These data were collected from 160 learners of French aged 14 in eight schools in England over a period of approximately 8 months. Learners participated in an intervention in which they studied either literary or factual texts, taught using two different teaching approaches. The data constitute: (1) Learner pre and post-test results for meaning recall of key vocabulary items contained in 6 texts (2) learner vocabulary size assessed through yes/no tests at three time points (3) learner Likert-scale responses to a questionnaire item on enjoyment of the texts studied.