JAPANESE (Edexcel)

Wolfreton Sixth Form College

Who is the course aimed at?     

Modern Foreign Languages are attractive to students who:

• Have an interest and enthusiasm for languages
• Enjoy developing inter-personal skills
• Enjoy discussing and debating contemporary issues relevant to young adults
• Are interested in a career abroad or with a multi national company or using their skills to influence future generations

What will you learn?     

You will cover four themes. The four themes address a range of content related to society past and present, as well as aspects of the political, artistic and intellectual culture of Japan. They are set in the context of Japan only.

Themes 1 and 3 focus on Japanese society past and present. Theme 2 focuses on Japanese artistic and intellectual culture past and present. Theme 4 focuses on Japanese political culture past and present.

Each theme is broken into two sub-themes and a research subject. Each sub-theme and research subject is divided into a series of aspects.

Students will be assessed on their ability to translate accurately from Japanese into English, their understanding of written Japanese from a variety of types of authentic texts, and their knowledge and understanding of culture and society via research.

Texts vary in length and include an extended passage. All written materials are culturally relevant to Japan and are drawn from the four themes. Students should be able to:

• translate from Japanese to English
• understand main points and detail from written material
• infer meaning from complex written material
• assimilate and use information from written sources
• develop research skills, demonstrating the ability to initiate and conduct individual research using a range of authentic sources in Japanese
• use information from research findings and an unseen stimulus to put forward an argument, draw conclusions and demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the research subject

Although speaking skills are not directly assessed in the qualification, students should be encouraged to develop their speaking skills in Japanese during the course of study.

How will you be assessed?         

Paper 1: Translation into English, reading comprehension and writing (research question)

Written examination: 2 hours and 30 minutes 40% of the qualification

80 marks

Paper 2: Translation into Japanese and written response to works

Written examination: 2 hours and 40 minutes

30% of the qualification 110 marks

Paper 3: Listening, reading and writing

Written examination: 2 hours and 15 minutes 30% of the qualification

60 marks

How will you learn?       

Throughout the course we aim to develop independent learners with a wide variety of generic skills. These objectives are met through:

• Teacher led activities and interactive teaching introducing new material
• The use of specialist textbooks and examination board web- based learning materials
• Use of past examinations and mark schemes
• Taking part in debate and discussions
• Working in groups to discuss and develop ideas
• Studying authentic texts

Enrichment activities and independent learning?           

There are also opportunities to take part in a range of cultural events, the Language Leaders Award and other external courses.

What and where next?

Competence in a foreign language is a very marketable qualification. Expert knowledge of foreign languages is in great demand both in the UK and abroad but yet less than 1% of the workforce in business possesses it.

Language graduates have a high degree of employability; recent surveys have shown that 95% immediately find employment.

Possible career areas include:

• Translators, interpreters, language teaching
• Business, politics, law, journalism
• Travel and tourism, marketing, media, financial services

More information          

For more information about this course please see the specification below or contact the sixth form team.