1. Home
2. HSC
3. HSC Exams
4. 2012 HSC Exam papers
5. 2012 HSC Notes from the Marking Centre — Vietnamese Continuers

2012 HSC Notes from the Marking Centre – Vietnamese Continuers

Introduction

This document has been produced for the teachers and candidates of the Stage 6 course in Vietnamese Continuers. It contains comments on candidate responses to the 2012 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 relevant syllabus, the 2012 Higher School Certificate examination, the marking guidelines and other support documents developed by the Board of Studies to assist in the teaching and learning of Vietnamese Continuers.

General comments

Candidates need to be aware that the marks allocated to the question and the answer space (where this is provided on the examination paper) are guides to the length of the required response. A longer response will not in itself lead to higher marks. Writing far beyond the indicated space may reduce the time available for answering other questions.

Candidates need to be familiar with the Board’s Glossary of Key Words, which contains some terms commonly used in examination questions. However, candidates should also be aware that not all questions will start with or contain one of the key words from the glossary. Questions such as ‘how?’, ‘why?’ or ‘to what extent?’ may be asked, or verbs that are not included in the glossary may be used, such as ‘design’, ‘translate’ or ‘list’.

Oral examination

Preparing candidates for the oral examination

The oral examination for Vietnamese Continuers consists of two sections: the Conversation and the Discussion. The duration of the oral examination is approximately 7 minutes for the Conversation and approximately 8 minutes for the Discussion.

In the Conversation, the examiner will ask the candidate questions about his or her personal world (for example his/her life, family and friends, interests and aspirations) as it relates to the prescribed topics in the syllabus. Neither the number of questions nor the number of topics covered by the examination is predetermined. The questions the examiner asks may relate to a previous response made by the student or introduce a new topic. Candidates should answer each question only with information related specifically to the question asked.

Candidates are encouraged to respond in such a way that they demonstrate knowledge and understanding of a range of structures and vocabulary, but not through the inclusion of material irrelevant to the question asked. If they do not understand a question, candidates may ask for a question to be repeated, clarified or rephrased in the language being examined.

In the Discussion, the examiner will ask the candidate a series of questions relating to the student’s in-depth study. The subject of the study will relate to one or more of the prescribed themes or topics and involve the in-depth study of at least three texts, one of which will be a literary text, such as a novel, play, film or poem. Candidates should be prepared to discuss issues related to the study as well as the texts/resources studied. They must not bring objects such as photographs, posters and pictures to the examination.

Conversation

All candidates communicated information and ideas in Vietnamese to some degree across a range of syllabus topics. In the best responses, candidates fluently and accurately presented information and ideas and elaborated on these with illustrative examples.

In weaker responses, candidates often did not fully understand the questions, sometimes gave responses that were irrelevant, could not express views on topics, and gave short responses with little or no elaboration. Expression was often clumsy, awkward or with limited vocabulary to express ideas and information.

Section II – Discussion

Many candidates appeared under-prepared for the discussion, with a significant number choosing topics that were presented without any reference to a literary text to support their research. Some candidates did not make detailed and perceptive references to the texts and, while most had some resources they could refer to as required, many found it difficult to relate their resources to their study. Candidates are reminded that this part of the examination is a discussion, not an information report in which simply facts and figures are presented.

The choice of topic and appropriate resources is of utmost importance to the success of a discussion. In the best responses, candidates had researched topics, supported by ideas in novels and films and presented interesting information that allowed a rich discussion to follow. Others made choices such as Vietnamese customs, a sport, or broad items of possible social interest, that did not lend themselves to supporting research in literature. Similarly, candidates who chose a film as the topic, found themselves quickly running out of things to say, once they had exhausted relating the plot. A film in the context of an issue can be useful supporting research.

Written examination

Section I – Listening and responding

General comments

Most candidates made good use of the Notes column and selected appropriate and relevant information. In the best responses, candidates not only conveyed the gist of texts and identified specific information through summarising the main ideas, but also demonstrated a deep understanding of all aspects of the text and interpreted the points of view or attitudes accurately and appropriately.

Candidates are reminded that simple translation of segments of texts that may appear to be related to the question – without responding specifically to the requirements of the task – is inadequate to access the high-range marks.

Part A

Question 1

Most candidates provided the correct information.

However, in some weaker responses, candidates mixed up the speakers’ names (stating ‘Thu’ instead of ‘Hung’).

Question 2

In better responses, candidates identified and explained the main reason for Yen being upset (ie her boyfriend not coming to her birthday party).

Some weak responses mentioned the incident of the power failure which was not what most upset Yen.

Question 3

The majority of candidates performed well in this question. In better responses, candidates identified four major aspects of the principal’s speech.

In weaker responses, candidates summarised the speech rather than identified its purpose.

Question 4

In better responses, candidates summarised all the main points of the news item and highlighted the fact that Jackville was Princess Sophie’s hometown.

Weaker responses missed major points.

