First Certificate in English Examination Report
Syllabus 0102
June 2004
CONTENTS Page Website Reference
1
Introduction
2
Paper 1 - Reading
4
Paper 2 - Writing
8
Paper 3 - Use of English
14
Paper 4 - Listening
18
Paper 5 - Speaking
25
Feedback Form
32
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WEBSITE REFERENCE This report can be accessed through the Cambridge ESOL Website at: www.CambridgeESOL.org
© UCLES 2004 0102
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INTRODUCTION
This report is intended to provide a general view of how candidates performed on each paper in the June 2004 session, and to offer guidance on the preparation of candidates. The overall pass rate for Syllabus 0102 was 75.11%. The following table gives details of the percentage of candidates at each grade. 0102 PERCENTAGE 7.39 25.96 41.75 9.74 15.15
GRADE A B C D E
•
Grading
Grading took place during July 2004 (approximately six weeks after the examination). The five FCE papers total 200 marks, after weighting. Papers 1-5 are each weighted to 40 marks. The candidate’s overall FCE grade is based on the total score gained by the candidate in all five papers. Candidates do not ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ in a particular paper, but rather in the examination as a whole. The overall grades (A, B, C, D and E) are set according to the following information: • • • • •
statistics on the candidature statistics on the overall candidate performance statistics on individual questions, for those parts of the examination for which this is appropriate (Papers 1, 3 and 4) the advice of the Principal Examiners, based on the performance of candidates, and on the recommendation of examiners where this is relevant (Papers 2 and 5) comparison with statistics from previous years’ examination performance and candidature.
Results are reported as three passing grades (A, B and C) and two failing grades (D and E). The minimum successful performance which a candidate typically requires in order to achieve a grade C corresponds to about 60% of the total marks. Every candidate is provided with a Statement of Results which includes a graphical display of the candidate’s performance in each component. These are shown against the scale Exceptional – Good – Borderline – Weak and indicate the candidate’s relative performance in each paper.
•
Special Consideration
Special Consideration can be given to candidates affected by adverse circumstances immediately before or during an examination. Examples of acceptable reasons for giving Special Consideration include illness and bereavement. All applications for Special Consideration must be made through the local Centre as soon as possible after the examination affected.
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•
Irregular Conduct
The cases of candidates who are suspected of copying, collusion or breaking the examination regulations in some other way will be considered by the Cambridge ESOL Malpractice Committee. Results may be withheld because further investigation is needed or because of infringement of the regulations.
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Notification of Results
Candidates’ Statements of Results are issued through their local Centre approximately two months after the examination has been taken. Certificates are issued about six weeks after the issue of Statements of Results. Requests for a check on results may be made through the local Centre within one month of the issue of Statements of Results. Cambridge ESOL produces the following documents which may be of use in preparing candidates for FCE: • • • •
Regulations (produced annually, for information on dates, etc.) FCE Handbook (for detailed information on the examination and sample materials) Examination Report (produced twice a year) Past Paper Pack (available approximately 10 weeks after each examination session, including question papers for Papers 1-4, sample Speaking test materials, answer keys, tape/CD, and Paper 2 mark schemes and sample scripts).
Users of this Examination Report may find it useful to refer simultaneously to the relevant Past Paper Pack. This, together with further copies of this report, is available from the Centre through which candidates entered, or can be purchased using the order form online at www.CambridgeESOL.org If you do not have access to the Internet, you can obtain an order form from: Cambridge ESOL Information 1 Hills Road Cambridge CB1 2EU United Kingdom Tel:
+44 1223 553355
Fax:
+44 1223 553068
e-mail:
[email protected]
website:
www.CambridgeESOL.org
Feedback on this report is very welcome and should be sent to the Reports Co-ordinator, Cambridge ESOL, at the above address. Please use the feedback form at the end of this report.
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PAPER 1 – READING Part
Task Type and Focus
Number of Questions
1
Multiple matching Main focus: main points
6
Task Format A text preceded by multiplematching questions. Candidates must match prompts to elements in the text.
2
Multiple choice Main focus: detail, opinion, gist, deducing meaning
8
A text followed by four-option multiple-choice questions.
3
Gapped text Main focus: text structure
7
A text from which paragraphs or sentences have been removed and placed in jumbled order after the text. Candidates must decide from where in the text the paragraphs or sentences have been removed.
4
Multiple matching, Multiple choice Main focus: specific information, detail
14
As Part 1.
•
Marking
Candidates record their answers on a separate answer sheet, which is scanned by computer. Questions in Parts 1, 2 and 3 carry two marks each. Questions in Part 4 carry one mark each. The total score is adjusted to give a mark out of 40.
•
Candidate Performance
In general, candidates coped competently with the four task formats of the paper. Statistical evidence showed that the questions in all four parts provided a reliable assessment of candidates’ relative ability levels.
