I explore a series of incidents in my English classroom, which occurred while I was preparing my students for their high-stakes GCSE English Language exam ('Paper 2: Writers' viewpoints and perspectives'). I thereby attempt to confront some of my own failings and biases with regard to non-fiction and the teaching of persuasive writing in…

Tiering is a multi-stage test design whereby teachers allocate students to a particular difficulty level (tier) of a test. This approach to the challenge of delivering assessments to students with a heterogeneous ability distribution is normal practice in UK public examinations at the age of 16. This study uses Item Response Theory number-correct…

Vocabulary is one of the building blocks of language and is a necessary component of learners' development. This paper aims to describe the development of the L2 lexicon from the first year of learning French as a foreign language at school to the last year of undergraduate studies at university by setting out what learners know and how this…

The sixth-form curriculum and examinations in Northern Ireland and Britain are examined. "A" level modern language examinations represent rigorous intellectual demands, in which the examiner looks for evidence of imagination, creativity, linguistic subtlety, and critical appraisal far beyond the "O" level. For the ablest…

Advanced level French syllabuses of the nine GCE Boards in the United Kingdom are examined. The Southern Universities Joint Board has recently introduced the most radical innovations. As an alternative to its traditional examination it offers Syllabus "B" which dispenses with prescribed tests, but where each student must produce for the…