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Marking Scheme
The oral exam is always marked out of 100 marks. Adjustments are made later for ordinary level candidates, who will eventually be marked out of 80 marks. It is thus worth 25% of the entire marks at higher level, and 20% of the entire marks at ordinary level. The average oral is fifteen minutes in length, and is marked as follows:- Pronunciation, intonation and rhythm (20 marks)
- Vocabulary (including "document" if any) (20 marks)
- Structures (i.e. grammar and sentence construction) (30 marks)
- Communication (fluency, appropriateness of answers, natural delivery, etc) (30 marks)
Remember that the examiner does not regard a student as a pass or honours candidate. It is up to you to make an impression on the examiner, to show him/her how good you are.
Pronunciation
There are quite a few important rules of pronunciation which the exam candidate needs to bear in mind throughout the spoken test. [1] Consonants (i.e. the letters of the alphabet other than its vowels!) are usually not sounded at the end of words. In the following examples, the square brackets indicate just that.e.g. 1 Nous faison[s] du spor[t].
e.g. 2 Je voudrai[s] devenir avoca[t].
e.g. 3 Il faisai[t] chau[d] tou[t] le tem[ps].
e.g. 4 Il[s] me donne[nt] un cadeau chaque année.
e.g. 5 Le taba[c] es[t] nuisible à la santé.
Principal exceptions: août, and the "R" sound after the letters "A", "I", "O", "U", as in "finir", "devenir" (as in e.g. ii above), "dur", etc.
[2] Consonants at the end of a word are sounded if the following word happens to begin with a vowel or a mute H. This is called "liaison". In such cases, "S" and "X" are pronounced like the letter "Z".
e.g. 1 Les enfan[ts] von[t] à l’école.
e.g. 2 Il a deux an[s].
Note, however, that the "T" in "et" is never pronounced.
e.g. J’ai un frère e[t] deu[x] soeur[s].
[3] Never pronounce the "H" at the beginning of a word.
e.g. [H]opîtal; [h]iver; [h]aut.
[4] "S" is pronounced like "Z" when it occurs between two vowels.
e.g. Télévision; prévision; réviser.
[5] "T" is pronounced like "S" in words typified by those in the following example.
e.g. Nationalité; patience; informations.
[6] "Ch" is pronounced like the English "Sh".
e.g. Chau[d]; cha[t].
[7] "Au" is pronounced like a broad English "O".
e.g. Chau[d]; beau. (Pronounced as "show" and "bow".)
[8] "Eu" is pronounced something like the beginning of English exclamation "ugh!".
e.g. Je veu[x].
e.g. Il peu[t].
[9] The pronunciation of a French "P" is somewhere between that of "P" and "B" in English.
e.g. Mon père n’aime pa[s] la pêche.
[10] A French "U" is much softer than an English "U". In monosyllabic words, it almost makes the speaker whistle.
e.g. Tu; vu; pu.
[11] "Ou" is much more like an English "U". It makes the same sound as in the word "you".
e.g. Vou[s] voulez quelquechose?
[12] "Ui" makes a "swishing" sound.
e.g. Hui[t]; nui[t].
[13] "Oi" makes a "wha" sound.
e.g. Le[s] droi[ts] du roi.
[14] A French "R" reverberates in the mouth. One holds on to the sound longer than one would do in English.
e.g. Rouge; revenir.
[15] Finally, some notes on the pronunciation of accents and "-er" and "-ez" endings.
(i) The "é" accent is pronounced "eh".
e.g. Année; été; préféré; né.
(ii) The "è" accent is pronounced "ay" (a much softer sound).
e.g. Frère; mère; matière.
(iii) The "ê" is also pronounced "ay".
e.g. Fêter.
(iv) The endings of words culminating in "-er" and "-ez" are pronounced like "é" (an "eh" sound).
e.g. Aller; donner; métier; écolier; prenez; ettez.
Intonation & Rhythm
Intonation and rhythm are the most important aspects to get right when one speaks French. It is mostly these factors which make our pronunciation sound French to a trained speaker’s or to a native’s ear.The French sentence is divided into rhythmic groups. A rhythmic group is a group of words containing one idea. After each rhythmic group, drop the voice and raise it again to continue the sentence.
In the following example, one’s voice falls at "Rathgar", is raised slightly at "mais", and falls again at "Rathmines".
e.g. J’habite à Rathgar mais je vais à l’école à Rathmines.
The following are the basic rules of rhythm and intonation.
[1] To state a fact, one drops one’s voice at the end of the statement.
e.g. Je fais trois matières obligatoires.
[2] In longer sentences involving lists divided by commas or breath pauses, the voice is raised before the comma or breath pause to indicate that more is to follow. The voice is dropped as normal at the end of the sentence. In the following example, one’s voice falls at "obligatoires", is raised both at "gaélique" and at "mathématiques", and falls again at "anglais".
e.g. Je fais trois matières obligatoires: le gaélique, les mathématiques et l’anglais.
[3] To ask a question or clarify a question which an examiner has asked you, you repeat that question using "je". You have two options with questions, as follows.
Option A:
Leave in statement form but raise your voice at the end
e.g. Je sors le weekend?
Option B:
Put "est-ce-que" in front of the statement and again raise your voice at the end to clarify the question.
e.g. Est-ce-que je sors le weekend?
When your examiner is asking the question, he/she may drop his/her voice at the end because he/she is not clarifying the question. The question originates from him/her. If a question originates form you, you do not raise your voice with an "est-ce-que" question. In the following example, lower your voice at "madame".
e.g. Est-ce-que je peux vous donner mon document, madame?
[4] For exclamations, one’s voice is raised yet again but unlike the question, the voice gets louder and takes on a surprised, sarcastic or ironic quality. In the following example, the voice is raised at both "moi" and "gâté(e)".
e.g. Moi? Gâté(e)! Pas du tout.
Vocabulary
There are certain topics which are regarded as basic oral topics. A higher level of response is expected from candidates who are aspiring to honours marks.These basic topics follow.
[1] Moi-même (côté physique, côté caractère).
[2] Mes passetemps, mes loisirs (la musique, le sport, la télé, le ciné, etc).
[3] Ma famille et les rapports familiaux.
[4] Le ménage chez moi.
[5] L’argent de poche et mon petit boulot.
[6] Ma maison et ma chambre.
[7] Ma ville, mon quartier - avantages et inconvénients d’y habiter (pollution, embouteillages, surpopulation, problèmes sociaux, etc).
[8] Mon anniversaire.
[9] Ma routine journalière.
[10] Le weekend.
[11] Mon école, mes matières, les examens.
[12] Mes ambitions, l’avenir.
[13] Mes copains et nos sorties.
[14] Le tabac.
[15] La drogue.
[16] L’alcool.
[17] Les vacances et le voyage.
For each subject which you speak about, you must have the necessary vocabulary so that you can converse freely without struggling for words. Students should prepare possible answers in advance, revising all the related vocabulary and practising the use of idiomatic phrases. Remember, learn first and then afterwards work on your "performance" to make it "seem" more natural. Preparation is essential for an interview in any language; you may then adapt or pick and choose your answers when you are in there!
