Candidates' Performance

Section A Listening Test

The 'Situation' for this year's paper was an arts club meeting at a local youth centre. Two respected arts academics from overseas were invited to discuss with club members different attitudes to what art is, the meanings of works of art and how the arts as a whole are seen as being good for people. Candidates had to make notes and do various tasks based on a recording they made of the meeting and some visual materials that they were shown.

The paper contained a wide range of task types testing a variety of skills, including note-taking, picture identification, sequencing, matching, picture drawing, prioritizing, true-or-false statements as well as identification of speakers' feelings. Most markers felt that this year's paper was pitched at the right level and was successful in discriminating between the stronger and weaker candidates.

The mean percentage correct for the 94 items in the test was 58.7%, while the standard deviation was 41.8%.

Candidates' performance

Again this year, many candidates wrote answers that bore no relation to the context. For example, in question 6 where candidates were asked to note down what the judge might see as differences between 'high' and 'low' art, some candidates wrote 'for England people' as a feature of 'low art' when it should have been 'for ignorant people'. Other common errors included 'beauty is suggestive' for 'beauty is subjective', 'art simulates creativity' for 'art stimulates creativity', (high art is) 'lightening' for 'enlightening', 'the concept of piece is missing' for 'the concept ofpeace is missing' and 'write own place' for 'write own plays'. All these examples indicate candidates' inability to properly process what they had heard by relating it to the context of the situation and what they had heard

previously.

Many markers expressed frustration over poor spelling as always. The spelling mistakes 'destory' for 'destroy' and 'creat' for 'create' persist this year, even though the Subject Reports in the past few years have drawn attention to them. A lot of candidates were also unable to tell the difference in meanings between 'art' and 'arts' and thus lost marks when they wrote 'space can be arts' and 'some artists are the work of arts'. Some candidates misspelt the word 'collage' although it was spelt for them in the recording. Other commonly misspelt words include 'randam' for 'random', 'morden' for 'modem', 'emptyness' for 'emptiness', 'universial' for 'universal', 'humanlity' for 'humanity', 'estim/estem' for 'esteem, 'violant' for 'violent' and 'apperciate' for 'appreciate'. Some of these mistakes showed candidates do not seem to relate spelling to pronunciation.

Often candidates lose marks in the Listening Test either because they have failed to retrieve the necessary information from the recording, or because the answers they provide are incomplete or inadequate. For example, in question 3 where candidates were asked to explain why it is useful to discuss art, a lot of candidates failed to provide appropriate pronouns and prepositions to make the meaning clear. They wrote variously 'people will judge on likes and dislikes' or 'people will judge our likes and dislikes'. Only 0.3% of candidates actually included the 'us' and the 'on' in the correct places to score a mark. Similarly, in the same question, if candidates wrote 'society's attitude may affect your life' without specifying it was society's attitude 'to art' that was under discussion, they failed to earn a mark. Hence the mean percentage correct for this item was a low 14%. Another example showing the importance of vital information that cannot be omitted is question II. When offering an explanation as to why the child's dove does not have meaning according to 'high art' believers, some candidates wrote 'the child is following instructions' leaving out the words 'simply' or 'just', which serve to emphasize that the picture is not a product of the child's creativity. Such incomplete answers cannot be awarded a mark and the mean percentage correct of35.6 for this item reflected this.

In general, candidates performed quite well on the speaker's attitude questions when the emotions of the speaker were more pronounced, on matching activities and the true/false questions. The items in the drawing exercise, however, showed mean percentages hovering in the 30s, clearly reflecting the gap between candidates' receptive

and productive skills.

Parts of speech and verb forms were still a problem area. Answers containing such mistakes as '(it can't be) randomly arrange', 'universally beauty', 'art stimulates creativities', 'there's no prove' and 'appeal 1\ the

imagination' were commonly found.

Last but not least, markers again expressed dissatisfaction with candidates' poor handwriting. Candidates are reminded of the importance of writing clearly, as the markers cannot be expected to mark illegible or ambiguous

answers as correct.

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General comments and recommendations

According to the markers' reports, the two biggest problems that the candidates seemed to display were the lack of consideration of the context and spelling. Candidates have to learn to take in the whole meaning of an utterance, not only particular words or sounds. Candidates need to be trained to draw on their knowledge of the language (such as parts of speech and word collocation), their knowledge of the world, as well as a degree of common sense if they are to listen in a meaningful way. Simply doing practice papers is not sufficient to prepare students for the Listening Test or for future work/further study. Below are points considered by the markers to be useful in preparing for the Listening Test.

(a) Candidates should seek more exposure to authentic English, especially on television, the radio and the Internet. Such exposure can broaden candidates' general knowledge and keep them better informed of current issues and a diversity of topics while practising their English listening skills at the same time.

(b) Candidates should be exposed to a wider range of reading materials to enrich their vocabulary and help themselves to process information more efficiently.

(c) Candidates should pay more attention to spelling, sound discrimination, context and note-taking skills. (d) Candidates should make full use of the checking time to make sure that their answers make sense and are

legible. (e) On the part of teachers, some markers recommended more context-based dictations and the teaching of

phonics from junior forms to strengthen candidates' spelling ability. Teachers should also remind their students of the importance of keeping their handwriting neat and erasing unwanted words completely.

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Section B Writing

This paper requires candidates to write an essay of 500 words on one out of 4 discursive topics. Topics generally concern current affairs, and local issues, as well as more general questions. This year the majority of markers reported that two questions were especially appropriate as they both touch on candidates' experiences. Question 2 was deemed to be the 'most unsuitable' as most candidates who attempted the question failed to mention what the project was about.

Table 1 The popularity of essay questions and general comments on performance

Question Popularity General Comments

Candidates were required to write an essay 48% This was one of the two popular topics. For with appropriate title stating whether they A-level candidates, as this topic was highly should follow the wishes of their parents or be relevant to candidates' experience. However, guided by their friends when considering not many reasons given displayed maturity university education. They also needed to and sophistication. give three reasons to support their views.

Candidates were required to write a proposal to 10% This was the second least popular topic, suggest a project the government and members perhaps because it required some thought of the public might do together to create new provoking answers and it did not seem to have opportunities for young people. Three an immediate connection to candidates' reasons to support views were also required. experience.

Candidates were required to write an essay 8% This was the least popular topic, yet the better with a title to discuss views on the statement candidates had some creative and interesting 'There is no place like home' with reference to ideas to share. emigrating from their home country.

