2013 Notes from the Marking Centre – Japanese Beginners
Introduction
This document has been produced for the teachers and candidates of the Stage 6 Japanese Beginners course. It contains comments on candidate responses to the 2013 Higher School Certificate examination, indicating the quality of the responses and highlighting their relative strengths and weaknesses.
This document should be read along with:
- the Japanese Beginners Stage 6 Syllabus
- the 2013 Higher School Certificate Japanese Beginners examination
- the marking guidelines
- Advice for students attempting HSC languages examinations, and HSC Languages oral examinations – advice to students
- Advice for HSC students about examinations
- other support documents developed by the Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW to assist in the teaching and learning of Japanese in Stage 6.
Oral examination
Characteristics of better responses:
- language was manipulated effectively and overuse of prepared answers was avoided
- responses contained relevant information which answered the questions asked
- a wide range of vocabulary and sentence structures was used
- tense was used correctly
- responses were clear, confident and fluent with effective pronunciation and intonation.
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- errors included tense, time periods and frequency, counters and dates
- incomplete sentences were often used
- question words such as dare, itsu, doushite/naze, doko were misunderstood
- responses were rote-learned and not relevant to the question asked
- imasu/arimasu, otousan/otoutosan, eigo/eiga, nihongo/nihon were confused.
Written examination
Section I – Listening
Characteristics of better responses:
- responses were not simply a translation of the text and answers were succinct where they needed to be
- candidates were familiar with ages, likes, times
- candidates expressed an opinion or made a judgement and supported their ideas/point of view with reference to the text (Q.9, Q.10).
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- candidates confused times (Q.2), days of the week (Q.2, Q.6), ani with Annie (Q.6)
- candidates were not specific enough in their answers (Q.5, Q.7)
- candidates were unfamiliar with the seasons, and vocabulary/phrases such as kuruma ga sukunai kara, tsumaranai machi, jitensha (Q.7); mezurashii keiken, bokujou, yotei (Q.8); kowai, doubutsu, inaka (Q.10).
Section II – Reading and Responding
Characteristics of better responses:
- relevant details from the text were included to support ideas and opinions
- answers were not just a translation of the text
- candidates could identify purpose and audience (Q.12, Q.15a), summarise (Q.13a), identify suggestions (Q.14a), make comparisons (Q.14b).
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- candidates did not understand the meaning of yaku ni tatsu, yuusu kurabu, ibento (Q.12); doitsu, gakki, benkyou shita koto ga nakatta, benkyou shinakereba naranai (Q.13); kariru, kantan (Q.13); kyaria adobaizaa (Q.15)
- relevant details or enough details were not included in answers
- candidates were not able to summarise (Q.13a)
- candidates translated information and did not link it to a point of view/argument (Q.15c).
Section III – Writing in Japanese
Characteristics of better responses:
- a wide range of vocabulary, language structures and kanji was used
- ideas and information were highly relevant to the topic and were effectively structured and sequenced
- ideas were communicated with a high degree of accuracy and within the appropriate text-type conventions.
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- inconsistent or incorrect register and tense were used
- using pre-learned answers not relevant to the question; not addressing the question fully, eg writing about lifestyle in general rather than healthy lifestyle (Q.18); or misunderstanding the question, eg writing a response as Toshi (Q.16)
- particle errors with dekimasu, ikimasu, aimasu; use of ryokou instead of ensoku (Q.16)
- mixed use of hiragana and katakana (Q.19)
- use of Chinese simplified characters (Q.18)
- incorrect kanji for kyou (today) and watashi (Q.19)
- misspelling of isshoni, arubaito (Q.19)
- mixing up yen and dollars (Q.19)
- Genkouyoushi not used correctly (Q.18, Q.19)
- article text-type conventions not used (Q.18, Q.19).
NSW Government