Many Leaving Certificate language students rely too much on memorisation, according to the State Examination Commission.
This comes as the number of students opting to study a foreign language rises.
The number of students taking Higher Level has more than doubled in recent years, up from just in excess of 2,000 in 2010 to more than 4,400 last year. However, the number of students that secured a 'D' grade in 2016 has risen by six per cent from 2015.
'Rote' learning continues to remain a concern for examiners of language exams. According to the Spanish Leaving Cert Examiner, students are memorising answers during oral exams, which are worth a quarter of marks in language subjects. This prevents the natural flow of conversation, the examiner said.
“Many candidates had prepared a range of topics in the general conversation, but, when gently disengaged from rote-learned topics, found it difficult to communicate effectively in the target language,” the report said.
The Spanish examination report states: "The percentage of As was slightly higher this year as was the percentage not achieving a D grade. The grades B and C were lower than average, resulting in an increase in the D grade."
The French examiner also noted that rote learning was affecting students' pronunciation in oral exams: "In particular, some candidates who had memorised long passages from notes were, unfortunately, unable to pronounce many words correctly. At times, such candidates were almost unintelligible."
They continued: "If the examiner intervened gently, in order to try to elicit a more authentic response, many candidates persisted with their prepared paragraphs, rather than genuinely trying to take part in a conversation."
The examiner said that this inhibited the student's ability to converse naturally: "They did not appear to have the necessary strategies to overcome any gaps in vocabulary or lack of opinions on a particular subject."
However, French Leaving Cert students fared better when it came to vocabulary: "Most candidates had sufficient vocabulary to communicate at a basic level on topics concerning their daily lives, e.g. personal details, family, home, school, holidays, part-time job, sport, music, and were at ease with these topics."
The German examiner noted that candidates’ understanding of German was good overall and that there was evidence that German students were used to hearing the language in class.
When it came to oral exams, the examiner remarked that there was a 'broad range of ability and performance' and said there was 'an enthusiasm for the language'. However, like Spanish students, even the best candidates had difficulty in dealing with natural segues in conversation: "An over-reliance on learnt-off sentences was often evident. This is both regrettable and unnecessary."
They noted that vocabulary was an issue with this subject as well: "Some students, especially at Ordinary Level, showed a lack of vocabulary when they needed to use basic verbs such as to visit, to travel, to meet, to book etc."
In the Higher Level paper for this subject, there was a two per cent increase in D grades from the previous year and a dip of 1.8 per cent in As.