Candidates were required to write a letter to 34% This was the other popular topic that attracted the school newspaper describing the three most candidates of all abilities. The popularity of important personal qualities or skills they think the question might be explained by the the President of the Students' Union of their relevance of the issue to candidates' school school should have and giving reasons for their life. The recent Chief Executive election choices. helped to provide many relevant examples.

Problems with individual questions:

Question I

If candidates wrote that they listened to parents, the usual answers were they would do it out of respect, or because parents had lived longer and hence knew what to do, or parents always had their best interest in mind.

Those who chose not to take their parents' advice explained that they were not up-to-date with information on university education, or parents did not have a chance to go to university, or they had no communication with their parents because they worked late.

If candidates wrote they took their friends' guidance, the more common answers given were their friends were faced with the same dilemma so they had better knowledge on which faculty or university would be better, or friends knew them better than their parents.

• Those for parents wrote about friends being too young to know much.

• Those who wrote on listening to neither parents nor friends gave answers such as the need for independent action and thoughts, or to follow their interests and consider their abilities.

Though contents were mostly relevant, there were a lot of uninspired and repetitive answers.

Some candidates thought the question was about whether or not to attend university.

Question 2

As noted above, this question did not attract many candidates. Perhaps the topic required more creative answers and the concept of a project is difficult to grasp.

Most off-topic essays were about problems facing young people in Hong Kong nowadays or general government policies to give them help.

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• If a project was mentioned and name given, most candidates still did not give relevant details about the project, or wrote on what the government and members of the public could do together to make improvements.

• There were memorized essays on the plight of young people in Hong Kong.

Question 3

• The problem candidates had with this question was that they did not discuss the statement with reference to emigration.

• Some candidates talked only about the merits or drawbacks of life in another country but made no reference to the statement given.

Question 4

• This was the most popular topic, and attracted candidates with a range of abilities. Even though content was highly relevant, most candidates' answers were more or less the same.

Examples using Henry Tang's illegal basement addition or the Chief Executive Donald Tsang's extravagant expenses were used in many essays to illustrate honesty and integrity. Although these examples seemed repetitive, they were still relevant ones to aid elaboration.

• A small number of candidates wrote only on qualities of leaders in general with no reference to the election of a President of the school's Student Union.

Language errors

The problem with pronoun agreement as exhibited in Question 1 was serious. The topic was 'When considering your university education, should you ..... ' Most candidates used 'you', 'they', 'we' in one sentence with total disregard for consistency in pronoun use.

Commonly-occurring language errors include plurals, subject-verb agreement, tense, parts of speech, sentence structure, vocabulary, word order, word choice, etc.

• Spelling errors were especially rampant, examples like 'furture' (for future), 'lawer' (for lawyer), 'honesy' (for honesty), to name just a few.

Markers also commented on the use of inappropriate, overused, and wrongly-used stock phrases. These included 'by no means', 'a rudimentary problem', 'myriads of choices', 'last but not the least', 'in my point of view', 'it is no doubt', 'in contrary', 'it is ofparamount importance', 'it is crystal clear', 'be that as it may', 'it is patently clear that', 'students are the future pillars of society', etc.

General comments and recommendations

Although this is the last year of the AS-Use of English examination, good writing ability is still required in the new DSE writing paper. Students wishing to improve their writing ability are advised to read in English as widely as they can, including not only textbooks, or tutorial materials, but also good newspapers, magazines, and novels. They should also read the questions carefully before choosing a suitable one to answer. Mastering basic sentence structure and practising spelling are two basic steps before learning to use a variety of sentence types and stronger vocabularies.

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Section C Reading and Language Systems

General comments

This year's paper consisted of97 items divided into two parts.

Part 1 -Reading comprehension: " 1 reading passage

Part 2 - Language systems: " Multiple-choice cloze " Theme cloze " Matching exercise " Summary cloze " Proofreading exercise

15 multiple-choice questions

20 multiple-choice questions 11 multiple-choice questions 12 matching statements 18 open-ended questions 21 open-ended questions

Each item was worth 1 mark. Items in Part 1 were worth 6% of the subject mark and items in Part 2 were worth 12% of the subject marie

The mean percentage correct for all of Section C was 52%. In the multiple-choice questions, candidates scored a mean percentage correct of 54% compared to the open-ended section which had a mean percentage correct of 51%.

Part 1- Reading comprehension, Questions 1- 15

This part tests candidates' general reading skills. The reading passage was adapted from an article about sustainable architecture and how one school is using its building as a model for green design and education.

Candidates achieved a mean percentage correct of 60% in this part of the paper. A selection of items will be discussed below.

Item 4. This item tests information about the school's structural design:

The three-storey brick, steel and timber building will boast a soaring roof that will provide shade while allowing for facades that connect the inside with the lush landscaped courtyard outside.

4. According to paragraph 5, the school building will have which of the following features?

A. A three-storey building with a roof garden. B. A steep roof that keeps sunlight away.* C. A building constructed entirely of natural building materials. D. Facades connecting the building's interior to an enclosed wildlife area.

(21%) (22%) (15%) (41%)

22% of candidates were able to link 'soaring roof' and 'shade' with 'a steep roof that keeps sunlight away'. In contrast, almost twice as many candidates (41 %) chose option D, possibly because the word, 'facades' appears both in the text and in the distractor or they may not have understood the difference between 'a landscaped courtyard' and 'an enclosed wildlife area'.

Item 8. This item tests a less common use of the word, 'bank'. In the text, 'banks' is used in reference to the classrooms. Candidates were asked to choose which of the following definitions of 'bank' best fits the context given the in passage:

' ... zoned air systems will provide conditioned air to 'banks' of classroom spaces'.

8. The word 'bank' (in line 58) means ...

A. sloping raised land. B. a large mass of clouds. C. a row of similar things.* D. a place used to store things for later use.

(8%) (7%) (28%) (57%)

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•

28% of candidates were able to infer that 'bank' describes the physical arrangement of the classrooms. However, 57% of candidates chose the definition 'a place to store things for later use', possibly misinterpreting 'bank' as somewhere to store conditioned air.

Item 12. For this item, candidates need to compare the cost of building a green school and a conventional school.

It said green schools cost less than 2 per cent more than conventional schools to build and yet provide financial benefits that are 20 times as large.

