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2014 Notes from the Marking Centre – Modern Greek Beginners

Introduction

This document has been produced for the teachers and candidates of the Stage 6 Modern Greek 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 Modern Greek Beginners Stage 6 Syllabus
• the 2014 Higher School Certificate Modern Greek 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 Modern Greek in Stage 6.

Oral examination

Characteristics of better responses:

• candidates conversed effectively by exchanging relevant information and elaborating on their responses
• an excellent control of a variety of vocabulary and language structures was demonstrated
• candidates used acceptable intonation and pronunciation.

Characteristics of weaker responses:

• candidates often asked for clarification or required prompting from the examiner when responding to simple questions
• a limited knowledge of vocabulary and language structures was demonstrated
• candidates responded with one-word answers or incomplete sentences.

Written examination

Section I – Listening

Characteristics of better responses:

• responses were not simply a translation of the text
• where necessary, information was synthesised
• candidates gave coherent and cohesive responses
• candidates supported their arguments with textual references
• the questions were answered effectively and thoroughly.

Characteristics of weaker responses:

• candidates translated the information rather than addressing the question
• only some of the relevant information was provided
• candidates did not interpret information; for example, not enough explanation was given as to why Manos was upset (Q.7)
• an understanding of the kind of person who would find this speech appealing was not demonstrated (Q.9)
• an assessment of the likelihood of Eva and Thomas choosing to move to the new house was not provided (Q.10).

Section II – Reading

Characteristics of better responses:

• all the necessary information required to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the texts was provided
• relevant textual references were incorporated
• candidates supported their answers with effective textual references (Q.12b)
• the differences between Eleftheria’s and Stamatis’s viewpoints were explained (Q. 14)
• the shift in Marianthis’s mood was identified (Q.15b)
• the extent of the influence of Maria’s parents in both her career choices was thoroughly discussed (Q.16).

Characteristics of weaker responses:

• candidates provided summaries rather than addressing the question
• candidates often did not provide appropriate textual references to support their discussion
• candidates demonstrated limited understanding of Eleftheria’s and Stamatis’ viewpoints (Q. 14)
• candidates focused mostly on the influence of Maria’s parents on her singing career rather than her writing.

Section III – Writing in Modern Greek

Characteristics of better responses:

• ideas and information appropriate to audience, purpose and context were communicated
• candidates demonstrated good knowledge of Greek vocabulary and language structures
• the reason for the postponement of the training was effectively communicated (Q.17)
• candidates used the appropriate past tense to talk about the time they spent together, for example, Όταν ήμασταν μικρά παιδιά. Διαβάζαμε βιβλία. Παίζαμε ποδόσφαιρο (Q.18)
• candidates presented and developed original ideas, information and opinions that were relevant to context, purpose and audience (Q.19 and Q.20).

Characteristics of weaker responses:

• there was a lack of grammatical agreement and incorrect use of tense
• ideas were not communicated effectively (Q.17 and Q.18)
• candidates presented some information relevant to the task with some knowledge of vocabulary, language structures and features, for example, έπρεπα, χρειάζω, με τον αδερφός μου etc.