The Exchange Student and the External Oral
A student has just returned from six months in Italy and is preparing for the external oral examination, which involves a conversation and a short discussion based on a topic the student has studied. Her spoken Italian is noticeably more fluent and natural than her classmates', and she uses idiomatic expressions and a regional accent. However, her written work has slipped: her grammar in essays is less accurate than before, and she has started using colloquial forms inappropriate for formal writing. She assumes her improved fluency will carry her through both the oral and written components.
1. Assess her assumption that improved fluency will carry her through both components.
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The assumption is only partly sound. For the oral, her fluency, natural idiom, and confidence are genuine advantages and should be exploited. But the external oral also assesses range and accuracy, and a strong regional accent or heavy colloquialism may not always match the register expected in a formal discussion; she should be able to shift register. For the written component, her assumption is wrong: fluency in speech does not transfer automatically to accurate formal writing, and her essays have become less accurate. Colloquial forms that sound natural in conversation are errors in formal prose. She needs targeted written practice, not reliance on her oral strengths.
2. What preparation plan would you recommend, and how should she use her time across the two components?
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She should split preparation by component. For the oral, she should rehearse the studied topic in depth, practise sustaining a formal discussion, and consciously demonstrate range beyond colloquialisms, including the ability to switch register. For the written component, she needs active grammar revision and guided essay practice, with feedback focused on formal register and the colloquial forms that have crept in. A useful technique is to rewrite spoken-style sentences into formal written Italian, making the register difference explicit. Time should be weighted toward the written component, since that is where her performance has declined and where her assumption is most mistaken, while maintaining oral practice so her strengths are not lost.