In other words, building a green school costs more than building a conventional school, but the difference in cost is less than 2%. 44% of candidates choose the correct answer. However, 43% of candidates misread the text to mean 'a green school costs 2% less to build' and therefore chose option C.

12. According to research, the construction costs for green schools are ...

A. far higher than conventional schools. B. slightly higher than conventional schools.* C. slightly lower than conventional schools. D. far lower than conventional schools.

Part 2 - Language Systems

Multiple-choice cloze, Questions 16-34

(3%) (44%) (43%) (10%)

This exercise tests candidates' ability to identify the correct grammatical patterns and the meaning and appropriacy oflexical items. The text was taken from an article which supports the use ofblogs and online diaries in the school curriculum.

Candidates achieved a mean percentage correct of 59% on this part of the paper. A selection of items will be discussed.

Item 18. This item tests tense which could be worked out by the time indicator 'Eighteen months later' located in the sentence which follows the item:

'I _(18) _ a video podcast to entertain family and friends -just a little comedy series, ' he said. Eighteen months

later, 19-year-old Day boasts more than 30,000 subscribers ...

18. A. B. c. D.

make was made was making* was being made

(62%) (6%) (29%) (2%)

'Eighteen months later' signals that the previous the event occurred in the past. However, 62% of candidates chose the simple present tense, which suggests they may have read the sentence in isolation.

Item I 9. This item tests the use of a conjunction with almost half the number of candidates choosing the correct conjunction, 'and'. However, over half the candidates thought a relative pronoun was missing (34% chose 'who' while 22% chose 'which'). Some of these candidates may have been confused by the ellipsed subject, 'he'. The use of relative clauses in place of simply adjoining clauses, particularly where the subject is a person, seems quite a common error.

Eighteen months later, 19-year-old Day boasts more than 30,000 subscribers _(19)_ is one of Britain's most popular YouTubers.

19. A. and* B. but C. who D. which

(43%) (0%) (34%) (22%)

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Item 20. This item, testing vocabulary, proved challenging, even for strong candidates. 36% of candidates were able to choose the correct answer, option A. However, an almost equal percentage of candidates chose option D

over option A.

Armed with cheap video cameras and the internet, a generation of youngsters is growing up _(20) _ with online videos- and being failed by adults who are not paying proper attention _(2 1) _ this new medium.

20. A. publicizing B. very public C. very publicly* D. with much publicity

(22%) (0%) (36%) (35%)

While 'growing up with much publicity' is grammatical, publicity connotes special attention or promotion of something to the general public as opposed to 'publicly' which means simply in view of the public. D is not a correct description of how 'a generation of youngsters is growing up'. This item did not highly discriminate between candidates, which suggests that both stronger and weaker candidates had difficulty distinguishing the difference between 'publicity' and 'publically'.

Item 25. This item tests collocation. 35% of candidates were able to match the phrasal verb 'working out' with 'relationship'. 45% of candidates chose 'working for' while 16% choose 'working up'.

'Youngsters are _(25)_ their relationship to the outside world and forging an identity.'

25. A. working for B. working out* C. working to D. working up

(45%) (35%) (4%) (16%)

Item 34. This item also tests collocation. 26% of candidates were able to identify the correct verb that collocates with creativity, and this item was one of the best discriminating items of this section.

She offered the example of the US President, Barack Obama, who, as a presidential candidate, saw intense interest from young voters after he encouraged them to _(34) _ their creativity online, instead of simply dictating his ideas

to them.

34. A. exercise* B. test C. log on D. practise

(26%) (15%) (24%) (35%)

24 percent of the candidature who chose 'log on' might have been distracted by 'online', while 34 percent of candidates chose 'practise'. Clearly, a majority of candidates were not familiar with this collocation.

Theme cloze, Questions 36-46

This exercise is a discourse completion activity which tests candidates' skills in identifying a coherent flow of ideas and their ability to recognize the links between sentences and paragraphs. The theme of the text is about the 'brain­drain', or shift of well-educated people from developing countries overseas, and the effects of remittances and emigration on a developing country's economy.

Candidates achieved a mean percentage of 46% in this part of the paper. A selection of items will be discussed.

Item 36. This item tests whether candidates were able to identify the theme of the text. Almost one half of the candidature was able to choose the correct answer.

These are the kind of workers that countries like Britain, Canada and Australia try to

(36) A. avoid B. attract* C. promote D. tum away

(30%) (46%) (13%) (11%)

by using immigration rules that privilege college graduates.

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Item 38. This item was placed at the start of a new paragraph, and it serves as a transition between the ideas in the previous paragraph with the ideas in the next paragraph. Candidates need to comprehend the ideas in each paragraph as well as how the ideas are linked. In this case, the writer was attempting to contrast the ideas.

They fear that it hurts their economies, depriving them of much-needed skilled workers who could have taught at their universities, worked in their hospitals and come up with clever new products for their factories to make.

~ (38) A. This observation is well known and has been supported by many economists. B. Some people have never doubted this belief. C. Many people currently support this analysis. D. Many people now question this point of view.*

(25%) (9%) (II%) (55%)

Several economists reckon that the brain-drain hypothesis fails to account for the effects of money sent home, for the beneficial effects of returning migrants, and for the possibility that being able to migrate to greener pastures induces people to get more education.

Item 43. This item tests candidates' ability to follow the development of an argument, namely that remittances more than adequately cover the cost of education.

But a new study of remittances sent home by Ghanaian migrants suggests that on average they transfer enough over their working lives to cover the amount spent on educating them several times over. The study finds that once remittances are taken into account, the cost of education would have to be 5. 6 times the official figure to make it

(43) A. a profitable venture B. a losing proposition* C. financially stable D. financially lucrative

for Ghana.

(37%) (18%) (25%) (20%)

The text used a negative argument to support its point of view which may have confused the majority of candidates, who chose one of the distractors which expressed an affirmative argument.

Item 44. This items test candidates' ability to follow the flow and development of ideas. The main idea in this paragraph is that college graduates suffer from higher unemployment rates compared to those with less education because they are 'more demanding'. Candidates need to work out how migration may impact on these demands.

'Studies have found that unemployment rates among young people with college degrees ... are several multiples of those among the poorly educated, perhaps because graduates are more demanding. Migration may lead to

(44) A. a more productive pairing of people's skills and jobs.* B. increased employment opportunities for unskilled workers. C. increased difficulty for emigrants to find well-paid jobs. D. fewer job opportunities for graduates.

