ABSTRACT
Consequently after the initial stages foreign language lessons at school have been dominated by learning to read and write the language accurately; increasingly so as public examinations draw near. The National Criteria for assessment in the French language in the General Certificate of Secondary Education, which by general agreement are taken as applying to all modern foreign languages, have recognised at national level a number of shifts of emphasis which have been taking place at local level in recent years. In the classroom the teacher spends less time worrying about whether 'enough' vocabulary and structure has been taught and more on developing pupils' skills in using the foreign language. In an ideal world authors would assess how well learners had mastered a foreign language by taking them to the country concerned and watching and listening to them using the language.
