be introduced, and what can reasonably be expected of novice writers? The ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines (1986), which delineate expectations for four levels of FL writers, may be seen as a response to this question and, in this regard, have had a major influence on establishing curricular goals for writing since their publication in 1986. Nevertheless, a survey of the literature of FL writing reveals little of the empirical research necessary to establish a solid basis for decisions with respect to the FL writing curriculum.A number of articles on FL writing have appeared over the last 2 most have dealt either with theoretical considerations or with the application of theory to instruction. Few researchers have directly studied writing instruction in FL classes. 1 Consequently, practitioners have had to depend on research from writing in English as a first language (L1; e.g., Emig, 1971;Hunt, 1965) or English as a Second Language (ESL; e.g., Raimes, 1979;Zamel, 1976Zamel, , 1985Zamel, , 1987 when developing instructional procedures for teaching second language (L2) writing. In fact, Silva (1990) found that new approaches based upon L1 writing research are sometimes adopted in wholesale fashion and accepted uncritically in L2 writing instruction. Not only has writing been underrepresented in FL/L2 research, secondary school learners have been virtually ignored in such research. Krapels (1990) found that the few studies conducted in DENISE PAIGE WAY Dorchester School District Two 102 Greenwave Boulevard

Technological developments such as the videocassette recorder/player have facilitated the use of videotaped foreign‐language materials in the classroom and such materials are increasingly available to language teachers from a number of sources. If, however, students view foreign‐language broadcasts passively, little learning will take place. By carefully selecting and manipulating programs, the teacher can encourage more active viewing and at the same time foster comprehension by serving as a mediator between the learners' imperfect linguistic ability and limited cultural knowledge and the sophisticated videotext. The form provided and discussed in this article will enable the teacher/evaluator to motivate students and to accomplish course goals through a more effective selection and use of videotexts.

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HE SAUVE FRENCH lover with his irresist-