(32%) (31%) (19%) (12%)

A is the correct answer because there is no indication that the migrants are unskilled.

Item 46. This item requires candidates to choose which adverbial best summarizes the passage. 'Eventually' encapsulates not only the idea of 'in the end', but also the idea of 'over a period of time'. The other adverbials do not convey this more subtle meaning.

~ (46) A. Consequently, B. In summary, C. Eventually,* D. To conclude,

(34%) (6%) (49%) (12%)

migrants may return home, often with skills that would have been hard to pick up had they never gone abroad.

A is not the correct answer because the return of migrants with new skills is not a consequence of an increased probability of completing secondary school.

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Matching exercise, Questions 47-58

The exercise is designed to test candidates' ability to recognize cohesive devices and overall text organization. Statements about the health benefits of exercise were taken from various sources and candidates had to match up the correct pairing of statements.

Candidates achieved an average mean percentage correct of65% in this part ofthe paper which was the highest out of the six sections in this paper. The items which posed the most problems for candidates were items 48 and 49.

The correct pairing with Item 48 was Statement G:

48. Once you've got over worrying about looking daft or getting sweaty, think about all the positive reasons for being physically active.

G. Besides meeting new friends and getting a break from the stresses of life, you just might discover a talent you never knew you had.

Some candidates incorrectly matched Item 48 with Statement L:

L. It can help people with anxiety and depression, and might even prevent such problems from developing in the first place.

The 'anxiety' and 'depression' in Statement L better corresponds with 'mental wellbeing' in Item 49:

49. Physical activity can boost mental wellbeing and change your outlook on life.

In addition to the confusion between items 48 and 49 with Statements G and L, some candidates incorrectly paired Statement L with Item 58:

58. For some time now, it has been common knowledge that exercise is good for one's physical health.

Again, the benefits found in Statement L seem to fit well with Item 58. However, Statement J contrasts both the time period ('for some time now' versus 'in recent years') and categories of health (physical versus mental health) which makes Statement J fit best with Item 58.

J. However, it has only been in recent years that the role of exercise in promoting mental healthy has attracted a great deal of attention.

Summary cloze, Questions 59- 76

The summary cloze tests candidates' ability to paraphrase. Candidates read Version I of a text and then are required to restore the main ideas in a gapped summary called Version 2. The passage used for the summary close was a short excerpt adapted from a book by Alain de Botton titled, 'Status and Anxiety'.

Candidates achieved an average mean score of 3 7% in this part of the paper. Items for which less than 25% of the candidates scored marks are briefly discussed with reference to acceptable answers and frequently observed incorrect answers. ('Vl' refers to Version 1 of the text and 'V2' refers to Version 2 of the text.)

Item 61.

(Vl) a rise in the levels of status anxiety (concern about importance, achievement and income)

(V2) namely an (61) ______________ concern with prestige, achievement and salary.

Candidates had to paraphrase 'a rise in the levels of status anxiety'. Acceptable answers included 'increasing', 'increased', and 'escalating', and nouns with a similar meaning to 'a rise' but beginning with a vowel. Frequent incorrect answer included 'ordinary', 'increasingly', 'important'.

Item 63.

(Vl) ... modern populations have nonetheless shown a remarkable capacity to feel that neither who they are nor what they have is quite enough.

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(V2) Modern Europeans still feel (63) possessions ...

about their status and their

Candidates had to paraphrase 'neither who they are nor what they have is quite enough'. Acceptable answers must contain the notion of 'inadequacy' and to connect with how people feel about their status, i.e. 'insecure', 'anxious'. Common incorrect answers include 'insufficient', 'unsatisfied', 'worry'.

Item 65.

(VI) 'Such feelings of deprivation may seem less peculiar if we consider the psychology behind ...

(V2) These feelings of deprivation may be better (65) _________ if we consider the psychology behind ...

The answer for this item could be less explicitly worked out, and candidates had to spend more time making more complex inferences from text. Acceptable answers included 'understood', 'explained'. Some candidates used incorrect forms of 'understood' such as 'understand', 'understandable', understanding' clearly not realizing that modal passive form required a post participle. Another common mistake made was paraphrasing the meaning of 'less peculiar' with attempts such as 'nonpeculiar', 'inpeculiar' and 'unpeculiar'.

Item 67.

(VI) ... how prosperous we are in historical terms.

(V2) We live in a time of (67) ________ and yet ...

Candidates had to transfer the 'prosperous' to 'prosperity'. Other acceptable answers included, 'wealth', 'affluence'. A frequent incorrect answer given was 'history' or an incorrect form of the word 'prosperity', such as 'prosper', 'prosperation', or an incorrect spelling of the word, 'prosperty'.

Item 75.

(VI) There are people whose enormous blessing leave us wholly untroubled, even as others' negligible advantages become a source of relentless torment for us.

(V2) We are not bothered by millionaires and tycoons but by someone who has a (75) ______ _ ________ over us, ...

This item only required a simple transfer of the original text's plural noun 'negligible advantages' to version 2's uncountable one. Common incorrect answer included 'relentless torment', or 'similar condition/situation'.

Proofreading exercise, Questions 77 - 97

This exercise tests candidates' ability to edit a text. The article was taken from a news report about a sailboat constructed from recycled materials and its voyage across the Pacific Ocean in a bid to raise awareness of the perils of plastic waste.

Candidates achieved a mean percentage correct of 47% for this part. Items for which less than 25% of candidates scored marks are discussed below.

foot Item 77. The crew of the Plastiki, a 60-(ooted catamaran

Many candidates crossed out the definite article, 'the' in front of 'Plastiki'. Some candidates changed 60-footed to '60-foot~' or '60-feet'.

along !!during //on Item 7 8. that weathered fierce storms among its 8, 000 nautical-mile

Some candidates changed 'nautical-mile' into 'nautical-miles' wrongly treating it as a noun instead of a compound adjective. Another incorrect change was replacing 'weathered' with 'weathering', or inserting 'has/was' before 'weathered'.

threatening Item 89. threatened the world's oceans. He then considered

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A common incorrect correction made was to change 'oceans' to 'ocean' or world's to 'worlds'. The verb form of 'threatened' was also incorrectly modified to 'threaten' or 'threatens'.

includes Item 96. sugar cane and cashews, but include other materials too.

