Paper 1 test 3

1. range of appropriate lexis/collocations relevant to the topic / Lexis specific to the task

2. Asking for/giving clarification/paraphrasing

   What do you mean by …. ?

3. Making suggestions/responding to suggestions

   How about ... ?

4. Asking for/giving/justifying opinions. 

   What do you think? 

5. Agreeing/disagreeing/hedging.

   e.g. I’m sorry, I don’t agree with ... . Yes, you’re right, ...

6. language for talking about quantities

    e.g. Half of ..., about 20% of ..., the majority of ....

7. summarising / reporting / presenting results 

8. use of modals (to express obligation/possibility/ability)  

   Example: children should(n’t) / I can’t understand ... / you really mustn’t use your phone 

9. using reported speech

   Example: Jose said that he thought computer games are bad for children.

10.  using causative linkers and conjunctions

    Example: because (causative conjunctions) 

    
    

Paper 1 test 4

Key strengths

Task achievement: 

Content.

Main events in the narrative are expressed in sequence

Organisation: Overall, ... in a logical order

Complexity and range of language: 

some sophisticated/appropriate vocabulary e.g. ...

Range and accuracy of grammar / vocabulary

Accurate use of past simple AND/OR past continuous tenses e.g. ...

Accuracy of language: 

consistently accurate anaphoric referencing e.g. ... / linking devices / adverbials / conjunctions / discourse markers 

e.g. although, such as, however, / accuracy of vocabulary e.g. ..

Key weaknesses

Task achievement: style is inconsistent

Accuracy of language: 

Grammar. / Lexis. Poor spelling / poor manipulation of lexis e.g. ... 

uses linking devices inappropriately e.g. ...

Accuracy and range of lexis

Limited / inaccurate for level 

Pronunciation

Weak forms / not using schwa

Example to, was, at, and, arrived 

Accuracy of grammar

Wrong preposition / Errors in verb patterns / verb structures

Paper 1 test 5

GENRE

Layout

· headline followed by body of the text / columns / accompanying photograph / caption / use of different fonts/sizes / first word in capitals / use of dashes 

· short / sentence length paragraphs (e.g. paragraph ... )

Organisation

· Successive sentences add more detail (e.g. ...) / 

· starts off with ...  

· ends with ...

· describes events in chronological order  

· one idea per paragraph

Grammatical/lexical

· direct speech  

· use of appropriate range of tenses for ...  (e.g. present simple, past simple, present continuous, will for future) NB 2 examples

 · information dense sentences (e.g. …) 

Short sentences / simple linking devices / parataxis

Style

· humour  

· informal/colloquial/spoken lexis / expression (e.g. ...) 

Content

· Facts interspersed with opinions and comments (e.g. ... )

Tidied up (spoken) language

Preferences / experiences

Graphological

Punctuation e.g. exclamation marks / dashes

FORM

· determiner / quantifier

 · followed by adjective and (singular) pronoun

· indefinite / · would + infinitive without ‘to /, bare infinitive / base form

· object/subject of sentence

pre-modified by a determiner

· modal (auxiliary/verb)

· not contracted because of written genre / non contracted form

· past form of ‘...’ / past participle (of ‘...’) / gerund

indirect speech 

 · regular (–ed)

 · part of a (non defining) relative clause

· post-modifier of noun  

· ellipsis of relative pronoun ‘that/which’ / Reduced relative clause

 reduced passive structure / ellipsis of passive auxiliary

· Second / Third person singular

· Transitive

· Present simple

· To express permanent states / something which is always true / stative verb

· Interrogative determiner / tag question

· Uncountable

· Adverbial phrase / adverb / Acts as an adverb

· Quantifier

· That can be omitted because it is the object of the verb

·  non-finite / Defining

· Gives essential information about / specifies/identifies which desserts

· No comma is used / Comma precedes the clause

which is used to refer to things

· which cannot be omitted because it is the subject of the clause

· that cannot be used instead of which

Meaning / use

anaphoric reference to ... 

avoids repetition

· shows determination / willingness

a prediction / expression of certainty

formal / written / Informal/colloquial/spoken style of structures

gives additional information about ...

Phonology / Connected speech

· schwa / weak sound /ə/ in ‘at’

· Weak form of you /jə/or /j ʊ/ or do/də/

· Coalescence/assimilation of do you /ʤə/ or /ʤʊ / or /ʤu:/ / assimilation to /d/

· Intrusive /w/ between you and enjoy /dju:wɪnʤɔɪ/

· Stress is likely to be on / stress on '...' 

