RevisionRevision / N11UK · A-Levels

Irish

A-level Irish is CCEA's GCE in Gaeilge, subject code 5550, taught in Northern Ireland from September 2016, with the first AS award in summer 2017 and the first A level award in summer 2018. It is neither a three-paper modern-foreign-language A level nor a classical-language qualification. It is a UNITISED AS/A2 qualification of six units which may be sat in stages and resat once each: Unit AS 1 Speaking (30% of AS, 12% of the A level); Unit AS 2 Listening, Reading and Use of Language (40% of AS, 16%); Unit AS 3 Extended Writing (30% of AS, 12%); Unit A2 1 Speaking (18%); Unit A2 2 Listening and Reading (24%); and Unit A2 3 Extended Writing (18%). The AS is 40 percent of the A level and the A2 is 60 percent. The single most important structural fact is that SPEAKING IS EXAMINED TWICE, at AS and again at A2, by an external visiting examiner, with the examinations recorded for monitoring and scrutiny; between them the two speaking units carry 30 percent of the A level, more than any other skill. Unit AS 1 runs eleven minutes: a three-minute prepared presentation assessed on AO4 and an eight-minute general conversation assessed on AO1 and AO3. Unit A2 1 runs fifteen: a one-minute introduction and a five-minute discussion of an individual research project, assessed on AO4 and AO3, then a nine-minute general conversation on AO1 and AO3. For A2 1 the candidate prepares a Summary Sheet of approximately five headings, which the teacher authenticates and the centre submits to CCEA by the deadline set; artefacts may support the talk, but only verbal communication and linguistic competence are marked. There is a genuine cross-unit rule here that is stated by the specification and not merely a preparation-shape risk: the topic for the A2 1 introduction and discussion must NOT relate to the AS 1 topic or to the set works studied for AS 3 and A2 3, and Appendix 1 states the rule in the other direction as well — the AS 1 presentation topic must not relate to the A2 1 topic or to those same set works. Four choices are therefore locked to each other and must be planned together. The four themes are prescribed. At AS: Relationships, and Culture and Lifestyle. At A2: Young People and Society, and Our Place in a Changing World. There are four assessment objectives — AO1 responding to spoken language, AO2 responding to written language, AO3 manipulating the language accurately, AO4 knowledge and critical response to the culture and society of Irish-speaking countries or communities — weighted across the A level at 20, 30, 30 and 20 percent respectively. The set works are prescribed by name in Appendices 2 and 4: at AS 3 the films Yu Ming Is Ainm Dom, Lipservice and Clare Sa Spéir, or the literary text Anne by Peigí Rose; at A2 3 the anthology Anam na Teanga edited by Mac Labhraí, the novel Lá Fhéile Míchíl by Ó Tuairisc, or a prescribed selection of poems by Ó Ríordáin, Ó Searcaigh, Ó Direáin and Mhac an tSaoi. Those lists are fixed by the specification rather than rotated on an annual cycle, but the specification itself may be revised, so confirm the list current for your own series. A NOTE ON THE LANGUAGE OF THESE NOTES, which is a platform convention and not a claim about how the subject should be taught: the explanatory prose here is in English because the whole UK A-Levels notes corpus is English-medium, while the examination is conducted in Irish and every word a candidate speaks or writes for AS 1, AS 3, A2 1 and A2 3 is Irish. The notes gloss generously, because this is a learner-facing qualification, and they teach production rather than recognition — model phrases and sentence frames are given in full, each with its mutation already attached. An Caighdeán Oifigiúil, the official written standard, is the form written throughout, with the three broad dialect groups of Ulster, Connacht and Munster acknowledged where the difference is real and examinable; the specification prescribes no dialect, and its own indicative examples include recognisably Ulster forms. An séimhiú and an t-urú, the initial mutations, are treated as the central grammatical system they are, and every mutated form printed anywhere in these notes has been checked against its trigger.

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Continue reading — Chapter I Table of contents

Specification §1.2 Key features — the six assessment unitsSpecification §2 Specification at a Glance — the weightings tableSpecification §1 Introduction — the AS 40 percent / A2 60 percent splitSpecification §4.2 Assessment objectivesSpecification §4.3 Assessment objective weightingsSpecification §5 Grade Descriptions+185 moreFoundationStandardAdvanced