A common attempt to amend the text was by replacing the conjunction 'but' with 'and' or 'also'. Another common incorrect change was to replace 'include' with 'included'.

General comments and recommendations

Overall, Use of English Section C did well in discriminating between stronger and weaker candidates.

The open ended section of the paper proved to be somewhat easy for candidates with a mean percentage correct of 51% compared with 41% in 2011. The increase in the mean percentage score is likely due to the choice of topics selected for this section. Exercise, health and conservation of the environment are topics which are familiar to most candidates, and this might have reduced some of the cognitive reading load.

Candidates are encouraged to continue increasing their exposure to English Language in whatever ways possible. Different forms of media or developing an interest through the medium of English may motivate the second language Ieamer to improve their overall reading skills and appreciation for the language.

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Section D Oral English

The aim of this paper is to test the candidate's ability to speak in English. Candidates are required to give an individual presentation and to take part in a small group discussion.

Norm referencing is used and the candidate's performance for each part is assessed on a seven-point scale ranging from 1 (the weakest) to 7 (the strongest). The HKEAA's publication, Guidelines for Candidates, provides clear and detailed information regarding the format of the oral examination and procedures involved.

Part 1: Individual Presentation

Candidates are given 10 minutes to prepare for both parts of the examination. Ideally, they should spend about 8 minutes of this time preparing for the Individual Presentation, and the other 2 minutes jotting down key ideas for the Group Discussion. During the 8 minutes, they are expected to read a text of about 300 words, gain an understanding of the gist of the reading passage and note down some key points that they can use for the presentation.

Candidates should firstly acquire a comprehensive knowledge of the passage the presentation will be based on. This will enable the candidate to present the information in a calm and confident manner. Unfortunately, it was observed that some candidates started to jot down notes as soon as the start of the preparation period was announced, without reading the passage first. As in previous years, it was also noted that some candidates copied sentences or even large chunks of information indiscriminately from the original text, and then joined the points with linking expressions. Both approaches proved disadvantageous as candidates failed to either demonstrate an adequate understanding of the theme ofthe reading passage or inform their audience in a comprehensive manner.

At the other extreme, examiners noted several instances of candidates using only one or two points from the original text, sometimes from the first paragraph, and supplementing their presentation with a lot of personal opinions or information which was not directly relevant to the original text. It must be remembered that although a thorough comprehension of the reading passage is not absolutely necessary, each paragraph consists of ideas that generally contribute towards conveying the main theme of the text. It is expected, then, that a coherent, informative presentation must include pertinent and important information from the text.

A noticeable number of candidates read from their notecards. Genuine eye contact is necessary for an effective presentation and candidates who did not make adequate eye contact with their audience failed to communicate successfully and lost marks for their presentation.

Candidates' inability to pronounce commonly used words accurately continued to feature prominently in examiner feedback. Past reports have highlighted pronunciation errors and mispronounced words have been repeatedly identified, but it appears that candidates have not paid attention to this important aspect and have ignored advice given over the years.

General comments and recommendations

The observations in the above section have featured in previous reports as well. It is hence disappointing to note that candidates continue to disregard advice given and resort to the same ineffective strategies. Candidates will be well advised to note the feedback given and take into account the following recommendations.

Candidates must discern the underlying theme of the passage, identify the main and supporting ideas given in the four paragraphs, and paraphrase the information given. While preparing, they should make legible notes which can be referred to easily and use only keywords and brief phrases on the notecards to pre-empt the possibility of reading out aloud and reducing eye contact. Information from the text and individual input, such as feelings, personal opinions and background knowledge, should be incorporated in a coherent manner.

In terms of delivery, candidates should adopt a comfortable yet attentive posture, maintain eye contact and ensure they communicate the gist of their reading passage in an appropriately paced manner, be natural yet maintain an informative tone and pause at key points for emphasis. They can prepare for the examination by reading out aloud, recording such sessions and evaluating them individually or with peers, to identify and improve on weaknesses. Participation in public speaking events will enhance confidence and also contribute towards improved fluency.

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Part 2: Group Discussion

This part of the examination is a test of effective communication and interaction skills, and assessment focuses on the range of vocabulary and structures, fluency, intelligibility, effective participation and interaction, and meaningful contribution.

Candidates are given a situation and are asked to take part in a discussion with two or three other candidates. In addition to the l 0 minute preparation time before the examination, they are given 2 additional minutes to think about relevant information from their own and others' presentations as well as what they know about the topic themselves for use during the discussion. No writing is allowed at this stage of the preparation.

This year, a noticeable number of candidates overused formulaic expressions such as "Let's begin the discussion.", "Do you mind if I begin?", "What do you think?", "How about you?", "That's a good idea." and "Yes, I agree". These expressions in themselves are not incorrect, but candidates need to ensure that the situation warrants their use. Unfortunately when some candidates used these expressions, they were not only used inappropriately at times, but also constituted the candidates' entire repertoire of the English language.

Some candidates appeared to be more concerned with delivering their points, which they had also written out on their notecards, than listening and responding to what others had to say. This meant that they responded with irrelevant points during the discussion because they were simply not genuinely listening. They either repeated the points previously mentioned by other participants or if listening, summarized points without adding any ideas of their own.

Some candidates who were unable to comprehend either the situation or the task at hand tended to repeat points that they themselves raised in their presentations. Stronger candidates were able to supplement the information they gathered from their own passages and that of their fellow group-mates. This showed that they not only were listening to their fellow candidates' presentations, but they also had the ability to consolidate the points raised in the different presentations with their own knowledge of the issue being discussed.

General comments and recommendations

As mentioned before, candidates should spend some time during the initial preparation stage, that is, prior to entering the examination room (about 2 out of the 10 minutes), preparing for this part of the examination. After noting down some points for the individual presentation, it is advised that candidates return to the part of the notecard used for making notes for the group discussion and jot down any additional ideas that can be gathered after reading the passage.

Candidates should listen attentively to others' input and respond appropriately. By making effective use of information from their own and others' presentations and responding appropriately, they demonstrate awareness of good conversational strategies and ensure that they do not merely repeat others' points. Candidates who can support their points with relevant examples can engage their listeners' attention and make a favourable impression on their examiners. In general, using the language on a regular basis and keeping oneself informed about current affairs by watching TV, listening to the radio and reading the newspapers would benefit candidates immensely in this part of the examination.

