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2013 Notes from the Marking Centre – Japanese Extension

Introduction

This document has been produced for the teachers and candidates of the Stage 6 Japanese Extension 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:

Oral examination

Characteristics of better responses:

  • point of view was clearly stated
  • relevant ideas that addressed the topic were expressed
  • a wide range of vocabulary and sentence structures was used
  • candidates presented a logical, well-structured argument supported by examples
  • candidates communicated confidently with a high level of fluency and authentic intonation.

Characteristics of weaker responses:

  • lack of relevant information to fully address the topic
  • candidates contradicted their point of view about the topic
  • there was poor pronunciation of taisetsu na koto de wa nai
  • inability to read the kanji for hitobito, saishin and tsuyoi
  • candidates used anglicised words to support ideas.

Written examination

Section I – Part A

Characteristics of better responses:

  • candidates referred to visual imagery and effects relevant to the quote (Q.1a)
  • candidates clearly identified what was said to whom and linked this to the explanation of the social order of the bathhouse (Q.1b)
  • accurate content and language examples were used to describe Rin (Q.1c)
  • issues related to the quote were accurately described with an explanation of how they were related (Q.1d)
  • detailed examples were provided of how responsibility is demonstrated in the specified scenes and one other scene (Q.1e).

Characteristics of weaker responses:

  • visual imagery was not related to the quote and/or no link was made between imagery and its effect (Q.1a)
  • social order provided was described without linking to the language used in the quote (Q.1b)
  • candidates simply translated what Rin said (Q.1c)
  • candidates made limited reference to an issue or the reference to an issue was not related to the quote or they interpreted ‘issues’ as ‘problems’ (Q.1d)
  • actions of the characters in the specified scenes were misunderstood, demonstrating a limited understanding of the text (Q.1e).

Section I – Part B

Characteristics of better responses:

  • candidates identified changes to Chihiro’s character and how these changes came about, with reference to incidents or interactions with other characters in the text
  • candidates referred to the question excerpt and to Haku’s friendship/advice/influence in helping Chihiro face her future
  • ideas were logically structured and sequenced using appropriate text-type conventions
  • a wide range of vocabulary, sentence structures and prescribed kanji was used
  • accurate, with consistent tense and register.

Characteristics of weaker responses:

  • no reference was made to the excerpt provided in the question
  • changes in character were not linked to specific examples
  • some candidates approached the question as a creative writing task and did not address task requirements
  • main characters’ names were misspelt
  • incorrect use of te kureru/te ageru
  • incorrect use of passive and causative
  • inconsistent use of tense, register and diary text-type conventions.

Section II – Writing in Japanese

Characteristics of better responses:

  • there was a succinct introduction with breadth and depth of argument provided within the ji limit
  • point of view was stated and supported by relevant ideas and examples to fully address the topic
  • a wide range of vocabulary, sentence structures and kanji was used.

Characteristics of weaker responses:

  • irrelevant ideas were included, eg environmental issues not related to global warming (Q.3) or risks of online banking/shopping rather than of social media (Q.4)
  • ideas were not fully developed, eg not explaining why a particular action would reduce global warming (Q.3)
  • there was incorrect use of transitive and intransitive verbs, no sei de versus no okage de, connection of narimasu to adjectives and nouns
  • norimono was used to mean ‘public transport’
  • use of kooritsu (public) and shiritsu (private) in the wrong context
  • there was limited use of prescribed kanji
  • Japanese quotation marks were written incorrectly when writing vertically.
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