Languages (English, French and other modern and heritage languages)
What the Languages paper tests
English Advanced and Standard assess a sustained thesis about prescribed texts across Module A (Textual Conversations), Module B (Critical Study of Literature) and Module C (The Craft of Writing). Modern-language courses - French, Japanese, Chinese, Italian and the heritage streams - test listening, reading, speaking and writing through prescribed themes such as the personal world, family, leisure and future plans, using text types like emails, articles, notices and speeches.
Core rules
- Answer the verb: 'How does the composer…' needs technique plus effect, not plot summary.
- Quote briefly and analyse; one explained quotation beats five listed ones.
- Match register and text type: tu/vous or です/ます, a headline for an article, a sign-off for a letter.
- Vary tenses and use connectives to reach the top band; accuracy counts as much as ambition.
- The oral examination is a conversation - prepare opinions with reasons, not memorised speeches.
Worked example
A French reading item asks: 'Que pense l'auteur du télétravail?' The passage offers 'à mon avis', 'heureusement' and 'mais je crains que'. Strategy: locate the evaluative markers, infer the stance (broadly positive, with a reservation about isolation), then answer in French in your own words with one short quotation as support. An English translation or a copied sentence with no stance identified earns partial credit at best.
Traps
Retelling the text; dumping a memorised essay that ignores the question; missing text-type conventions; accents or characters that change meaning; English word order carried into the target language.