Oral Examination: The Interruption at Minute Six
In an L2 oral examination, a candidate has 10 minutes to present a prepared topic on the Marshall Plan, followed by 10 minutes of questions. At minute six, while explaining Stalin's refusal, the examiner interrupts: 'You said the offer was open to the Soviet Union. Why did Stalin reject it?' The candidate knows three reasons-ideological suspicion, the conditions attached (economic coordination and dollar accounting), and the emerging Cold War division-but has four minutes of presentation left, including a conclusion linking the Plan to the Schuman Declaration. She is nervous and has already made two gender-agreement errors in French. She does not know the French for 'dollar accounting' and fears a blank. The examiner waits.
1. Should she answer the interruption immediately or ask to finish her presentation first? Justify.
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She should answer immediately. An oral examination is interactive, and the interruption is a test of whether she can defend and extend a claim under questioning, not a signal that her presentation has failed. Asking to finish first may appear evasive and wastes the examiner’s goodwill. Answering now also gives her a chance to demonstrate the links the examiner is probing. She should keep the answer to 60–90 seconds, then bridge back to the presentation: 'This is exactly why the Plan deepened the division I was about to discuss.' If the examiner continues questioning, she should treat the remaining presentation time as flexible and compress her conclusion into one sentence at the end. The prepared structure is a resource, not a script that must be delivered intact.
2. Give a 60–90 second model response in L2, with a bridge back to her argument, and explain the structure.
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Structure: direct answer, two or three reasons with causal links, then a bridge. Model response in English with target-language signposts: 'Stalin a rejeté le plan pour trois raisons liées. D’abord, il voyait l’aide américaine comme un instrument d’influence capitaliste et craignait que les conditions économiques-la coordination et les règles de comptabilité en dollars-ne limitent la souveraineté soviétique. Ensuite, la doctrine Truman et le début de la guerre froide rendaient toute acceptation politiquement dangereuse. Enfin, Staline voulait consolider son contrôle en Europe de l’Est, et le plan aurait renforcé les liens entre les pays d’Europe occidentale. C’est précisément pourquoi le plan a accéléré la division que je vais relier à la déclaration Schuman.' This uses signposts, gives three reasons, and bridges back. It avoids a new topic and keeps the conclusion in view.
3. How should she handle the unknown term and the grammar errors while speaking?
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For the unknown term, use circumlocution rather than silence: 'les règles économiques, notamment la comptabilité en dollars' or 'les conditions financières imposées par les États-Unis'. A short paraphrase preserves fluency and shows strategic competence. She should not switch to L1 unless the examiner permits it; a single borrowed term with a target-language explanation is acceptable, but a sentence in L1 may be penalised. For grammar, self-correct only errors that change meaning or that she notices immediately-for example, 'une problème' to 'un problème'-and then continue. Do not restart sentences or apologise repeatedly. Two gender-agreement errors are minor compared with loss of coherence. Fluency, interaction, and the ability to recover are assessed; a confident paraphrase is stronger than a halted search for one word.