Interview [antikvár]

This gives greater weighting than hitherto to the Interview section of the examination. It is now weighted equally with the three written papers. The interview is expected to take approximately twenty minutes and is conducted as follows: 1 The candidate is handed a Picture and about five minutes' conversation is developed, starting with questions from the examiner and leading to possible related topics. 2 The candidate is given a Reading Passage to look through. He is then asked 'to identify the probable speech situation, as an aid to understanding and as a further test of fluency, and then to read it aloud.'1 An attempt is now being made to use as reading passages not literary pieces, but what might conceivably be read aloud (announcements, instructions, etc.). The Cambridge specimen prints instructions on wine-making. In fact, such instructions are usually read silently. The truth is that there are few situations in which people read aloud, and so a certain latitude has to be permitted. In this book variety has been aimed for, and it might be claimed that every passage could be read aloud without artificiality. 3 This is a Structured Communication Exercise (role-play, discussion, etc.). In the Cambridge example the examiner outlines as a situation an airport information desk where a flight has been seriously delayed, and elicits questions and comments about - say - the next flight, hotel for the night, contacting waiting relations, etc. This is an attempt to create natural speaking and conversation. It is alsó possible in the Communication Exercise to discuss one of the Prescribed Texts. About this book The book consists of twenty units, each containing three parts: Practice 1 Picture; Practice 2 Reading Passage; Practice 3 Communication Exercise. Each Practice section should occupy thirty minutes of teaching time. Possibly somé extra time should be allowed for the introductory drills preceding Units 1, 2 and 3; all of these give preparation for talking about pictures. Somé teachers may alsó want to give somé extra time to the pronunciation exercises included with the reading passages. The units are designed to teach, not simply to provide twenty mock tests. In them, therefore, there is teaching and practice, as appropriate, of vocabulary, structure and phonology. As the book progresses, teaching decreases and the student is left more free. Only in the last three units is teaching withdrawn, so that by thé end students are actually rehearsing for the examination. It could be objected that in somé of the later units students meet greater difficulty than one anticipates from this examination. This is deliberate. They are being taught, not tested, and if in class they can be taught to a level a little higher than that expected in the examination, they will eventually perform with greater ease. An attempt has been made to give variety, even amusement, covering as wide a linguistic spectrum as is possible within the limits imposed. In 1 University of Cambridge Locai the Communication Exercises a fair number of the /categories of Examinations SyndJe changes communicative function' (narration, suggestion direction invitation, in syllabus 1984 enquiry, apology, advice, argument, etc.) are the focus of practice. FOREWORD The 1984 revised Cambridge syllabus for the First Certificate in English