Results are summarized of research on a program instituting graded objectives and tests in French. The research project was conducted during the 1979-80 school year by the Language Teaching Council at York, England. Two experimental groups and two control groups were formed of students aged 13 and over. Pupils, parents, and teachers completed attitude questionnaires before and after the experimental year. Significantly, at the end of the year pupils in the experimental groups as well as their parents and teachers expressed more positive attitudes than those in the control groups. The most striking comment by teachers had to do with confidence in themselves and in their ability to teach a foreign language to larger numbers of students with varied abilities. It is reported that a group of persons are working on an approach which could replace existing required standardized examinations in French and which could offer schools more flexibility. In this model there would be defined objectives for the basic language skills. There would also be a clear description of what was meant by listening, speaking, reading, and writing. It has been generally agreed that tasks to be set within an exam should be authentic and valuable outside the classroom. (AMH)