Although there are far fewer of them than in the 19 th century, rural multi-grade classrooms are still part of the French educational landscape. The performance of these students has only been studied since the 1980s in France, and they seem to do as well or slightly better than urban students in same-grade classes (M.E. N., 1995). Our first study compared the reading results of C.P. students educated in S.E./C.P. and S.E./C.P./C.E.1 with those of C.P. students in single-grade classes

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... uhazé, 1997) . In multi-grade classes, the C.P. obtain significantly better scores. Observations of students in the children's section of the library during reading lessons given by the C.P. teacher, revealed "furtive listening". A more precise analysis of the time variable of pre-school education (which had no influence in these classes) and the development of pre-school education in rural areas oriented our second research project towards the greater autonomy of the students and the shared attention of the teachers, which characterizes these classes. Follow-up in multi-grade classes made up of students who attended pre-school for two years confirmed the existence of this "furtive listening" and allowed it to be identified even outside all observable interactive behaviour. 260 volume XXXIII:2, automne 2005 www.acelf.ca Écoute furtive en lecture des élèves du préscolaire dans les classes à plusieurs niveaux RESUMEN