Semester Task: Summary
The article written by Bawden, Anna “Modern
Language Teaching 'under Threat from Tough Exams'.” (The Guardian, Guardian
News and Media, http://bit.ly/2JAKKIp, 11
May 2019) is devoted to the topic of complexity for students passing exams such
as GCSEs and A-levels.
The author mentions that 152 academics from 36 universities warn that the exams are too severe and the stress of pupils is inadequate. The pupils have to accept that their grade may be much lower than they deserve.
The statistics proposed shows that over the past 15 years, entries for language GCSEs have dropped by 48%, with German down 65% and French down 62%. The proportion of pupils taking a language GCSE has fallen for the past two years to 46% in 2018. A-level exams have an even tougher situation down by more than one-third in French and 45% in German since 2010.
Anna gives one of the reasons for such decline: both the difficulty of studying languages compared with other subjects and so called «harsh marking» (at GCSE marks are given half a grade more severely than other subjects). As a result, languages at GCSE are increasingly becoming elite subjects, available only for those who are well-developed economically.
It’s also written that all the specialists agreed that the obvious link between the difficulty and the decline is that Ofqual just ignores the evidence. So a letter from 156 signatories was sent.
Measured all the things seriously, Ofqual took concrete actions to prevent the recession and answered that they are looking at statistical evidence, communicating with subject experts, etc. After the measures taken, since 2010 the proportion of children taking a language at GCSE has risen from 40% to 46% in 2018 and may go futher.
What I learned from the article is that there is a great problem of extreme complexity of GSCE and A-level exams in UK and many other European countries, but the government considers possible solutions and tries to act.
The author mentions that 152 academics from 36 universities warn that the exams are too severe and the stress of pupils is inadequate. The pupils have to accept that their grade may be much lower than they deserve.
The statistics proposed shows that over the past 15 years, entries for language GCSEs have dropped by 48%, with German down 65% and French down 62%. The proportion of pupils taking a language GCSE has fallen for the past two years to 46% in 2018. A-level exams have an even tougher situation down by more than one-third in French and 45% in German since 2010.
Anna gives one of the reasons for such decline: both the difficulty of studying languages compared with other subjects and so called «harsh marking» (at GCSE marks are given half a grade more severely than other subjects). As a result, languages at GCSE are increasingly becoming elite subjects, available only for those who are well-developed economically.
It’s also written that all the specialists agreed that the obvious link between the difficulty and the decline is that Ofqual just ignores the evidence. So a letter from 156 signatories was sent.
Measured all the things seriously, Ofqual took concrete actions to prevent the recession and answered that they are looking at statistical evidence, communicating with subject experts, etc. After the measures taken, since 2010 the proportion of children taking a language at GCSE has risen from 40% to 46% in 2018 and may go futher.
What I learned from the article is that there is a great problem of extreme complexity of GSCE and A-level exams in UK and many other European countries, but the government considers possible solutions and tries to act.
ART **the 152 academics from 36 universities
ReplyDeleteone of the reasons **of > FOR such **declines (WNum)
WW: What I **knew from the article > LEARNED