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Benvenuti, Bienvenue, Croeso and Welcome
Hi, I’m Juliet. Join me on my language learning journey and discover my thoughts on different aspects of language learning with the A Language Learning Tale Podcast. Today, the subject is …
Don’t Make Me Talk!
Or
Oral Exams and Being Forced to Speak in Your Target Language
In a previous podcast I talked about language learning in school, but I didn’t mention anything about the exams. Honestly, I don’t remember much about the exams, except for one part. That part is etched in my memory. I’m talking specifically about the oral exams that we had to complete. So, talking in the language.
Being an introvert, these were, as you might imagine, a nightmare scenario for me. You literally had to sit there - actually, I think we had to stand for at least one of them - and talk to the examiners in the foreign language. If my memory serves me right, it was your course tutor plus an external examiner. But it wasn’t just a situation where you chatted, exactly. That would’ve been something useful, although, not easy.
We were given a passage of text to read through in the language, what you might call a large paragraph, and then had to answer questions about it in the foreign language, preferably without referring back to it, because you can remember everything you read in that kind of situation, right?
Wrong!
We might have had to read it out, too. I’m not sure about that, though.
Imagine the nerves. This counts for a decent proportion of your exam marks. You want to get a good score. But you have to read something, remember it and talk about it. What kind of a language test is that? Well, it’s a memory test more than anything else. When is not a good situation in which to remember facts about what you’ve just read? Yes, when you’re really nervous, because you have to speak in a foreign language.
Does this still happen? I hope not, but I’ll bet it does.
But the real question is, how is this a good representation of the abilities of a language learner? To my mind, it isn’t. Comprehension can be tested in other ways.
But what is the alternative to gauge someone’s speaking ability? There’s the rub. If you’re not a talker in general, which I’m not, unless I’m very comfortable with the people around me, nothing is going to be good. An examiner, no matter how friendly they are, is never going to be someone I’m comfortable talking to.
But learning a language is all about talking to people you don’t know in a foreign language, isn’t it? I would say, only if that’s what you want to do. You shouldn’t be forced to do it, especially in that kind of situation.
A better solution, I think, would be to mark students on their speaking abilities throughout that last year of study, in situations that are less threatening. Perhaps, group discussions, where all the students take part would be a start. If they were recorded, examiners could check the marks given. Does this happen anywhere? I’m sure there are other better solutions, ones that don’t put you so much on the spot.
This ‘you have to talk’ scenario is also found in language learning after school. For example, I see many language creators on YouTube saying that you must start speaking at this time, or that. That you must take conversation lessons, with a tutor, on an app. You must!
But none of that is a realistic talking situation, because the person you’re talking to is a tutor and they are judging you. It’s part of the deal. You probably shouldn’t try speaking until you’re actually comfortable with the process. Not at a specific time, or even level.
Also, language learning doesn’t have to be about speaking. You might want to learn a language to read the literature, for example, or to understand the songs, or to watch films in that language without subtitles. All these things expand your horizons, which is a good thing, without the need for speaking. So, I’d say don’t fret about it, if you really feel you don’t want to.
That’s all for today’s episode. Don’t forget to join me again next time, for more language learning tips, tricks and tales and in the meantime, check out the A Language Learning Tale YouTube channel for additional, non-podcast content.
Ciao, salut, hwyl and bye for now.