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Russian

A-Level Russian in England is a Pearson Edexcel qualification, specification 9RU0, first taught from September 2017, first certificated in 2019, Ofqual qualification number 603/1201/4. Its shape is the Edexcel 2017 modern-languages shape and not the AQA one that most English A-Level language folklore assumes, so it is worth stating precisely. There are three components. Paper 1, Listening, reading and translation, runs for two hours, carries 80 marks and is worth 40 per cent of the qualification: Section A is listening for 30 marks, Section B is reading for 30 marks, and Section C is a single unseen translation from Russian into English for 20 marks. Every question in Sections A and B is set in Russian and must be answered in Russian. Paper 2, Written response to works and translation, runs for two hours and forty minutes, carries 120 marks and is worth 30 per cent: Section A is a translation from English into Russian for 20 marks, marked by a points-based scheme, and Sections B and C are two essays on the two declared works, each marked out of 50. Paper 3, Speaking, is conducted in the centre by a teacher-examiner during a five-week window in April and May, carries 72 marks and is worth 30 per cent: Task 1 is a stimulus-card discussion on one sub-theme for 30 marks, and Task 2 is the presentation and discussion of the student's own independent research project for 42 marks. The two translation directions therefore sit in different papers, and the largest single component is Paper 1 rather than the essay paper. The content is four themes, each with three bold sub-themes, and the specification prints every one of them in Russian. Тема 1, Развитие российского общества, covers Жизнь российской молодёжи, Образование and Мир труда. Тема 2, Политическая и художественная культура в русскоязычном мире, covers Средства массовой информации, Массовая культура and Праздники, фестивали и традиции. Тема 3, Москва или Санкт-Петербург — Изменения в жизни большого российского города, covers Изменение населения, Общественные проблемы and Окружающая среда. Тема 4, Последние годы СССР — М.С. Горбачёв (1985–1991), covers Перестройка, Гласность and 1991 год. A scope rule runs underneath the four and is easy to miss: Темы 1, 3 and 4 are set in the context of Russia only, while Тема 2 alone broadens to any Russian-speaking country, countries, community or communities. Alongside the themes sit a prescribed grammar list in Appendix 3, the two declared works taken from the board's published list of six literary texts and four films, and an independent research project on a self-chosen question relating to Russian-speaking culture or society, recorded on Form RP3 and defended orally. Assessment objectives are weighted 20 per cent AO1, 30 per cent AO2, 30 per cent AO3 and 20 per cent AO4, and no dictionary is permitted in any part of the qualification, including the five minutes of speaking preparation.

0/65 Texts13 Chapters~442 min total

Continue reading — Chapter I Table of contents

Pearson Edexcel 9RU0 Тема 1 - Развитие российского общества: Жизнь российской молодёжи (здоровье; отдых)DfE GCE AS and A level subject content for modern foreign languagesPearson Edexcel 9RU0 Тема 1 - Жизнь российской молодёжи: новые технологииPearson Edexcel 9RU0 Тема 1 - Образование: система образованияPearson Edexcel 9RU0 Тема 1 - Образование: жизнь российских школьниковPearson Edexcel 9RU0 Paper 1 Section B - reading, 30 marks, questions set and answered in Russian+94 moreStandardAdvanced

Table of contents · 13 ChaptersT·13

Ch. IYoung Russians and education: Жизнь российской молодёжи и Образование5 texts · 0 read

Ch. IIThe world of work: Мир труда, возможности и равноправие5 texts · 0 read

Ch. IIIPopular culture and the festive year: Массовая культура, праздники, фестивали и традиции5 texts · 0 read

Ch. IVThe media: Средства массовой информации5 texts · 0 read

Ch. VThe changing Russian city: Москва или Санкт-Петербург5 texts · 0 read

Ch. VIThe last years of the USSR: Перестройка, гласность и 1991 год5 texts · 0 read

Ch. VIIGrammar and translation: падежи, вид, движение и два направления перевода5 texts · 0 read

Ch. VIIIListening: Paper 1 Section A, and the sound of real Russian5 texts · 0 read

Ch. IXReading: Paper 1 Section B, and how to read Russian without a dictionary5 texts · 0 read

Ch. XSpeaking: Paper 3, the stimulus card and the interaction mark5 texts · 0 read

Ch. XIThe literary text: Paper 2, the essay, and evidence without quotation5 texts · 0 read

Ch. XIIThe film: Paper 2 Section C, and the language of cinema in Russian5 texts · 0 read

Ch. XIIIThe independent research project: Task 2, Form RP3 and the defence5 texts · 0 read