Table of contents · 14 ChaptersT·14

Ch. IFoundations: skills and course structure5 texts · 0 read

Ch. IIGrammar and use of language5 texts · 0 read

Ch. IIIRelationships (AS theme)5 texts · 0 read

Ch. IVCulture and Lifestyle (AS theme)5 texts · 0 read

Ch. VSpeaking: presentation and conversation (AS)5 texts · 0 read

Ch. VIListening comprehension5 texts · 0 read

Ch. VIIReading and translation5 texts · 0 read

Ch. VIIIAS set film or literary text5 texts · 0 read

Ch. IXYoung People in Society (A2 theme)5 texts · 0 read

Ch. XOur Place in a Changing World (A2 theme)5 texts · 0 read

Ch. XIIndividual research project (A2)5 texts · 0 read

Ch. XIISpeaking: research discussion and conversation (A2)5 texts · 0 read

Ch. XIIIA2 set literary text and poetry5 texts · 0 read

Ch. XIVExtended writing and critical essays5 texts · 0 read

Instrument · 01Recommended study order

Instrument · 02Exam structure

The six units, their two weightings, and what a unitised qualification lets you do: Six units, three at AS and three at A2, each carrying two published weightings: a share of the AS qualification and a share of the full A level. Unit AS 1 Speaking is 30 percent of the AS and 12 percent of the A level; Unit AS 2 Listening, Reading and Use of Language is 40 percent of the AS and 16 percent of the A level; Unit AS 3 Extended Writing is 30 percent of the AS and 12 percent of the A level. Those three sum to 40 percent of the A level, which is what the specification means when it says the full award is based on marks from the AS at 40 percent and the A2 at 60 percent. The A2 units are Unit A2 1 Speaking at 18 percent, Unit A2 2 Listening and Reading at 24 percent, and Unit A2 3 Extended Writing at 18 percent. Read those numbers carefully, because a unit's AS share and its A-level share are not the same figure and candidates routinely quote the wrong one. AS 2 is the largest single unit at AS, at 40 percent of that qualification; A2 2 is the largest at A level, at 24 percent. The qualification is unitised: each unit is available for assessment in the summer of each year, an individual AS or A2 unit may be resat ONCE with the better result counting, and unit results count towards a qualification until the specification is withdrawn. Results are reported on a uniform mark scale reflecting each unit's weighting, and grades are determined by adding the uniform marks. The AS is graded A to E and the A level A to E. An A requires a grade A on the full A level AND at least 90 percent of the maximum uniform marks available for the A2 units — so a strong AS cannot carry a weak A2. Failure to reach grade E is reported as unclassified. Guided learning hours are 180 for the AS and 360 for the A level.
The four assessment objectives and the per-unit weighting table: Four assessment objectives, and the specification prints an exact per-unit percentage table for them, which is the single most useful planning document in the whole specification. AO1 is understanding and responding, in speech and writing, to spoken language drawn from a variety of sources including face-to-face interaction. AO2 is understanding and responding, in speech and writing, to written language drawn from a variety of sources. AO3 is manipulating the language accurately and appropriately, in spoken and written forms, using a range of lexis and structure. AO4 is showing knowledge and understanding of, and responding critically and analytically to, different aspects of the culture and society of countries or communities where the language is spoken, and demonstrating critical analysis and evaluation of works created in the language studied. Across the A level they weigh AO1 20, AO2 30, AO3 30 and AO4 20. Unit by unit, as percentages of the A level: AS 1 is AO1 4.0 plus AO3 3.2 plus AO4 4.8, totalling 12.0; AS 2 is AO1 4.0 plus AO2 6.4 plus AO3 5.6, totalling 16.0; AS 3 is AO2 5.6 plus AO3 3.2 plus AO4 3.2, totalling 12.0; A2 1 is AO1 6.0 plus AO3 4.8 plus AO4 7.2, totalling 18.0; A2 2 is AO1 6.0 plus AO2 9.6 plus AO3 8.4, totalling 24.0; and A2 3 is AO2 8.4 plus AO3 4.8 plus AO4 4.8, totalling 18.0. Three consequences follow immediately. AO2 and AO3 are the two largest objectives at 30 percent each, and AO3 — accuracy — is examined in every one of the six units without exception, which makes grammar the one thing that pays everywhere. AO4, cultural and critical knowledge, is 20 percent and lives in only three units, but 7.2 of its 20 points sit in the A2 1 introduction and discussion alone, making that six-minute conversation the single largest AO4 payload in the qualification. And AO1, listening and spoken interaction, is 20 percent split evenly between the two speaking units and the two listening sections.
The two speaking examinations — external, recorded, and worth 30 percent between them: Speaking is examined at AS and again at A2, and the two units carry 30 percent of the A level between them, more than reading, more than listening, more than writing. Both are conducted by an EXTERNAL VISITING EXAMINER and both are recorded for monitoring and scrutiny purposes. Unit AS 1 lasts eleven minutes in total. Question 1 is a presentation of approximately three minutes, delivered in Irish, on a topic the student chooses and prepares from the AS themes, related to an aspect of an Irish-speaking country or community; it is assessed on the AO4 criterion alone. Question 2 is a general conversation of approximately eight minutes on aspects of the AS themes at a level appropriate for AS, assessed on AO1 and AO3. Two documents govern the presentation. A SUMMARY SHEET with