num_pages: 112
description: (Many foreign language examinations at the 16+ stage use 'Questions on a single picture' as one of the tests of spoken language. Why? After all, we are not often called upon to describe pictures in real life, either in our own or anybody else's language, and the twin watchwords of today's linguists are 'communication' and 'authenticity'.But there is such a thing as needing to learn how to communicate, and the end result may very well justify some apparently unrealistic training methods. As we said in one of our earlier books, if your ambition is to win a Wimbledon title, you don't restrict your training to the playing of five-set matches. What, then, is this exercise a training for? It is not difficult to conceive of a situation in real life where you need to describe someone or something; nor one where you say what someone is doing, is about to do, or has just done. The question is, how do you train pupils to be able to do that without providing the stimulus that will provide the statements, and how do you ensure that they cover all they are likely to need in real life if you don't ask them questions which will elicit those statements? The argument for the inclusion of such an exercise in an examination is similar, but is reinforced by the obvious need to provide a standardized stimulus.Many people tend to think that as an examination test it should be easy; our experience as examiners shows that a lot of candidates do less well than they should. In some cases they appear not to know what kind of questions toexpect, and sometimes they have simply not had either practice or guidance. The aim of this book, therefore provide a good range of material for practice, alone the sort of guidance which we hope both pupils and teachers will find useful)
language: English
title: Talking About Pictures: French
titlecomplete: Talking About Pictures: French
publisher: Addison-Wesley Longman Ltd