· Consonant + vowel linking / liaison isn’t it

· Elision of first /t/ in /ɪzənɪt/

· insertion of a schwa /ə/ between /z/ and /n/

Problems

Form

· past simple and past participle have same form here, so not clear which this is

· learners not sure how to use/understand ellipsis

· learners may include passive auxiliary 

· complex structure made up of several elements so difficult to manipulate accurately

 Meaning / Use

· learners confused by ellipsis of relative pronoun and auxiliary

· passive meaning not clear from the structure / confusion with past time

· time reference not clear from non-finite verb

· students may spell ‘attend’ with only one ‘t’

· problems with collocation with ‘attend’ e.g. attend to school 

Paper 2 test 1

Positive Points

valid as formative / summative assessment

instructions are clear

allow learners to use some of the language studied and so the test has content validity

the level is appropriate for upper intermediate students

there are familiar topics

Prompts supplied

Content relevant to learner’s needs/context

Standard task type

A direct test of language skills so generally learner can show her abilities directly

Positive Applications 

Students will believe that the test has face validity

will be interested in the topics

Students have a chance to demonstrate abilities 

The teacher will be able to assess the learners’ progress

Negative points

It will be difficult for the teacher to assess all the individuals

The teacher may not get an accurate idea of their abilities / progress / learners won’t get a sense of progress

Ss may not engage with the topic / they may lack ideas / they may feel uncomfortable in the group / learners don’t trust results of the test

Tests specific items of vocab e.g. football, bucket

May be time consuming / impractical to mark

Negative applications

The results may not be reliable

the teacher cannot give individual students feedback

Ss may be confused about what to do

Candidate may not be motivated to

Paper 2 test 2

a. exercise purposes

1. to personalise the topic of the text

2. to expose learners to the T

3. to introduce language / chunks / collocations / fixed expressions / functional phrases students will need in ...  

4. to focus on the form or pronunciation

5. to check learner's understanding of the use / meaning / function of the TL

6. to provide a written record/examples of the language 

7. to contextualise the language 

8. to present the target expressions in context 

9. to provide controlled practice of ... skills

10. to provide students with a model of how to ...

11. to simulate an authentic/real life situation

12. to give students scaffolding 

13. to review and extend expressions of the TL 

b. ways to combine

1. Builds on/extends vocabulary from ... that could be used in the preparation of the ...

2. Introduces collocations / language which prepares for ...

3. Gives learners controlled practice / focuses on accuracy before production

4. Encourages reflective practice to apply to their own practice

5. Encourages personalisation / a personal response to the content of the lesson

6. Provides variety in interaction

7. To activate / use language that they know / which may be in the listening

8. Gives the learners the chance to use the language presented in the previous exercises

9. Gives the learners / teacher the chance to see progress

c. assumptions

1. It is useful to give learners complete sentences/formulaic language/language in chunks / collocations

This gives learners confidence because it helps to make students more accurate 

2. It is useful for students to see a model before they do a task / learners need scaffolding 

It gives them confidence before productive / students will be on track and know what is expected of them

3. It is important to give students a written record of language 

It helps them to review the lesson later 

4. Learners need to focus on accuracy before fluency / learners need to move from controlled to freer practice 

it gives learners a sense of progress

5. It is useful to use a TBL approach 

it encourages authentic language use

6. Students need rehearsal time 

They are likely to be more accurate / confident / focussed / fluent

7. It is a good idea for students to take on a role rather than having to speak as themselves

Students find it less intimidating.

8. Learners need to understand the meaning / gist of a text before focusing on language

Because this will help them to understand the meaning of the language / because this helps to develop the listening skill they need for much of real life listening

9. Learners should be encouraged to respond personally to texts 

Because this generates interest / because listening is an interactive process

10. It’s important for learners to hear / see the language in context

So that they can see how it is used / it mirrors how the L1 is learnt

11. Listening texts are a good way of presenting functional language Because this reflects what happens in real life 

12. Learners should be exposed to natural features of spoken discourse (e.g. false starts / (semi) authentic texts) 

Because they may not have exposure to these features if they are not learning in an L1 environment / they provide good models for learners whose use of the L2 sounds a little unnatural

Paper 2 test 3

a. ESL

1. Interactive processing 

   It is important to encourage top down and bottom up processing of text / learners should be shown that they can understand a text without understanding every word before they focus on it in more detail 

2. Language in context  

   Learners should be exposed to whole pieces of language rather than isolated words 

3. Collaboration

   Learners learn from each other

4. Memory 

   Importance of memory in language learning 

5. Importance of meaning Producing language that conveys the same meaning as the original text is more important than accurately reproducing the original text / It is important to focus on meaning first before focus on form  

6.  Focus on form/accuracy 

   Learners need to focus on accuracy in order to improve their output

7.  Language production 

   Learning occurs when students produce language

8. Receptive before productive 

   Listening / receptive recognition should precede production of language 

9. Teacher as facilitator / learner autonomy At times the teacher should take a back seat / act as facilitator / encourage learners to be independent 

b. Analysis

1.  Spelling

   To test spelling / to develop learners’ awareness of sound/spelling relationship in English

2. Connected speech 

   To raise learners’ awareness of features of connected speech (weak forms, contractions, elision, linking etc) 

3. Confidence 

   Gives learners confidence i.e. they can get a lot right

4.  Listening

   The learners decode the input through attention to content words and activated background knowledge / to give listening practice

5.  Task familiarity 

   acknowledging learner expectations can motivate them