2014 Notes from the Marking Centre – Heritage Korean
Introduction
This document has been produced for the teachers and candidates of the Stage 6 Heritage Korean 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 Heritage Korean Stage 6 Syllabus
- the 2014 Higher School Certificate Heritage Korean 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 Korean in Stage 6.
Oral examination – Interview
Characteristics of better responses:
- the discussion of the chosen topic included a thorough analysis of information, ideas and experiences, using a variety of sources from a range of contexts
- detailed and perceptive references to the texts studied, including information on their reliability and usefulness, were made
- candidates connected their findings to their ideas and experiences
- points of view were justified and supported with examples
- candidates actively participated in the interview and engaged effectively and consistently with the examiner without hesitation or pauses
- information and ideas were presented with a high level of grammatical accuracy, a range of vocabulary and sentence structures, and a high level of fluency and correct pronunciation.
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- basic information was provided and the chosen topic was treated superficially
- candidates appeared unprepared or used rote-learnt responses that had little relevance to the question being asked
- candidates made few references to the texts studied
- information was presented with a low level of grammatical accuracy and with simple vocabulary
- incomplete sentences and/or a mixture of formal and informal forms with some use of English vocabulary were used.
Written examination
Section 1 – Responding to texts
Characteristics of better responses:
- a perceptive understanding of the texts was demonstrated, with appropriate examples provided to support answers
- the message was conveyed accurately by manipulating language competently
- the issues were identified and clear references to the texts were made
- candidates responded appropriately by synthesising the contents of both texts (Q.3)
- responses were concise and not repetitive.
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- a translation of the text was provided rather than responding to the question
- not all aspects of the question were addressed
- there was limited reference to the text
- general knowledge was used, rather than information provided from the stimulus text.
Section 2 – Creating texts in Korean
Characteristics of better responses:
- candidates responded to the chosen question
- the selection of register was appropriate to the audience, purpose and context
- candidates sequenced ideas and information and structured the response coherently and effectively
- there was evidence of understanding of the issues being presented in the question.
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- there was a lack of sequencing and structuring of ideas and limited use of information relevant to the question
- ideas were poorly expressed with many errors in both vocabulary and language structures
- relevant information and ideas presented in the question were not addressed.
NSW Government