Reality vs rhetoric

Greek Results in the fce & cpe Exams

Explanations and Solutions

Copyright © 1999-2002 Costas Gabrielatos

This article is based on my response to a survey carried out by ELT News, which invited teacher educators in Greece to offer their views on the reasons behind the extremely low rate of success of Greek candidates taking the FCE and CPE examinations of the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES). The response was originally published in ELT News 127, September 1999. In the original version I responded separately to the four questions asked by the editor; in this version I have re-organised and expanded my discussion. This version: April 2002.

background

The FCE and CPE exams of the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) are extremely popular in Greece. Nevertheless, the success rate in Greece is by far one of the lowest in the world: just under 50% for FCE and around 30% for CPE. In this article I identify three main reasons for this unfortunate situation: popular myths about the exams, misguided approaches to exam preparation, and syndromes ailing ELT in Greece. I also propose short- and long-term solutions to the problem.

explanations

Three popular myths

A large number of teachers, learners and parents in Greece seem to be influenced by three very popular ELT myths. The uncritical acceptance of these myths and their use to explain away the extremely low pass rate in both FCE and CPE are among the main reasons why little has changed in the way language examinations are approached in Greece.

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I have decided to post this as many of the problems Costas Gabrielatos discusses directly impinge on my teaching practice. If you want an idea of the obstacles that ordinary teachers face teaching in the majority of language schools here in Greece then this article is a good place to begin. Low wages, chronic job insecurity and the fact that most school owners are ignorant of most the developments that have taken place in EFL/ESL in the last 30 years mean that the cycle of waste (in terms of student's time and their parent's money) and failure repeats itself again and again.

I've lost count of the number of times that people have come up with new innovative ideas for their lessons only to have them vetoed by the school owner as they are "not in the course book" or "we don't have time for such nonsense".