Oral tests at GCSE could be dropped as too stressful
Oral exercises could be a thing of the past
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Sunday, 17, Feb 2008 04:31
Oral exams for GCSE foreign languages could be dropped after a report claimed that they were too stressful.
The Sunday Telegraph claims that the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) would instead rely on teacher assessments.
The QCA said that its report out next week would concur with a previous review which claimed that one-off oral tests were not a reliable guide to ability.
Lord Dearing's review of language testing claimed that the stress of oral examinations was putting youngsters off studying subjects such as French and German.
A QCA spokeswoman declined to confirm that next week's oral assessment report would signal the end of school oral examinations.
But Sky News quotes the spokesperson as saying that the QCA report would follow on from Lord Dearing's recommendations, which in turn were supported fully by the government.
Former chief inspector of schools Chris Woodhead was critical of the plans saying: "Crucial to learning a language is the ability to speak it and the only reliable way of assessing a student's competence in speaking the language is to have the oral exam at the end of the course.
"The motivation is to make modern languages easier and more attractive to more students," Mr Woodhead said.
"But what's the point when it undermines the currency in such a radical way."
Conservative shadow schools secretary Michael Gove wrote in the Sunday Telegraph: "After being told they could get a pass without writing a word in a foreign language, now pupils are being told they can pass without speaking it.
"Once again, this government is moving the goalposts on examinations and instead of proper rigour we have got a watering down of standards," he said.