Class 9 students studying their R3 language now have a clear picture of how they’ll be marked. CBSE has released the R3 Language Assessment Framework for 2026-27, and it puts speaking and listening at the centre. The whole 100 marks will be handled inside the school, not through a board paper.
Here’s the big shift. R3, the third language a student picks up under the new scheme, follows what CBSE calls an Oral-First Pedagogy. In plain terms, children build listening and speaking skills first, then move to reading and writing. The board has adopted the NCERT syllabus for languages in Class 9, and NCERT has already put the R3 Language Learning Resources on its website.
Schools have been asked to start using these resources in the classroom. After that, principals are to send suggestions and feedback to cq26-27@cbseshiksha.in so the material can be improved.
Where the 100 marks go
The assessment is entirely school-based. This is how the marks are split:
| Component | Marks |
|---|---|
| Listening & Speaking Skills | 40 |
| Creative Writing Skill | 15 |
| Reading Skill (from Learning Resource) | 20 |
| Writing Skill (from Learning Resource) | 10 |
| Project Work | 15 |
Listening and speaking carry the most weight. These activities run through the whole year in the classroom. A teacher picks any eight activities from a suggested list, each worth 5 marks, adding up to 40. Students get to choose activities that interest them, from describing a picture or narrating a personal experience to role play, story re-telling, and debates on familiar topics.
Writing and reading
Creative Writing is worth 15 marks and covers four tasks: an informal invitation or message (3), a picture description (3), a simple story up to 100 words (5), and a day-to-day life conversation written as a dialogue (4).
Reading Skill carries 20 marks. Students face two seen passages of up to 100 words each, drawn from the Learning Resource. Each passage brings six objective questions of one mark and four Very Short Answer Questions.
Writing Skill accounts for 10 marks: six marks for short answers (any three of five, 30 to 40 words each) and four marks for one long answer of about 80 words.
Project Work
The project runs across the academic session and is worth 15 marks. Suggested themes include local customs and festivals, folk songs and oral narratives, technology and innovations, recent national initiatives, and notable local writers. Of the 15 marks, the viva alone carries 5. CBSE has been blunt on one point: the project should be judged on effort and content, not decoration.
Teachers can access the material by clicking the R3 Language Learning Resources link on the NCERT home page at www.ncert.nic.in.