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2014 Notes from the Marking Centre – Spanish Continuers

Introduction

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

Oral examination

Characteristics of better responses:

• candidates responded meaningfully to a broad range of questions which asked for factual information, thoughts, feelings, explanations and opinions
• extensive, detailed information was provided
• candidates expanded upon responses when asked for clarification or elaboration
• a wide range of adjectives and adverbs were used to explain a point of view and give context and detail
• persuasive language and superlatives were used to prove a point.

Characteristics of weaker responses:

• candidates had difficulty expressing their thoughts and feelings, explanations and opinions
• only minimal information was provided
• candidates often used English for basic vocabulary
• verb, adjective, gender and number agreements were ignored.

Written examination

Section I – Listening and Responding

Characteristics of better responses:

• all the required information was extracted from the listening texts
•  responses were clear, concise and accurate
• the explanation and comparison were supported with appropriate evidence from the text
• all required elements of the questions were addressed
• only key pieces of information were included in responses, rather than all the notes taken while listening.

Characteristics of weaker responses:

• the content of the listening text was re-told
• key words in questions were not identified
• candidates could not explain the change in Clara’s attitude (Q.5)
• candidates had difficulty comparing the skill of the two speakers (Q.7).

Section II – Reading and Responding

Characteristics of better responses:

• candidates identified and discussed the language features of a text (Q.9d)
• the key information was summarised within the word limit (Q.9b)
• all parts of the question were addressed
• candidates clearly identified the purpose of a text (Q.9a)
• candidates addressed the issues raised by the stimulus text with a good command of accurate and appropriate vocabulary and grammatical structures (Q.10)
• responses were sequenced and logical.

Characteristics of weaker responses:

• candidates failed to identify the purpose of a text (Q.9a)
• there was a lack of recognition or understanding of present subjunctive leading to a misinterpretation of the text, ‘a fear that the town might be shown in a negative light’
• candidates were unfamiliar with language and structure metalanguage in supporting an argument
• candidates could not compare or contrast one opinion with another
• text in Spanish was copied from other sections of the examination paper, but it was not linked coherently and made little sense
• candidates did not realise that the principal was the audience for the email (Q.10)
• not all points raised in the stimulus text were addressed (Q.10)
• the word limit was not met.

Section III – Writing in Spanish

Characteristics of better responses:

• responses were well organised, with obvious planning and paragraphing
• content was clearly and logically expressed
• word and textual requirements were met
• candidates manipulated diverse vocabulary and grammatical structures accurately to meet the task requirements
• candidates used language devices (rhetorical questions, exclamations, etc).

Characteristics of weaker responses:

• candidates did not manipulate connectors, conjunctions and linking words
• the text was written as one paragraph
• understanding of register (formal/informal), and verb, adjective, gender and number agreements was limited
• thoughts and ideas were not express clearly in accurate Spanish
• a limited range of basic vocabulary and grammatical structures was used.