Pass a language, don't speak it!

Today's rumour on the BBC education website that GCSE languages could be assessed without an oral exam goes beyond dumbing down, and if true, would turn language teaching in England into a bad joke.

It appears that the oral examination may be dropped and some form of continuous assessment brought in as the oral examination is a bit stressful, and that stress might stop people taking up languages.  Now I might be a bit of a freak, but the best memories I have of my O-levels (French, German, Spoken English), A-level (AS and A2 French), Degree German and PhD were the oral examinations, where you got a chance to show off to someone outside your circle of teachers and could demonstrate that you could do it!  I remember in my O-level French oral, rather patronisingly explaining to the examiner that many of my class mates might be having trouble, as we had all only recently returned from our German exchange trip - I got an A for the oral.

Setting aside my rather perverse view on the fun of oral examinations, the real test of learning a language is being able to have some sort of spoken interaction with a native speaker of that language (probably why Latin orals never really got fashionable).  That other person shouldn't really be the person who taught you the language in the first place as they will have preconceptions about your ability and also are already prepared for your accent and way of expressing yourself.  They may not be able to be wholly objective therefore.

If you find yourself using a foreign language in anger that you have had to learn in school, it is also likely that your experience will be stressful - be it that first attempt at buying a croissant or a beer or a coffee, trying to find a loo, trying to find your way round the Paris metro or how to pay for 200 miles on the Autoroute.  Even more stressfully, you could be trying to work out what that nice policeman with the speed camera is trying to say about your ability to stick to the speed limit, and respond to that politely.

Stress is an inevitable part of our lives and learning to cope with stressful situations is also part of the education process, so stopping a testing process at age 15 or 16 because it is a bit stressful can really be nothing more than dumbing down and certainly not in the interests of a young person.  It would be nice if someone saw sense on this, but I really doubt that will happen.

Today's rumour on the BBC education website that GCSE languages could be assessed without an oral exam goes beyond dumbing down, and if true, would turn language teaching in England into a bad joke.

It appears that the oral examination may be dropped and some form of continuous assessment brought in as the oral examination is a bit stressful, and that stress might stop people taking up languages.  Now I might be a bit of a freak, but the best memories I have of my O-levels (French, German, Spoken English), A-level (AS and A2 French), Degree German and PhD were the oral examinations, where you got a chance to show off to someone outside your circle of teachers and could demonstrate that you could do it!  I remember in my O-level French oral, rather patronisingly explaining to the examiner that many of my class mates might be having trouble, as we had all only recently returned from our German exchange trip - I got an A for the oral.

Setting aside my rather perverse view on the fun of oral examinations, the real test of learning a language is being able to have some sort of spoken interaction with a native speaker of that language (probably why Latin orals never really got fashionable).  That other person shouldn't really be the person who taught you the language in the first place as they will have preconceptions about your ability and also are already prepared for your accent and way of expressing yourself.  They may not be able to be wholly objective therefore.

If you find yourself using a foreign language in anger that you have had to learn in school, it is also likely that your experience will be stressful - be it that first attempt at buying a croissant or a beer or a coffee, trying to find a loo, trying to find your way round the Paris metro or how to pay for 200 miles on the Autoroute.  Even more stressfully, you could be trying to work out what that nice policeman with the speed camera is trying to say about your ability to stick to the speed limit, and respond to that politely.

Stress is an inevitable part of our lives and learning to cope with stressful situations is also part of the education process, so stopping a testing process at age 15 or 16 because it is a bit stressful can really be nothing more than dumbing down and certainly not in the interests of a young person.  It would be nice if someone saw sense on this, but I really doubt that will happen.

Comments

[Jane Holland]

It is interesting to note that since I pulled off this story at 11:25 this morning, it has been substantially rewritten without having the referencing changed.

There are official proposals now in for repeated assessments of language ability undertaken by teachers (I can hear the cheering from teachers already), where pupils are assessed by interviews, presentations to a group, business-style negotiations or product pitches. The Minister said that learning chunks of phrases by rote or artificial role play would be a thing of the past. Sorry - product pitches and business-style negotiations are also artificial role plays when undertaken by 14 and 15 year olds, apart from under the Youth Enterprise Scheme, and that is separate.

[john]

Surely, for GCSE level it would make more sense to ditch the on-going stress (ha ha) of continuous assesment and written exams and just concentrate on the oral. Children learn to speak some before they can read and write and so why not apply the same principle to learning languages other than the 'mother tongue'? Why oh why have modern educational science' (ie the latest thinking on how to educate children) and common sense parted company?