Tag Archives: Oxford interviews

Applying to study modern languages

Preparing for Interviews

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Huge congratulations if you have been invited to an Oxford interview over the next couple of weeks! Our tutors from across the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages are very much looking forward to meeting you.

We know that interviews can be daunting and it can be difficult to know what to expect and how to prepare. Therefore, this week’s blog post aims to offer some information and resources that should help with your preparation and calm a few nerves!

First thing’s first…

It’s important to remember that an Oxford interview is designed to simulate a tutorial (aka Oxford’s method of teaching in small groups).

Through tutorials at Oxford, students develop powers of independent and critical thought, analytical and problem-solving abilities, and skills in both written and oral communication and argument. These are the kinds of skills and abilities that tutors are looking to see candidates display/show potential for during an interview.

The interview is also a chance for tutors to understand students’ motivations for studying their chosen subject(s) and where their specific interests lie.

For more general information about Oxford interviews, the University has a bank of FAQs and resources available on their admissions website.

What about Modern Languages?

For Modern Languages, interviews can vary depending on the academic tutor conducting them, but here are a few things to expect:

  • You may be given a short piece of text (in English or the target language) to look at and discuss during the interview. Further questions may be asked based on your responses and analysis of the text.
  • You may be asked about something you’ve mentioned in your personal statement, so be ready to discuss any wider reading or interests you’ve referenced!
  • You may be asked to speak or read a short passage of text in the target language. This part of the interview is often fairly short.

Below are some example videos that demonstrate how (aspects of) a Modern Languages interview might be conducted.

In this demonstration video, Jane Hiddleston, Tutor in French, and Joanna Neilly, Tutor in German, will take you through what to expect during the interview process.
A mock interview for French at Jesus College, Oxford. This video is representative of a typical Modern Languages interview.
Prof. Jennifer Yee, French tutor at Christ Church, discussing a poem with an undergraduate student, Chloe. This type of discussion is a typical component of a Modern Languages interview.

Advice from a former undergraduate

To round us off, here is some sage advice from Isabel, current DPhil researcher in German, and former undergraduate in German & Philosophy at Worcester College:

My biggest tip for the interview is to remember that your interviewers are not expecting you to know absolutely everything. Case in point: I had to ask – in a German interview – what an English word meant.  

Show your thought process when you’re addressing a question – maybe you don’t know the answer, but maybe the question pertains to something that you do know about, so you can take an educated guess. Maybe you’re being shown a word in your foreign language that you don’t recognise, but maybe you can tell it’s from the same root as a word you do know. Are they showing you a poem that you haven’t seen before, but from a literary period that you’re passingly familiar with? Maybe there’s something you can say about the wider culture or concerns at the time.  

If you already knew everything, you wouldn’t be applying to university. Use your interview to show that you can respond to new information, offer ideas, and think deeply and critically about what you’re being asked. 

To that end, one of the best ways to prepare for your interview is to read widely around your subject: podcasts, the news, scholarly journals, extra books by your favourite author. Show that you are far too interested in your chosen subject to be constrained by the curriculum!  

Thanks Isabel!

We hope this has been helpful in preparing you for the interview process. Best of luck to all candidates next week – you’ve got this!

Applying to study modern languages, Studying at Oxford

Q&A with the tutors

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If you’re exploring your options with regard to universities, you probably have lots of questions, perhaps about the different courses on offer or the application process, maybe about the year abroad or what kind of jobs your degree with set you up for. Two of our tutors and Co-Directors of Outreach got together to record some responses to frequently asked questions. Prof. Julie Curtis teaches Russian and Dr Simon Kemp teaches French. Here they are providing some answers to the questions you might have…

FAQs

0:33 What is the standard A Level or equivalent offer for Oxford Modern Languages courses?

01:24 Should I try to take four subjects at A Level? Do you take EPQs into account?

02:50 Can I take a gap year before starting my course?

04:58 What do you look for in a personal statement?

06:29 What do your language tests look like?

08:45 What schoolwork should I send in?

10:13 What happens in an interview?

12:57 How should I choose a college?

15:07 If I study two languages are they both studied up to the same level? What if I take one of those languages frm scratch?

17:00 How does a ‘joint school’ affect the Modern Language?

18:57 How do I plan my year abroad? When I’m on it, how do I keep up my studies in the other subject?

22:54 What careers do Modern Languages graduates go on to have?

Applying to study modern languages

So what happens in an Oxford interview?

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Last week we took you through the practicalities of coming to an interview at Oxford. This week we’ll delve into the interview itself, breaking down what you might typically expect from a Modern Languages interview.  What we cover here is an outline of the general format of Modern Languages interviews but you should be aware that practice can vary a little between colleges. It is worth bearing in mind that the interview is not designed to trick you or make you stumble: it aims to stretch you intellectually and give the tutors an insight into the way you think and your motivation for applying for the degree.

