2015 Notes from the Marking Centre – French Beginners
Introduction
This document has been produced for the teachers and candidates of the Stage 6 French Beginners course. It contains comments on candidate responses to the 2015 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 French Beginners Stage 6 Syllabus
- the 2015 Higher School Certificate French 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 French in Stage 6.
Oral examination
Characteristics of better responses:
- language was manipulated to express opinions fluently
- a variety of vocabulary and language structures were used
- candidates engaged authentically in the conversation
- a variety of tenses, adjectives, adverbs and connectives were used
- pronunciation was generally strong.
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- incomplete sentences were used which featured a lack of basic grammatical structures such as possessives, verbs, pronouns, connectives, modal verbs and adjectives
- candidates focused on a key word and ignored the tense and the context
- common words were pronounced poorly which impeded communication
- possessive adjectives were not manipulated correctly
- candidates had difficulty responding to unexpected questions.
Section I – Listening
Characteristics of better responses:
- a holistic understanding of each text was demonstrated
- the importance of prepositions such as déjà in Q7 was understood
- understanding of the negative imperative form n’oublie pas was demonstrated
- candidates interpreted information from the text rather than providing a translation
- responses were elaborated upon and well developed.
Characteristic of weaker responses:
- texts were misunderstood and specific details were not provided to support responses
- the meaning of some words was confused: chien for Chine, décor for d’accord, monkey for manquer,laptop and computers for portable
- candidates did not differentiate between present and past tense
- multiple answers were provided in the multiple-choice question rather than just one answer.
Section II – Reading and Responding
Question 11
Characteristics of better responses:
- the text messages were clearly understood.
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- chercher was poorly translated as ‘look for’ or ‘find’.
Question 12
Characteristics of better responses:
- an understanding of the whole text was demonstrated.
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- candidates were confused as to who had the broken leg – often thinking it was Patrick
- ne peut pas was misunderstood as ‘didn’t want to go’ – not ‘can’t go’
- some words/phrases were poorly translated: il pleut – he cries, même – same, hâte – hate.
Question 13
Characteristics of better responses:
- a clear understanding of both the positives and negatives was demonstrated
- ne … que was correctly understood.
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- magasin, vêtements, chaîne were poorly translated
- there was misinterpretation that the text was written by the shop owner
- some candidates focused on the clothing rather than the store.
Question 14
Characteristics of better responses:
- candidates went beyond a direct translation to identify opinions, details and arguments with evidence from the text.
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- key words such as personne and critique were misunderstood
- candidates merely listed some points without providing a comparison of opinions.
Question 15
Characteristics of better responses:
- a global understanding of the text and a deeper understanding of the different points of view presented was demonstrated.
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- some candidates relied on the English cognates to identify details (for example too much pollution)
- rather than analysing the information from the text as a whole to produce global responses, questions were merely answered by using details from the text sequentially.
Section III – Writing in French
Questions 16 and 17
Characteristics of better responses:
- appropriate vocabulary and language structures were applied
- relevant ideas and information were presented and were well organised
- the appropriate person or people were addressed
- the appropriate register (tu or vous) was used
- verb conjugation and tense agreement were more accurate
- candidates were able to demonstrate knowledge of different tenses – particularly when giving reasons for not being able to attend the party (Q16) or outlining their skills and (past) experiences for work, as well as the type of work they were seeking (Q17).
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- register was inconsistently used
- there was poor verb conjugation and inconsistent formation of tenses
- some candidates experienced difficulty with the use of false friends such as attendre instead of assister (Q16) and structures such as je suis chercher (Q17)
- English syntax and English expressions translated into French were used
- key elements of the question were not addressed
- sign off was inappropriate to the task
- the dictionary was not effectively used
- the word limit was not met.
Questions 18 and 19
Characteristics of better responses:
- a well-structured narrative was provided which linked relevant ideas and information to the question
- a variety of vocabulary and tenses were used
- the text type, register and syntax were appropriate
- candidates clearly linked their responses to the idea of ‘the best day of their life’ and described what happened in an interesting manner (Q18)
- candidates clearly addressed the context, wrote about how they felt and what they did, as well as referring to cultural and personal similarities and/or differences (Q19).
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- irrelevant details and comments were provided
- ideas were not presented in a coherent manner
- only a basic understanding of vocabulary and tenses was demonstrated
- responses were often under the word limit
- the dictionary was not used appropriately
- anglicisms and literal translations produced meaningless sentences
- candidates did not clearly relate to the question and just described a normal day (Q18)
- candidates often just simply listed what they did (Q19).
NSW Government