Anybody know how large the cohort of native speakers is for A level French?

[Naem]

I have been reading on mumsnet that a very large number of those who do MFL for A level are native speakers who then tend to take the top grades.

Does anybody have access to any statistics as to the numbers - specifically for French, which is what interests my DD.

My DD enjoys French the most of all of her GCSE subjects, and wants to take it for A level, but she is not a native speaker - she learnt what she knows in school. Barely been to France (I have been wanting to take her, but pandemics rather make it difficult). I think we took her once when she was about four years old, and once when she was about 12 for holidays.

Guess I want to understand how much of a risky choice this really is (although her heart is set on it).

I meant to say there that we didn't have much time abroad other than one or two school trips, and maybe holidays for some people, but we got that "spontaneous Spanish" from the teacher.

I actually used to sometimes babysit for a South American couple so used it there too, and watched some films/tv in Spanish as well, now I think back.

I did German and French for A'level - a long time ago now - but I had only ever briefly been to France aged about 14. I didn't take languages any further but still love them. We had penfriends arranged through school (don't know if that's still a thing) and a German language assistant who we would have conversation classes with.

At GCSE, there were a few bilingual English/German speakers in our class and none of them got the higher grades or carried on to A'level.

I did French and Spanish A Level, not a native speaker of either and neither of my parents speak them. I got A grades in both and went on to study Spanish at Uni, picking up Portuguese from scratch alongside it, and got a first. I wouldn’t be concerned about native speakers skewing the grade curves.

I did MFL at A level and Uni. The native speaker on my A level course got a C to my A. At University my confidence was dented by bilingual students. I wouldn't let it put you off though.

@Dontlookdownmuch I guess it depends. A CV is easier to correct as is short to read and it would also depend on what the job in offer is. I draw my conclusions from reading university essays both as a student and as a tutor. But doesn’t mean that is always the case but it happens.

I remember a group of native English speaking students laughing at me because I used the word “rustic”, then the tutor pushed it further by correcting me saying that the word “rustic” didn’t exist in English language. But again, it depends on the environment. I have had that sort of correction where language literacy levels are lesser, ie. when studying a science undergraduate degree but not while doing a humanities postgraduate.

My nephew did A level French and Spanish. He got a B in both. He's now studying French and Spanish at uni. He's never been to France or Spain and none of us in the family speak French or Spanish.

My dd1/2 both got A in French A level without much travel or experience in French and both have carried it on at uni.

My daughter got top grade for German for GCSE and she only started it in y9. French seems to be a common one for native speakers, but I don't think that precludes non native speakers getting top grades if they deserve them.

I teach MFL A-level and, although a lot of near-native speakers choose it, speaking fluently is no more a guarantee of a top grade than being an English native speaker is of a 9 at GCSE Eng Lang.
They tend to do well on the listening and reading but need to learn the skill of learning vocabulary to access the highest marks in both the speaking and written papers. Informal, home-life linguistic register will secure a B but they need to work hard for the A. The ones who find it easiest will be those who have studied within the French system until 14+; those who were there as young children, or who have a parent who speaks the language, will find it a lot harder than the rest of the world gives them credit for. And remember that there are many, many degrees of "native speaker"

Native speakers just have an advantage for the oral but not for the written.

[quote GrandmasCat]@Dontlookdownmuch I guess it depends. A CV is easier to correct as is short to read and it would also depend on what the job in offer is. I draw my conclusions from reading university essays both as a student and as a tutor. But doesn’t mean that is always the case but it happens.

I remember a group of native English speaking students laughing at me because I used the word “rustic”, then the tutor pushed it further by correcting me saying that the word “rustic” didn’t exist in English language. But again, it depends on the environment. I have had that sort of correction where language literacy levels are lesser, ie. when studying a science undergraduate degree but not while doing a humanities postgraduate.[/quote]
Sure but I was referring to the covering letters to the CVs.

It pissed me off no end that there were native speakers doing a language at my university that the rest of us were doing an initio. But, one of them got a lower grade than the rest of us because while the language was a doddle, she didn’t do well at the history or literature aspects despite having a massive advantage. There will be an element of that at a-level as well. GCSE tends to be much more limited to the language only.

I find it a bit odd that you would want to study it as a native speaker when surely most courses are geared at non native speakers.

We have quite a few at my school who do a fourth A level or GCSE in their native language - often Urdu or Polish and do really well.

Isn't the problem that people approach education/exams like a game where points are won rather than to learn. As long as it is seen as a game people will use whatever is at their disposal to win points.