Skriftlig engelsk eksamen 2013 - Klage?

Hej, jeg var en smule skuffet, da jeg fik 7 for min skriftlige engelsk eksamen på B-niveau, da jeg gennem hele gymnasietiden har fået 12 i skriftlig engelsk. Derfor skrev jeg til min engelsklærer og hun mente også, at den var blevet meget hårdt bedømt, da min første delprøve var næsten fejlfri og anden del også så fornuftlig ud. Hun mener derfor, at jeg bør klage, men jeg er bange for at årsagen blot er at hun er meget sød med karakterene.

Så det ville være rigtig lækkert, hvis der er nogle, der lige vil kigge det igennem og sige, hvad i mener.

1. Give an outline of the different views on the state of foreign language learning in Britain presented in the text

Overall, there can be a lot of different views on the importance of learning a foreign language while growing up in an English speaking country. While some find it a very necessary and important thing to learn, to fit into today’s globalised world, others think that speaking English is enough. For example, text 1, 2 and 3 are all articles discussing whether learning of foreign language is important or not, but they doesn’t agree with each other’s conclusions.
On the one hand text 1 claims that refusing to learn foreign languages is like refusing to evolve in phase with the rest of the world. He finds it a very important skill and argues that the reluctance to learn foreign languages in Britain will at last cause the end of any political and economic wellbeing in the future.
On the other hand article 2 claims that even though it agrees with the fact that speaking a foreign language fluently is an advantage for anyone, it doesn’t influence British economy in such an extremely way as described in text 1.
In addition, text 3 totally differs from the other articles in its way of seeing the discussion. While the other articles take stands on whether learning foreign languages in Britain is important or not, text 3 claims that the discussion is far more nuanced than that. She argues that in Britain there is not a very big incentive to learn EU languages, because it doesn't give you any assets at the labour market. Instead British schools offer lots of other languages.
So first of all some will be convinced that Britain must do a better effort to brief the pupils on the importance of learning foreign languages. On the other hand others think that speaking English is enough, because it seems like everyone sees English as a public language, and last but not least, some might think that the discussion is far more nuanced than that.

2. How does Susan Purcell argue for her views in text 3? Give examples from the text

In text 3 Susan Purcell argues that a conclusion of Britons being hopeless at languages, because of the fact that only a few speak a foreign language, is a fallacy. In connection with this, her main argument is that while they already speaks fluently English, it seems unclear to the Britons which foreign language they should learn, (Text 3, ll.28-36):“But what about us here in Britain when it comes to choosing which foreign language to teach first? …Which is the best language to learn? ...Will teaching youngsters Mandarin Chinese improve their chance of finding a job in 10 years’ time? Who knows?”
In her quote the point is that for almost every other country in the world English is the mandatory first foreign language. I.e. when you already speak the preferred language it can be hard to predict which other foreign language that will be the more important in the future and for this purpose, which is the more important to learn.
So overall Susan Purcell argues for her views by presenting a lot of examples, which the reader should be able to relate to. In addition, she uses logos, the informing mode of persuasion, to present new aspects to the discussion about Britons being hopeless at languages.

3. Taking starting point in one of the texts, discuss the value of mastering foreign languages

Whether it has a small or big value to master one or several foreign languages today in our globalised world is a very debatable question which contains a lot of different aspects to take a stand on.
On the one hand it has a very big value to master at least one foreign language, because we are living in a world were international communication is everyday life. For example, almost everyone goes on vacation once in a while today, and in a different country without any common language it can be very hard to communicate. In addition, speaking foreign languages is important if you want success on the labour market, because today almost every company is doing businesses with the rest of the world. Overall, your life will be very limited and isolated if you don’t speak any foreign language.
On the other hand learning a foreign language might be a waste of time, because it is not possible to predict what the future brings. The language you learnt as a child might not be an important international language when you grow up.
So it will always be your own decision whether you want to take a chance and learn a foreign language, so you might be able to communicate internationally as an adult instead of ending up living isolated from the rest of the world. I.e. there are not any definitive answers to how important it is to learn foreign languages. Therefore it will always be up to the individual to decide, whether he or she wants to learn a foreign language as far as it’s not mandatory.