It must be remembered that oral English is not something that can be compartmentalized and separated from other language learning activities. Rather, it extends over many situations throughout the school day. It is about the improvement of social skills like conflict resolution and sharing of ideas. Candidates should, therefore, make use of opportunities offered at school to cooperate in a small group, lead a discussion, and negotiate desired outcomes with peers. There are a range of events that happen on a daily basis at school and outside where motivated learners can use and improve their oral English. To conclude, good communication skills and language skills can be developed with constant practice and use, and can be empowering.

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Section E Practical Skills for Work &

In this year's paper, candidates had to assume the role of an employee at an arts fair company. They were asked to complete two writing tasks: to write a 400-word project description and a 300-word information email. Candidates had a variety of texts from which to select information to complete the tasks.

Task 1

In Task 1, candidates were required to write a 400-word project description to be included in a grant application form. They were instructed to cover the following information about the project: the company background, the company goals, project objectives, project outline, other added attractions and benefits of the project.

The Data File included a variety of texts for this task: an email, minutes from a meeting, a radio transcript, a news article, an online forum and a venue layout.

Apart from the ability to comprehend the source information, locate relevant content points and interpret and present them in order to fulfill the task requirements, this task also assessed candidates' ability to write accurately and to organize the project description using a tone and style appropriate for the purpose.

Candidates' mean score for this task was around 47%, slightly highly than that for Task 2 which was around 40%. There follows a discussion of candidates' performance in the different aspects of the task.

Content points

There proved to be a wide range of item difficulty in this task. Around 93% of candidates were awarded a point for the easiest item in the task (item 1.15). In contrast, slightly over 9% were awarded a point for item 1.31. Among the six sections that candidates needed to include in this task, candidates were most successful in items related to 'Company background and activities' (around 48%- 72%) and 'Added attractions' (around 46%- 76% apart from less than 10% for 1.21 ). Among the five source texts which provide the actual content points, candidates seemed to have more difficulty in accessing the online forum page.

Among the 32 content points, 11 items simply required candidates to locate, comprehend and incorporate information into their own writing. Of those 11 items, five were characterized as including explicitly stated information. The majority of candidates included these points. Three other items, where the information was still stated explicitly but where synonyms were used, were included by around half the candidates. The remaining three points appeared in the Data File in the online forum page and only around 40% of the candidates included these explicitly stated points.

Around 20 of the content points required some interpretation of the source data. In these items, candidates needed to incorporate the information into their own writing by adapting the language. Six of these items were successfully included by at least half of the candidates. As expected, more candidates managed to gain points for those items which were well contextualized and explained in the source texts. For instance, 1.23 and 1.24 are both related to examples of additional attractions. They were introduced as a successful experience from another fair. Candidates were told explicitly that these attractions would also be included in the project being proposed. Over 60% of candidates included these points. However, five content points were successfully included by less than 25% of candidates (1.8, 1.12, 1.20, 1.21, and 1.31 ). The information in these items was more embedded or required more thorough reading. The difficulty encountered by candidates in these items may also be related to the text type of the source information. For instance, 1.8 is included in the online forum page. Only just over 19% of candidates received a point for this item.

Two of the most difficult content points ( 1.21 and 1.31) required them to interpret and synthesize information. These points did not have explicit signposting words and required a fuller comprehension of the Data File and the task requirements.

Coherence and cohesion

The same detailed scale for this aspect of performance used in previous years was again adopted in order to facilitate the discrimination between candidates.

The mark distribution for Coherence and cohesion was as follows: 0 marks around 26%; 1 mark-around 49%; 2 marks-around 23%; 3 marks-around 4%.

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A total of little over 27% of the candidates were judged to have used more sophisticated cohesive devices accurately in making their project description reader friendly. Examples of such devices were the use of clear headings or topic sentences to introduce the different sections and the use of integrated connectives, advance labeling, substitution and general nouns instead of mostly non-integrated connectives as practised by weaker candidates. Only around 4 % of candidates were judged to have used a range of cohesive devices successfully and accurately. Performance of the stronger and the weaker groups can be demonstrated in the examples below.

Stronger candidates used a range of methods to link the ideas in their report correctly.

'Handi Handy Hong Kong (HHHK) is a community arts and crafts fair promoter which was established in 2008. Our company was set up by a local Hong Kong fashion designer, Josie Kwan and an Australian artist, Macey Revelle. Apart from Hong Kong, HHHK also has its branches in Sydney, Shanghai and Singapore. The activities that are involved in the company include holding art fairs, music festivals and school visits, etc. For example, HHHK has held the Teenage Jewellery Fair in Tai Wo Hau in Hong Kong.

Our company's goal is to give the local community of artists and designers space and opportunity to present what they can do. This has been achieved through holding various art fairs in the local community. The other objective of our company is to try to educate school children in Hong Kong. This has been done by visiting primary schools and to offer art workshops to raise the students' awareness about art. Apart from the above objectives, providing chances for local unknown and unjinanced artists to develop is another aim of our company. HHHK has set up the Moon's Milk studio in San Po Kong and free booking for the space for artists.'

Weaker candidates used mostly non-integrated connectives and section headings.

'Goals o(HHHK Handi Handy wants to hold an event for both amateur artists to display their creations next to

each other on an equal footing. So it will hold similar large scale fairs in Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai.

HHHK as one of the branches, wants to give the local community of artists and designers space and opportunity to present what they can do. So HHHK is going to hold the HKCEC in June.

Also, HHHK aims to educate Hong Kong School children by going round primary schools and offering art workshops to raise their awareness about art.

Main objectives o[the (air The first objective of the fair is to make ... Also, to give them a chance to appreciate .... Another objective is to help local artists to establish their name and products around Hong Kong. Moreover, the fair wants to get visitors and local people top go and see what Hong Kong can do

in the way of art work. Also, to give .... '

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

Candidates were assessed on their ability to manipulate source texts to create grammatically correct sentences through a wide variety of language adaptation/paraphrasing strategies. Such strategies included changing tenses, changing pronouns and the regrouping of points. The mark distribution for Grammatical range and accuracy is as follows: 0 marks- around 20%; 1 mark- around 52%; 2 marks-around 25%; 3 marks-around 4%. Around 52% of the candidates adapted the language simply by changing the tense and/or pronouns. The texts these candidates produced were, however, characterized by numerous errors. Around 27% of the candidates wrote generally accurately and used complex sentences when adapting. Only around 4% of the candidates were judged to have written highly accurately.

