Italian oral exam

I am writing with reference to the Italian oral examination sessions being held this week. For some reason, it was decided that this year, students were required to learn the prompts to the role play conversation by heart.

Students were required to memorise these prompts while seated in a noisy hall waiting outside the room where the oral examination was to take place. In this situation, with students walking in and out, chatting and with mobile phones ringing it was impossible to concentrate. While it is true that invigilators silenced these students, this did, in fact, contribute to the noise level. To top it all, this memory work had to be done in approximately five minutes.

In the first place, it was extremely unfair that they were expected to memorise. This was an oral examination and not a memory test. Therefore, students with a good memory were the ones who were rewarded, not necessarily those with a good grasp of the language.

Although I am writing as a parent, since my daughter sat for the exam in question, I am a language teacher myself, and I have examined the oral component, albeit in a different language. If we are testing spoken language, I see no reason for students not to have the prompts in front of them. In educational circles we continuously hear talk of rewarding students for what they have learnt and not penalising them for what they haven't, and we also complain about how our students learn in a parrot like fashion which is not true learning, but then we present them with this situation.

Finally, I wish to point out that not all students were aware of this change in procedure. Is it too much to ask for students to at least be forewarned about such changes?