The co-design of an educational launchpad for improving linguistic proficiency for students in French as a foreign language

This mixed-methods, design-based study investigated the co-design of an educational “launchpad” to support transferable linguistic proficiency for university learners of French as a Foreign Language (FLE). Grounded conceptually in Service Design and operationalised through Action Research cycles, the intervention treated learning as a service journey in which learners functioned as co-design partners. Fifty-eight university learners (N = 58; CEFR A2–B1) in an intensive university programme participated in an eight-week process organised into four phases (Discovery; Define/Ideate; Prototype; Deliver/Evaluate). Quantitatively, pre–post outcomes were assessed using a 25-point French proficiency performance test (FLE-PP) and an 8-item Self-Perceived Communication Competence scale (SPCC). Pre–post comparisons indicated large increases in objective performance (FLE-PP: M = 10.22 to 18.36) and perceived communicative competence (SPCC: M = 2.20 to 4.13). Given the one-group pre–post design, these improvements are interpreted as associated with the launchpad implementation rather than as definitive causal effects, and they warrant replication using a comparison condition. Qualitatively, learners’ reflection texts showed salient lexical clusters (semantic fields) that indexed key meaning-making patterns: translating abstract communicative barriers into actionable artifacts (e.g., scripts, maps, prototypes), sustaining progress through community-based participation (workshops, peer support), and repositioning identity and legitimacy in institutional encounters shaped by documentation and authority. An integrated joint-display interpretation suggests a dual mechanism: artifact-based scaffolding supported planning and rehearsal for transfer, while social validation reduced anxiety and strengthened engagement and agency. The study contributes an empirically grounded account of how co-design can function as an equity-oriented pedagogy, aligning language development with real-world demands and more inclusive participation structures in university-level FLE classrooms.