The following example shows how a stronger candidate manipulated phrases from the Data File (underlined) to create grammatically correct sentences through the use of a variety of language adaptation.

'Different workshops like letting people learn to paint on fabrics and jewellery-making will be held. Clothes. jewellery and ceramic work, like bowls and vases will be sold at the Fair. Apart from the workshops and stalls, we would invite local singer songwriters to perform for us.'

Though most scripts were intelligible, markers observed that many candidates made mistakes at the basic level. Common errors include number agreement, subject-verb agreement, tense and verb form. Two pieces of candidates' work are included here to demonstrate two levels of weak performance.

The first is an example of a candidate who sometimes adapted phrases from the Data File to create grammatically correct sentences though the text is characterized by errors.

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'In addition, there are added attractions that will encourage people to come to the [air. There will be some performance, such as the fire-eaters, the gymnasts cartwheeling and doing all sorts o[weired things. We also had workshops where kids can learn to juggle. We have other workshops which is people learning to paint on fabrics. There is also jewellery-making workshop. There is local singer songwriters singing on a stage. '

The second is an example of a candidate who used little of his/her own language and lifted chunks from the original texts. The comprehensibility of the text is undermined because of this.

'At the HKCEC fair, we had performance from the usual crowd favourites, the fire-eaters, the gymnasts cartwheeling and doing all sorts o[weird thing. We had people learning to paint on fabrics. And we also had workshops where kids could learn to juggle. That will be the added attractions.'

Appropriacy

A reasonably formal, informative and professional document was required for this task in order to create a positive impression for government officials reading the company's proposal. Only 9% of candidates were judged to have maintained a consistent tone and style. Around 38% the candidates showed very little awareness of the need to adapt the tone or style of the Data File materials to create an appropriate text and instead included phrases with an inappropriate tone. These included 'happen to wander around the area', 'doing all sorts of weird things' and 'lots of smiling happy face'. Some scripts included inappropriate openings, e.g. 'I am writing on behalf of Handi Handy Hong Kong (HHHK), which was ... '; and endings that directly ask for the funding, e.g. 'Please support us with funding'. Some candidates provided a complimentary close and signature as if it were a letter.

Relevance

Less than a third of the candidates managed to include only relevant information. Those candidates who were not awarded a mark for relevance included excessive detail, which often undermined the effectiveness of the writing. The task was to compile a brief project description. However, many candidates included details like delivery times of the fair, a detailed description of the venue layout and names of the food vendors thus showing little concern for the audience for the document or the document's purpose.

Task2

Candidates' mean score for the whole task was around 40%. This would seem to indicate that this task was slightly more challenging than Task 1 for most candidates.

In this task, candidates were asked to write an email to provide information to sellers who were going to take part in the fair described in Task l. The Data File included a variety of texts for this task: emails, minutes of a meeting, an extract from a terms and conditions document and an extract from a web page. To fulfill the task requirement, candidates needed to locate relevant information and write the email using Plain English. Candidates were told to organize the email using two major headings: before the day of the fair and on the day of the fair. They were reminded to include a section on useful things to bring, and to reiterate the loss and theft of goods policy.

Content points

The percentage of candidates who were awarded a point for related content points in this task ranged from over 68% for item 2.22 to around 11% for item 2.5.

Apart from locating the information, candidates needed to be able to categorize and synthesize the information and then use Plain English to prepare the email. The task proved to be extremely successful in discriminating candidates who could employ and manipulate the correct language to complete it. Over 60% of the candidates managed to get points 2.4, 2.12, 2.17, 2.18, 2.22. However, less than 15% managed to get points 2.5, 2.8 and 2.19. As we have seen in Task 1, the less demanding it was to adapt information from source texts, the better candidates managed and vice versa.

Content points for which the majority of candidates were awarded a point were those that simply required them to locate the information. The more challenging items were content points that required candidates to interpret the located information and have a concrete understanding of the relevance of the source information in relation to the completion of the task.

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For instance, only around 13% of candidates were awarded the point for item 2.8 although many more had actually located the point.

Source information: 'The sellers unloading their products was an absolute nightmare. We had this big traffic jam to deal with and half the stalls didn't open on time. I'd say they should be there an hour and a half before the opening time.'

Content point: 'vehicles should be there at latest by 8.30 or l.Shrs before opening' A stronger candidate's work: 'As the fair will open to customers at lOam, please be at the venue at 8.30am

because it takes a lot of time to unload the products. ' A weaker candidate's work: 'You should be there an hour and half before the opening time'

The first content point (2.1) assessed if candidates were able to include an appropriate email subject, a skill not well mastered by candidates in previous years. An appropriate subject illustrates candidates' understanding of the purpose of the task and who their target audience is. Only around 36% ofthe candidates were awarded a point for this item. Stronger candidates included subjects which were receiver-friendly, thus informing them of the overall purpose of the email. However, weaker candidates either included an inappropriate heading, covering only part of the content of the email, or did not include a heading at all.

Examples from stronger candidates:

'Information about the HKCEC Fair', 'Things to be notedfor the HKCEC Fair'

Examples from weaker candidates:

'What to do before and during the fair', 'To-do list for the Opera house fair'

Appropriacy- Tone and Style

One key skill assessed in this task was the ability to adapt the language from source texts written for other purposes to compile an email using Plain English. For that reason this aspect of performance was weighted heavily in this task, with 6 points being awarded. This area had also proved to be a weakness of many candidates in previous years.

Candidates were asked to write an email to be sent to sellers who had rented fair stalls from their company. Stronger candidates adopted a friendly but assertive tone. They built a link between themselves and the receivers by thanking the sellers for signing up to the fair or stating the purpose of the email or introducing themselves at the beginning of the email. They also used 'we' and 'you', active verbs, softening devices and simple imperatives when listing the guidelines. Weaker candidates tended to copy information from the Data File without making sufficient effort to write in the correct tone. Some parts of weaker candidates' emails were so inappropriate that they may have offended or annoyed the receiver if they had sent it in a real life situation.

To fulfill the task requirements, candidates were required to adopt a style consistent with the given advice. Stronger candidates used concise language, bullet points, section headings and everyday but not overly informal language. Weaker candidates usually used a similar layout but they either used over-official or over-informal phrases lifted from the Data File.

The examples below illustrate the appropriacy-related performance of stronger and weaker candidates.

