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Language A Levels

richardg

richardg

Admonishtrator
Do they still require reading loads of books in French and then writing about them in English, please? Or has it moved on to something more sensinle, eg just focussing on just the language?

I got at an A in French at O level and an E at A Level....all because of Camus, Flaubert and Moliere. I just could not be bothered to read any of it. I got an A on the oral component too. So a U was probably on the cards.....
 
Hardly, there are only three exam boards in England: AQA, EDEXCEL & OCR. However, I will ask the Language department tomorrow and get back to you.
 
Spike said:
There were probably more than that. They all amalgamated into the three current boards that exist today.
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And is oxford and Cambridge still the hardest one? I assume they were always supposed to be the same but in reality we knew we were taking the hardest ones.
 
That was total bollocks then and is still total bollocks.
They were different at best. Think about it. They are there to make money. Oh I know we will make ours the hardest so no Centre wants to take it!
Today they are scrutinised at every level to ensure consistency by OFQUAL.
 
They do only one book now. However, there is a cultural unit which involves various research into famous French writers etc. This is from my colleague.
 
WJEC was always the best to get... that’s something worth hanging on the wall. Mind you I am biased.
 
I don't get the focus on literature in modern language A level. I did an O level in French and my spoken and written French was frankly piss poor. That’s fair enough, I was only 16 and O levels are an elementary level qualification. The current GCSE is no better and probably worse, I know that I studied the subjunctive, try a current GCSE student with that and they will look at you like an alien. What concerns me is the level of language skills at A level, a friend’s daughter is studying Mod Lang at university and her spoken French was very poor post A levels. I don’t see the point in an A level that barely equips you to hold a conversation but that forces you to read Moliere and Zola. You wouldn’t teach Hamlet to someone who couldn’t write an account of what they had done the previous day, after all.
 
That makes my point. He plays great music, music is about performance. I have never studied French Lit, yet my practical French skills are very high, allowing me to live and work there and help run factories. Language is about communication, and I do that very well. In contrast studying Moliere does not help you to communicate.

Now I have no problem with anyone studying French Lit any more than I have a problem with people studying formal music theory. Academic study for its own end is fine. However I do have a problem when the accepted route is to study the theory or literature and there is no parallel practical study that equips you to actually go out and do the thing in question. You wouldn't give someone an A level in music if they couldn't play an instrument to a fairly high standard, yet this is exactly what you do for French.
 
Just study for one of the Goethe or telc language exams. Far more useful in the real world than an A level language qualification.
 
An A level language qualification is a necessary requirement for a University degree course in the same language. Other than that it is 'an A Level' to bulk out the required number for any other course and of little other use.

Many years ago I had a girlfriend studying French at Liverpool Uni (this was about 1981 I think). On holiday in France it (she) was almost hilariously useless - I was doing better with my conversational O level and a bit of memory.
 
You lot are going to be so annoyed when you find out what people study on English A levels and degrees.
 
JensenHealey said:
An A level language qualification is a necessary requirement for a University degree course in the same language. Other than that it is 'an A Level' to bulk out the required number for any other course and of little other use.

Many years ago I had a girlfriend studying French at Liverpool Uni (this was about 1981 I think). On holiday in France it (she) was almost hilariously useless - I was doing better with my conversational O level and a bit of memory.
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looking forward to this appearing in the Eye’s Pseuds’ Corner.
 
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