The Format

  • You will have at least two interviews, possibly more, each lasting around twenty minutes. This is so that you have ‘two bites of the apple’, as it were. We know that candidates commonly get nervous during interviews and may not always feel they have performed at their best. Having two interviews gives you two chances to demonstrate what you can do and optimises your chance of showing us your best side.
  • Your initial interviews will be in the college that is hosting you or, occasionally, they might be conducted centrally in the Modern Languages department itself.
  • However, you might also find that other colleges want to interview you. This means that all the languages tutors across all the colleges can view your application and can request to see you. You shouldn’t read anything into this. It does not mean that your first college has rejected you. It simply means that colleges are keeping lots of options open to them. Again, it is another chance for you to show us your best.
  • There will be at least two interviewers in the room. They may split the questioning 50/50 or one may take the lead while another takes notes. Don’t let this faze you – it’s just policy. They will start by introducing themselves and explaining the format of the interview. Some might shake your hand. Others might not. Again, don’t overthink this: whether or not you shake a tutor’s hand will not affect your chance of getting in.
  • The interview is likely to be split into two or three parts, depending on whether you are applying for the language from scratch or post-A Level (or equivalent).
  • If you are studying the language at A Level or equivalent, there will be some conversation in the target language. This is likely to be just three or four minutes and is another chance for us to assess your linguistic skills. We’re not looking for perfection or fluency. We are simply expecting an ability to speak in the target language at the standard expected of a candidate who is predicted a grade A at A Level. We will be assessing your language skills alongside your written work submission and your performance in the MLAT, so this is not the be all and end all.
  • If you are applying for a beginners’ language don’t worry, we will not ask you to hold a conversation in that language!
  • Regardless of whether you are applying for a language from scratch or post-A Level, you will probably be asked to do an exercise in close reading. You will be given a text about 20-30 minutes before the interview and asked to read and think about it. This may be a poem or an extract of prose. It is unlikely to be longer than a side of A4. Practice does vary a little between colleges as to whether this text will be in the target language: some may give you a text in English; some may give you a text in the target language with an English translation; some may give you a text in the target language and also provide a dictionary or vocab. list, or invite you to ask about any words you don’t understand at the start of the interview. If you are applying for a language from scratch you will  be given a version of the text in English.
  • Use your preparation time to read the text fully, make notes if you like, and draw some initial conclusions from the text. Ask yourself not only ‘what are my first impressions?’ but, more importantly, ‘why and how are those impressions created?’
  • The tutors will ask you about the text for around ten minutes.
  • There will also be some general conversation as part of the interview. During this portion of the interview you might be asked to talk about: academic work you have completed in the last year or two; any relevant wider reading or work experience you might have done; subject-related issues that are very readily visible in the wider world (you will NOT be expected to have an intricate knowledge of current affairs); things you have mentioned in your personal statement.

Top Tips

  • The first thing to remember is that the interview simulates a tutorial. Tutorial-style teaching is really the USP of Oxford and Cambridge: it is a method of teaching that focuses on discussion in very small groups (usually a tutor and two or three students) on a more-or-less weekly basis. The interview is a way for us to see how you would fare in this type of teaching environment.
  • As such, we are interested in seeing your ability to contribute to an academically challenging discussion: this will partly be a matter of forming, expressing and, at times, defending your opinions on a particular topic, but we will also want to see your ability to think analytically, to read perceptively, and to be flexible in your thinking.
  • Try not to be too rigid in your approach. Be open to receiving new information and to changing your opinion based on that information if appropriate.
  • Go back and re-read your personal statement – there is a good chance you will be asked about it. Make sure you can talk about any books or films you have mentioned, or explain your interests further.
  • Decisions are not based on your manners, appearance, or background, but on your ability to think independently and to engage with new ideas beyond what you have learnt in school.
  • The questions will be focused and challenging but this is not a trap and it is not a vocabulary test. If there is anything you are unsure about, whether that’s the questions you are being asked or a particular word you might not understand, it is absolutely fine to ask the tutors to repeat or clarify their question.

So that’s a rundown of Modern Languages interviews at Oxford. It’s a lot to think about and we understand you may justifiably be feeling a little nervous. Of course, not everyone who is interviewed can be offered a place, and we know that this can be disheartening. But remember, you have already done incredibly well to reach interview stage. Whatever the outcome of your application, you should be proud of what you have achieved simply by getting into the room. Above all, try to enjoy the process – it’s not every day you will have the undivided attention of world-leading experts in your subject who are interested in what YOU have to say.

Check out our other interview related posts on this blog by clicking the ‘interviews’ tag. All that remains to be said is good luck!

Applying to study modern languages, Student life

Oxford Interviews: A Helper’s Perspective

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Being invited to an interview at Oxford can be both exciting and daunting. While we hope that candidates will look forward to the chance to show us their intellectual potential, the last thing they should have to worry about is logistics – the when and where of the interviews themselves. Fortunately, when they arrive in Oxford they find that there are a multitude of helpers to make them feel at home. We rely heavily on our current undergraduates during the interview period to show candidates around the colleges, take them to their interviews, and generally put them at ease. This week, we hear from fourth-year German student at St Peter’s, Isobel Cavan, who gives us a helper’s perspective:

When I came to Oxford for my interviews, I can remember wishing that my four hour train journey could be just a bit longer so I could somehow re-read all the books I’d mentioned on my personal statement! I was incredibly nervous, but when I got to the college that was hosting me I was met by a really friendly second-year student, who showed me my room, where I could get food, and where all the information about interviews would be posted. He even carried my bag up four flights of stairs! He told me the best thing to do was to try and enjoy the whole process, and although it’s easier said than done, it really is true.

And the college hosting you will really try to help you enjoy it. Each college has a group of current students whose job it is to make you feel welcome, make sure you don’t get lost, and arrange a few fun things to do when you’re not doing your interviews. This might be showing films in the common room, or organising a group of people going for ice cream at G&D’s (the best place in Oxford for ice cream). It can be really helpful to be able to get out of your room and chat to people, most of them doing different subjects, and explore the town whilst you’re here.

Whilst the interviews themselves are never going to be the most relaxing half hour of your life, they’re actually pretty fun once you get into them. And if you have any worries, or just need someone to make you a cup of tea, there should be plenty of people around in the common room who’ll be happy to help. Four years after my own interviews, I’m really looking forward to helping out this year and making sure everyone knows where they’re going. Everyone helping will have been in your shoes not too long ago, and we understand how daunting it can seem. The colleges and tutors are all looking forward to meeting you, and I hope you have a great time at your interviews.