Instrument · 01Recommended study order

Instrument · 02Exam structure

Paper 1 - Listening, reading and translation (9RU0/01): Written examination of 2 hours, 80 marks, 40 per cent of the A-Level - the single largest component. Three sections, all compulsory. Section A, listening, 30 marks with a recommended 50 minutes: four questions, multiple-choice and open-response, including questions that test summary skills, on a recording featuring male and female Russian speakers across different registers and text types, with material drawn from online media. The recordings are issued to centres as audio files through Pearson's Secure Download Service before the examination, and each student has individual control of the playback: they may stop, revisit and replay sections of the recording as they wish. Section B, reading, 30 marks with a recommended 50 minutes: five questions on texts that are authentic or adapted from authentic sources and that mix factual with abstract content - contemporary, historical, literary, fiction and non-fiction, written for different purposes and audiences. Sections A and B are both set in Russian and must be answered in Russian. Section C, translation into English, 20 marks with a recommended 20 minutes: one unseen Russian passage rendered into English, its content taken from one of the four themes. No dictionary. The AO split is 15 per cent AO1 and 25 per cent AO2, so this one paper carries four fifths of the qualification's comprehension marks.
Paper 2 - Written response to works and translation (9RU0/02): Written examination of 2 hours 40 minutes, 120 marks, 30 per cent of the A-Level. Section A, translation into Russian, 20 marks with a recommended 30 minutes: one unseen English passage rendered into Russian, its content taken from one of the four themes, marked by a points-based scheme in which one mark is given for each correct individual section of language. Sections B and C, written response to works, 100 marks across 2 hours 10 minutes: two essays, either two on literary texts (Section B) or one on a literary text and one on a film (Section C). Two questions are offered on each work and the student chooses one. Answering on two films is not permitted. Each essay is marked out of 50 by three separate levels-based grids applied to it individually: critical and analytical response (AO4) out of 20, range of grammatical structures and vocabulary (AO3) out of 20, and accuracy of language (AO3) out of 10. Pearson advises approximately 215 to 250 words per essay as a guide to the detail expected, but the whole essay is marked regardless of length. All questions are set in Russian and must be answered in Russian. No credit is given for an essay on a literary text whose evidence comes from a film adaptation of that text. No dictionaries, and no documentation relating to the works may be taken into the examination room.
Paper 3 - Speaking (9RU0/03): Internally conducted by a teacher-examiner and externally assessed, in one session inside a prescribed five-week period during April and May; the complete unedited recording is submitted to Pearson through the online Learner Work Transfer portal. 72 marks, 30 per cent of the A-Level. Total assessment time 21 to 23 minutes: 5 minutes of supervised preparation plus 16 to 18 minutes of speaking. Task 1, discussion on a theme, 30 marks, a recommended 6 to 7 minutes. An invigilator - not the teacher-examiner - gives the student a choice in English between two sub-themes, following a sequencing grid supplied by Pearson; neither the invigilator nor the teacher-examiner chooses the order. There are twelve stimulus cards in all, one per sub-theme, three per theme, and the two offered always come from two different themes. The chosen card carries two statements, A and B, offering different views; the student selects one during the 5 minutes of preparation, may make notes on up to one side of A4, may not write on the card, and must tell the teacher-examiner which statement they have chosen immediately before the discussion begins. Part 1 is the two compulsory printed questions, asked in the order printed and repeatable but not rephrasable, plus follow-up; Part 2 broadens to the wider theme. The three grids are knowledge and understanding of society and culture (AO4) out of 12, accuracy and range of language (AO3) out of 12, and interaction (AO1) out of 6. Task 2, the independent research project, 42 marks, a recommended 10 to 11 minutes. Part 1 is a presentation of no more than two minutes summarising at least two of the written sources used in the research, outlining the authors' main points and giving a personal response, marked out of 12 for responding in speech to written language (AO2). Part 2 broadens to the research as a whole and is marked by the same three grids as Task 1: AO4 12, AO3 12, AO1 6. In both tasks the student is expected to take the lead, to ask questions that elicit the examiner's opinions and to check that their own points have been understood.
Works, the research project, assessment objectives and the rules that catch people out: The two works are studied for Paper 2 and must be declared: either two literary texts, or one literary text and one film, taken from the list in Appendix 2 of the specification. That list contains six literary texts - Пиковая дама (Александр Пушкин, 1834, a short story), Ревизор (Николай Гоголь, 1836, a play), Вишнёвый сад (Антон Чехов, 1904, a play), Один день Ивана Денисовича (Александр Солженицын, 1962, a novella), Неделя как неделя (Наталья Баранская, 1968, a novella) and Сонечка (Людмила Улицкая, 1992, a novella) - and four feature-length films: Крылья (dir. Лариса Шепитько, 1966), Утомлённые солнцем (dir. Никита Михалков, 1994), Кавказский пленник (dir. Сергей Бодров, 1996) and Левиафан (dir. Андрей Звягинцев, 2014). Prescribed lists are set by the board and can be revised between issues of a specification, and centres choose from within them, so every candidate must confirm the list current for their own examination series. The independent research project is the student's own question or statement, defined and developed individually, investigated from a range of authentic sources including the internet, with at least two written sources in Russian that can be summarised in the presentation, and with 6 to 10 key findings and the source list recorded on Form RP3, signed by student and teacher and submitted no later than three weeks before the assessment. Its subject must relate to Russian-speaking culture or society and must not be one of the works studied for Paper 2 - a project that focuses on such a work scores zero for Task 2 - although it may legitimately explore that author or film-maker more widely, for example the life of the writer rather than the novella itself. The student may refer to Form RP3 during Task 2 but is not assessed on its contents. Assessment objectives across the qualification: AO1, understanding and responding in speech to spoken language and in writing to spoken language, 20 per cent; AO2, understanding and responding in speech and in writing to written language, 30 per cent; AO3, manipulating the language accurately in spoken and written forms using a range of lexis and structure, 30 per cent; AO4, knowledge and understanding of, and critical response to, the culture and society of countries and communities where Russian is spoken, 20 per cent. The qualification is linear: everything is taken at the end of the course in one series, and no dictionary is permitted anywhere, including the speaking preparation.

Instrument · 03Official sources