A stronger candidate's work:

'Dear Sellers,

Thank you for taking up a stall in our upcoming fair held in the Hong Kong Covnention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC). The dates of the fair are confirmed as 2-3 June, 2012 (Saturday and Sunday), starting at I Oam and ending at 8pm. The following are information about what to do before and during the fair.

Before the Day o(the Fair 011 The venue is available for delivery and pick up of goods from 6:30am to 9pm on both days, and you

need a Vehicle Permit to do so. You can apply for one from our website before May 15 2012. 011 We can provide electricity sources at your stall. If you need one, you should submit your request to us

before May 15 2012. 011 We will be sending you an e-mail on the day before the fair (June 1 2012) with the weather forecast

for the weekend. Please remember to check your e-mail then.

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On the Day oft he Fair

Before Opening ® Please arrive at 6.30am on the day of the fair, and be set up and ready by 9.30am. ® If you are using vehicles for delivering your goods, please do not leave your vehicles in the loading

area. Otherwise, these vehicles will be towed away. ® Please do not bring children to the fair. If you have to, please keep them at your watch at all times.

Useful Things to Bring e A floor length cloth or similar for covering the table e Stationery items

• Drinks are not required as free water/tea/coffee is provided all day.

We hope to see you on the day of the fair. Please contact us for further assistances.

Regards, Sammy Yip Handi Handy Hong Kong

A weaker candidate's work:

'Dear all,

Please all of you should know following information: - All stalls must look well presented It is the responsibility of the stall holder to cover the table with a

floor length cloth or similar. In the unlikely event of the fair being cancelled owing to circumstances beyond the control of our company, such as inclement weather, requests for the refunding of rental charges will not be entertained All fair staff (including the sellers) are provide free water/tea/coffee all day. Owing to health and safety issues, stallholders are advised not to bring your children. Stationery such as pens, paper clips, post-its, drawing pin etc. will not be provided by our company. During the aforesaid period, a Vehicle Permit is required for loading and unloading of goods. Electricity for use at the stall shall be supplied to stallholders upon request: All requests should be summited to our company for prior approval on or before May 15 to be confirmed by our company. This big traffic jam to cope with and half the stalls didn't open on time. They should be there an hour and a half before the opening time.

- You should check your em ails the day before.

- You should bring plastic bags and bubblewrap and name card.

If you have any problem, please contact me.

Best regards, Sammy Yip'

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

Another skill assessed was the adaptation of language from source texts written for different purposes in an accurately written information email. Around 26% of the candidates successfully manipulated phrases from the Data File to create grammatically correct sentences while 24% of candidates were found to have used little of their own language throughout and so were awarded 0 points for Grammatical range and accuracy. The majority of the candidates, around 54%, adapted the language simply by changing the word order and using active verbs. However, weaker candidates' texts were characterized by numerous errors.

Examples showing the differences in candidates' performance:

Source information (2.11 ): 'All stalls must look well presented. It is the responsibility of the stallholder to cover the table with a floor length cloth or similar.'

Stronger candidates' work: 'Useful things to bring: -A floor length cloth or similar for covering the table. ' 'Cover the table with a full length cloth. ' 'Bring a floor length cloth to cover the table. '

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Weaker candidates' work: 'All stalls must cover the table with a floor length cloth or similar. ' 'During the fair, please look well presented. It is_sellers responsibility to sellers cover the table with

a floor length cloth or similar. ' 'All stalls must look well presented. It is the responsibility ofthe stallholder to cover the table with a

floor length cloth or similar. '

Coherence and cohesion

Around 39% of the candidates were judged to have created a coherent text. The conceptual links in these candidates' work between clauses and sentences were made clear giving the impression of a coherent text within each section. The examples above included under Appropriacy - Tone and Style demonstrate also the coherence and cohesion performance of a strong candidate and a weak one respectively.

Relevance

To make the email reader friendly, candidates needed to include content points selectively. Over 61% of candidates included irrelevant information such as under what conditions bookings would be rejected, the fact that there was no refund if the fair was cancelled due to bad weather, names of colleagues working in Singapore, and examples of previous incidents. Less than 39% of candidates demonstrated that they understood clearly the purpose of the task and included only relevant information in their emails.

Overall comments and suggestions:

Section E of the Use of English paper assesses candidates' language ability in completing work- and study-related tasks. These are multi-faceted tasks in which candidates are judged on different aspects of their language use. These judgments include understanding the task instructions, analyzing the needs of the audience, understanding the source data and presenting the writing accurately and coherently according to the requirements. This year, less than 5% of all candidates were judged to have manipulated the source texts successfully and to have written highly accurately. This may reflect the general need for training on language accuracy and range, vocabulary building, and paraphrasing. Candidates' performance in writing with an appropriate tone demonstrates the need for exposure to a wider range of text types. The following summarizes some suggestions from markers based on candidates' performance in Section E.

Understanding the purpose of the writing tasks

The writing tasks were designed to assess if candidates were capable of achieving a particular communication purpose through their writing. To do this, candidates were required to spend time on analyzing the task instructions instead of simply locating answers for reading comprehension questions. When reading a text, they were required to identify the target audience and appreciate the tone adopted so that they could apply the same skills in their own writing. They needed to master the use of formal and informal language so that the correct language can be adopted for the right purpose.

Grammatical accuracy and range

To be ready for further studies and work, Secondary 7 graduates' writing should be characterized by a wide range of sentence structures, complex noun phrases and accurate constructions in order for them to present their ideas precisely and effectively. Basic errors like spelling, subject-verb agreement, verb tense and word form are not acceptable. Candidates are encouraged to practise writing in English in a variety of styles and registers to improve the accuracy and the complexity of their language use.

Paraphrasing and reading comprehension

Candidates should work on increasing their range of synonyms, near synonyms and antonyms to enhance their paraphrasing skills. Improving candidates' syntactic complexity and mastery of noun structures may also be useful to their development of paraphrasing skills. Successful paraphrasing also relies on effective reading comprehension. The development of this skill is a long-term one and candidates should engage in meaningful reading tasks on a regular basis.

Coherence and cohesion

Candidates need to appreciate from authentic texts that the coherence of a text is not achieved by mechanically stringing ideas together using non-integrated connectives like 'firstly', secondly' or 'in addition'. Candidates are encouraged to draft an outline of the main content points before writing and then apply sophisticated cohesion methods to present the text in a reader-friendly manner.

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