Question 5

1. In the majority of responses, the reason for Thanh’s lateness was correctly identified and elaborated.
2. In better responses, candidates successfully justified why the student was likely to remain in Australia with reference to both the disadvantages of going back to Vietnam and the advantages of staying.

Part B

Candidates are reminded that responses to Part B must be written in Vietnamese. A few responses were written in English.

Question 6

In better responses, candidates met the requirements of the text type, an email, as well as the requirements of the task: justifying the reasons for her leaving early as well as for the silence throughout the week, clarifying her relationship with Trung, and confirming her friendship with Mai.

In weaker responses, candidates missed some of these points. In some responses the girls’ names were mixed up.

Question 7

In better responses, candidates supported their assessment of Kim’s suitability for the SRC with a good analysis of his strengths and weaknesses.

In weaker responses, candidates just presented one-sided arguments, and did not make connections between Kim’s strengths and the nature of the school population, or did not acknowledge the fact that Kim promised to improve his attendance and punctuality.

Section II – Reading and responding

General comments

In the best responses, candidates not only conveyed the gist of texts and identified specific information through summarising the main ideas, but also inferred points of view, attitudes or emotions from the language and context.

In weaker responses, candidates did not refer to the texts and often included a great deal of irrelevant information and repetition. Candidates are reminded that simple translation of segments of texts that may appear to be related to the question – without responding specifically to the requirements of the task – is inadequate to access the high-range marks. They should learn how to identify the tone, purpose, context and audience as well as interpret, analyse and evaluate information.

Part A

Question 8

1. In better responses, candidates gave full portraits of Mr Trung and Thanh, detailing their age, career or points of view.

Some weaker responses mentioned limited detail for each person or did not mention their ages.

2. In better responses, candidates clearly and correctly identified Mr Trung’s and Thanh’s points of view towards the change of Goldfield city and successfully analysed the language techniques used to present their points of view.

In weaker responses, candidates did not correctly identify the language techniques used or, if they did, did not satisfactorily explain the effect of these language techniques. Some weak responses could not differentiate the language and content. It is suggested that referring to a language technique requires naming the language technique, quoting an example from the text (in Vietnamese) and then explaining the effect of the language technique.

Question 9

1. In better responses, candidates identified both themes of the book.
   
   In weaker responses, candidates identified only one theme or summarised the book rather than stated its themes.

2. In better responses, candidates understood the figurative meaning of Thien dang as a happy place for the author’s family and adequately explained why it was and was not put in quotation marks.
   
   Some weaker responses referred to the literal meaning of Thien dang (paradise after death) and thus misinterpreted the author’s intention.

3. In better responses, candidates identified all the factors that influenced the author to write the book with sufficient elaboration on the impact of her parents’ efforts on the success of her book.
   
   In weaker responses, candidates missed some factors or did not elaborate on her parents’ role.

Part B

Question 10

Most candidates performed well in producing a letter using correct letter format and appropriate Vietnamese for the context and purpose of the task.

In the best responses, candidates correctly identified the issues mentioned in the stimulus text (the part-time job, the career choice and the issue of privacy which led to the conflict between Vinh and his mother), and then creatively responded with relevant information and opinions.

In weaker responses, candidates did not fully understand the task requirements (they did not identify all the issues raised by Vinh’s mother or did not provide a relevant explanation or justification for their responses). Some candidates merely produced a creative letter with irrelevant information. Not all candidates identified and addressed the issue of privacy.

Candidates are reminded that this is a reading and responding task, not a creative writing task.

Section III – Writing in Vietnamese

In better responses, candidates:

• specifically addressed the requirements of the task
• used the correct text type
• structured their response
• included their personal opinion for each issue raised in the forum
• demonstrated the ability to manipulate language authentically and creatively.

In weaker responses, candidates:

• misinterpreted the task
• did not demonstrate a good understanding of the conventions of text type
• repeated ideas or structured them poorly
• did not include relevant ideas and information
• either focused too much on one idea or provided many ideas without sufficient analysis, expansion or elaboration
• relied on rote-learned rather than relevant material.

Question 11

Overall, many candidates performed well in this section. Candidates identified the requirements of the task and produced a speech, with the correct conventions of the text type and appropriate language to the context, purpose and audience. There was only a small number of candidates who demonstrated limited knowledge of Vietnamese vocabulary and sentence structures.

1. In better responses, candidates wrote a well-constructed speech that addressed all the issues related to the benefits of sport with relevant and elaborated information including advice on how to participate in sport. Candidates also demonstrated good control of a range of language structures and vocabulary in Vietnamese.
   
   In weaker responses, candidates only presented some relevant information by listing the benefits of playing a sport without illustrative examples.

2. In better responses, candidates identified all the issues to be addressed in the speech (the benefits of reading and the advice on how to read) and wrote a persuasive, well-sequenced speech. They demonstrated good knowledge of the language including appropriate language techniques (rhetorical questions, persuasive tone), and presented relevant ideas and opinions authentically and creatively.
   
   In weaker responses, candidates presented only some relevant information about the benefits of reading without elaboration or illustrative examples.