MTTC French (023) study guide
MTTC French (023) · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The MTTC French (023) is the Michigan subject-area test used for the French endorsement, code FA. Under Michigan rules effective January 1, 2026, an initial endorsement requires passing both this subject test and a Professional Knowledge and Skills test (117, 121, 135, or 136), so plan for two assessments rather than one. The MTTC French (023) study guide has 5 sections and about 1,574 words.
01Listening Comprehension
Listening Comprehension asks you to follow authentic spoken French - station and airport announcements, voicemail, interviews, radio news, classroom exchanges - and answer questions about main idea, specific detail, inference and the relationship between speakers. Difficulty comes from connected speech (liaison, elision, dropped schwa), numbers and register shifts, not from rare vocabulary.
327 words, about 2 min02Reading Comprehension
Reading passages come from real genres: a literary excerpt (often with passé simple), a press article, an advertisement, a set of instructions, a formal letter or an informational notice about Francophone life. Questions probe main idea, supporting detail, vocabulary in context, tone and the writer's purpose; some ask you to identify the genre or intended audience.
289 words, about 1 min03Language Structures and Phonology
Grammar items test control of the verb system, pronoun order, agreement, determiners and sentence-level syntax, plus a smaller set of phonology items covering liaison, nasal vowels, elision and intonation. Passé composé agreement: with être the participle agrees with the subject (elle est partie); with avoir it agrees only with a preceding direct object (les lettres que j'ai écrites).
337 words, about 2 min04Cultural Knowledge of the Francophone World
Cultural items draw on French and Francophone history, geography, institutions, education, media, literature and the arts, and contemporary social issues. You need names, dates and the meaning of institutions - not tourist trivia.
296 words, about 1 min05Written Expression and Error Analysis
This domain asks you to produce and correct French that suits a purpose and a register: a short message, a formal letter, a description, an opinion paragraph. Items often present a sentence and ask which version is accurate and idiomatic.
325 words, about 2 min