approximately three to five headings outlining the presentation, which the teacher authenticates and which the centre submits to CCEA by the deadline set; and a PREPARATION SHEET of up to sixty words, kept by the centre and given to the visiting examiner on the day, of which the student has a copy during the examination. A presentation may be supported by artefacts or technology such as a PowerPoint, but only the wording from the Preparation Sheet may appear in that PowerPoint, and the examination focuses solely on verbal communication and linguistic competence. Unit A2 1 lasts fifteen minutes. Question 1 is a one-minute introduction followed by a five-minute discussion of an individual research project — approximately six minutes in total — assessed on AO4 and AO3, with a Summary Sheet of approximately five headings, teacher-authenticated and submitted to CCEA. Question 2 is a nine-minute general conversation on the A2 themes, which may also incorporate AS themes where appropriate, assessed on AO1 and AO3. In both units the specification names four things the examiner marks: the ability to engage with the external visiting examiner, knowledge and understanding of the chosen theme, grammatical accuracy when communicating orally, and fluency.
The cross-unit exclusion rule, which the specification states in both directions: This is a real rule written into the specification, not a preparation-shape risk, and it constrains four choices simultaneously. Section 3.4 says of Unit A2 1: students must not choose a topic for their introduction and discussion that relates to the AS 1 topic or the set works studied for AS 3 and A2 3. Appendix 3 repeats it. Appendix 1 then states the mirror image for Unit AS 1: the presentation topic must not relate to the A2 1 topic or the set works studied for AS 3 and A2 3. Section 3.1 adds the mechanism — teachers must authenticate this on the Summary Sheet by specifying the set work, and centres must submit the Summary Sheet to CCEA by the deadline set. So the AS 1 presentation, the A2 1 research project, the AS 3 set work and the A2 3 set work form one interlocking set of four decisions, and the two spoken topics must each stand clear of the other three. The practical consequence is that the AS 1 topic cannot honestly be chosen in isolation in the first term of the course, because it must already avoid a research project that will not be chosen until the second year. The workflow that follows is simple and should be written down: list the AS 3 set work and the A2 3 set work first, since those are chosen from a prescribed list and are the least free; then choose the A2 1 research project against that list; then choose the AS 1 presentation topic against all three. Note what the specification does and does not say. It states the prohibition, it requires teacher authentication on the Summary Sheet, and it requires submission to CCEA by a deadline. It does NOT, in this document, state a penalty or consequence for a breach — the enforcement it describes is the authentication and submission mechanism itself. Treat the rule as a compliance requirement, get the teacher's signature on a topic before investing months of research in it, and ask the centre what happens if a Summary Sheet is rejected rather than guessing.
The written papers — AS 2, A2 2, AS 3 and A2 3, task by task: Unit AS 2 runs two hours in three sections with a fifteen-minute break after Section A to allow movement to another room. Section A, Listening, lasts forty minutes: two discrete audio passages of approximately two minutes each on topics from the themes, recorded on disk, with the student having full control over the recording and the playback facility. Recording 1 is answered in Irish to questions in Irish; Recording 2 is answered in English to questions in English; both are assessed on AO1 only. Sections B and C together last one hour twenty minutes. Section B, Reading, takes approximately fifty minutes: Question 1 is a set of questions in Irish answered in Irish, assessed on AO2, on a passage drawn from magazines, newspapers, reports, books or other extended writing related to the themes; Question 2 is a translation of approximately 130 words from Irish into English, assessed on AO2 and taking account of the ability to transfer meaning into accurate English. Section C, Use of Language, takes approximately thirty minutes: Questions 1 to 4 are short grammatical and lexical exercises and Question 5 translates short sentences from English into Irish, all assessed on AO3. Unit A2 2 runs two hours forty-five minutes. Section A, Listening, lasts forty-five minutes on the same two-recording pattern, assessed on AO1, again with a fifteen-minute break afterwards. Section B, Reading, lasts two hours and has four tasks: a gap-filling exercise in Irish; a set of questions answered in Irish; a passage in Irish summarised in English in approximately 100 words; and a passage of approximately 130 words translated from English into Irish. Reading is assessed on AO2 and the translation on AO3. Units AS 3 and A2 3 are each one hour and each require ONE essay in Irish on ONE set work, chosen from two open-ended question options per work; both are assessed on AO2, AO4 and AO3. One quiet detail is worth knowing: quality of written communication is assessed through responses requiring extended writing IN ENGLISH — the AS 2 translation into English and the A2 2 summary in English — so the English half of the papers is marked for legibility, spelling, punctuation and grammar as well as for accuracy of transfer.

Instrument · 03Official sources