2014 Notes from the Marking Centre – German Beginners
Introduction
This document has been produced for the teachers and candidates of the Stage 6 German Beginners course. It contains comments on candidate responses to the 2014 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 German Beginners Stage 6 Syllabus
- the 2014 Higher School Certificate German 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 German in Stage 6.
Oral examination
Characteristics of better responses:
- relevant in-depth information was provided on a variety of topics
- questions were answered spontaneously and justified with several explanatory points
- a wide range of vocabulary and a variety of sentence structures were used
- grammatical structures, tenses, adjective endings, and subordinate clauses were correct.
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- modal verbs were used incorrectly and there were errors in word order; for example, subject/verb inversion
- English syntax was used
- there were long pauses and incomplete sentences
- unknown vocabulary included Fächer; Hausaufgaben confused with Haushalt; Wohnort
- candidates misunderstood vocabulary including mag ≠ mach; besucht ≠ sucht; bekommen ≠ to become.
Written examination
Section I – Listening
Characteristics of better responses:
- relevant and specific details were provided
- responses were logical
- correct English tense was used
- the relevant pieces of information within an item were linked to the question
- candidates provided a valid interpretation of the intent of the passage.
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- candidates failed to identify the intent of the message
- candidates merely translated and did not demonstrate a global understanding of the text
- unknown vocabulary included Überhaupt nicht, gratis, Strand, flieβend, kein einziges, gewinnen, kaum glauben, nass, nationalen Wettkampf, mehr… als.
Section II – Reading
Characteristics of better responses:
- relevant details from the texts were included to support opinions
- a global understanding of the entire text was demonstrated
- specific details were provided when necessary
- attention was paid to the tense used in each text.
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- specific and relevant details were not included
- candidates gave German quotes in their answer without English translations
- only partial understanding of texts was demonstrated
- unknown vocabulary included ausverkauft, einsam, Fähigkeiten, auf dem Land, tyrannisiert, Helden.
Section III – Writing in German
Characteristics of better responses:
- writing flowed coherently
- ideas included in the text were relevant to the task
- a good variety of sentence structures, vocabulary, and correct grammar and punctuation were used
- the word limit was reached and not excessively exceeded.
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- candidates failed to meet the word limit
- English syntax was used
- rote-learnt slabs of irrelevant information were often included
- verb conjugation and placement was incorrect
- there was a misuse of and over reliance on the dictionary, leading to incoherent German text.
NSW Government