Free taster
5 of 6 sections open
Read-Aloud — Paper 2 Task 2
🔊 Read-Aloud — Paper 2 Task 2
The read-aloud task is brand new in AQA 8652 — it did not exist in the old GCSE French specification. You read a short French passage of around 50 words aloud while the examiner records you. Five marks are available: pronunciation and communication. This task rewards students who have practised French sounds specifically. It is one of the most coachable tasks on the entire paper.
What Is Assessed — 5 Marks Broken Down
Ma famille habite dans un petit village à la campagne. Pendant les vacances, nous allons souvent à la mer avec nos amis. Les enfants adorent jouer sur la plage et nager dans l'eau.
Earn the mark scheme marks
💡 Exam Tips & Common Errors
- Use a pencil during preparation time to mark silent letters, liaisons, and nasal vowels directly on your read-aloud card
- Read through the passage once silently, once whispered during preparation — hearing yourself before the recording starts builds confidence
- If you stumble on a word, keep going — do not restart the whole sentence; the examiner records all of your attempt
- Speak at a pace you can control — slower and accurate beats fast and incomprehensible every time
- Practise reading French aloud every day from now until the exam — even 5 minutes a day of reading a French text produces measurable improvement in pronunciation
- Do not over-stress liaison — mandatory liaisons are the most important; the examiner does not penalise missing optional ones
❌ Common error: Pronouncing ils parlent as "ils parl-ENT" — adding a vowel sound or a "t" sound to the end of the verb.
✓ Correct: ils parlent is pronounced exactly as il parle — "eel parl" — the -ent is completely silent.
Why it costs marks: Adding a sound to the -ent ending is one of the most common pronunciation errors at GCSE and is specifically assessed in the read-aloud task. A French speaker would immediately hear this as non-native. Examiners listen for it because it is so frequently tested across different passages.