Part 1, Questions 1-6: A restaurant with a star owner This headings task, focusing on the understanding of the main points in the text, discriminated well between stronger and weaker candidates, with the best performance on Question 6. Candidates matched the heading ‘A balanced lifestyle’ with the notion in the paragraph that the restaurant work provided a ‘pleasant alternative’ to showbusiness for Leslie Caron. Question 2, however, caused more difficulty. Some weaker candidates failed to match the heading ‘The need to change direction’ with the phrases ‘it [the idealistic plan] all fell through’ and ‘our only hope was to start a business… a restaurant’. Instead, some of them chose options B or C. They were perhaps tempted by the word ‘another’ in B, although there is no idea of a ‘purchase’ in this paragraph, as the properties had already been bought some time before. It was instead a question of a change of use. Alternatively, some may have matched ‘Not the best solution’ (option C) with the notion that the original idea had fallen through. However, Leslie Caron says at the end of the paragraph that the restaurant © UCLES 2004 0102
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‘worked and I have no regrets’, which would make the heading inappropriate. This question discriminated well, as did the task as a whole. Part 2, Questions 7-14: Extract from a short story This four-option multiple-choice task focused on candidates’ detailed comprehension. This was the task on the paper in which candidates performed particularly well, especially on Questions 7 and 8. In Question 7, most candidates correctly concluded that it was not necessary for the Malseeds to advertise Glencorn Lodge, picking up on the word ‘still’ in the text. Some of the weaker candidates, however, chose options C and D, probably because they were connecting the ideas with ‘it hadn’t been a success’ which related to the four friends’ stay in another hotel. In Question 8, most candidates correctly associated option D with the idea of Dekko and Milly not being the characters’ real names. Some of the weaker candidates chose options B or C, possibly by matching the words ‘surnames’ or ‘nicknames’ in the options with the same words in the text, without paying attention to the meaning. Question 9 proved to be the most challenging. A number of candidates were attracted by option C (‘lived close to one another’). However, they failed to pick up on the important tense clues in ‘we… live quite close to the town where the Malseeds were…’. Additionally, C does not fit in with the sense of the paragraph as a whole. Some of the weaker candidates also chose option B, ‘preferred Ireland to England’. While it is clear from the text that the Malseeds do, the four friends love Ireland as a holiday destination, but do not state that they prefer it to England.
Part 3, Questions 15-21: In their natural habitat This gapped-sentence task, focusing on text structure, proved to be the hardest task on the paper. Questions 15 and 16 were the most challenging. Weaker candidates chose options B, C and D in Question 15 instead of the correct option, H. The previous sentence mentions ‘unforeseen problems’ which led stronger candidates to pick option H, in which the problem of vehicles getting stuck in the mud is mentioned. The words ‘rough existence’ in option B may have tempted some candidates, but the use of the pronoun ‘we’ should have discouraged them as the paragraph is clearly written from the journalist’s standpoint and there are no quotation marks. Option C deals with an analysis of the partnership and thus does not fit in this introductory section of the text. Candidates who chose option D failed to take notice of the time reference in ‘since then, they have learned to set aside four months on location’ which does not fit with ‘their present habitat’ in the previous sentence. Some candidates may have paid attention to the use of the present perfect in the paragraph and in option D, but concordance of tense alone does not make an option fit. In Question 16, a number of candidates chose option E instead of the correct option, A. This is incorrect as the beginning of the sentence, ‘In Africa, however…’, suggests a contrast with a location mentioned in the previous paragraphs, which is not the case. Candidates need to pay attention to conjunctions such as ‘however’, as they can mark changes in direction in a text. The correct option, A, fits in Question 16 because of the back reference to ‘this film’ and the reference to ‘cats’ – the leopards in the previous paragraph. Candidates did particularly well on Question 18. They correctly linked references to cooking in the surrounding paragraph with ‘diet’ and ‘pre-packed meals’ in the option. A few candidates chose option E, in which food is mentioned. This option does not fit with the previous sentences because of the difference in pronouns ‘we’ and ‘they’ and the previously mentioned ‘In Africa, however…’. Candidates need to remember to check not only that vocabulary items and ideas follow on, but also that the chosen paragraph fits with the text on both sides of the gap.
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Part 4, Questions 22-35: Changing Lives with a Stranger This multiple-matching task focused on candidates’ ability to retrieve specific information from the texts. Most candidates performed well on this task. Question 30 was particularly well handled. Candidates picked up the references in paragraph E to ‘the uniform’ and ‘people suddenly look up to you’ and linked them correctly with ‘the clothes she wore gained her more respect’. A few candidates, however, chose paragraphs A and B. Both paragraphs mention clothes but they are linked with having to choose what to wear and the advantages of wearing a uniform when performing messy tasks, rather than ‘respect’. Question 31 – ‘…was surprised at her own reaction to some aspects of the job’ – proved difficult for some candidates. They focused on the word ‘surprised’ and failed to pay attention to the word ‘reaction’. Thus some chose paragraph F because of the sentence ‘I was amazed at how much attention you give to one person’, where the ‘surprise’ is present but not her own reaction to the job. The correct answer, D, contains both elements, ‘I amazed myself by finding that it didn’t bother me’. In such cases, it might help candidates to underline key words in the questions first and then check back to see whether the section of the paragraph which they have selected contains all the key elements they identified initially.
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CANDIDATE PREPARATION
Teachers and students should note that no single FCE 1 paper includes all possible tasks or question types. The FCE Handbook lists all the task types which may appear on the paper. In addition to specific examination practice, students should be advised to read as widely as they can, with a range of reading purposes reflecting those sampled in the paper (retrieving relevant information, getting the ‘gist’, understanding detail, etc.). Many of the texts for the Reading paper are drawn from magazines and newspapers, rather than books, and students will benefit from being familiar with these types of text. Specific work on the identification, location and presentation of main ideas would benefit candidates in Parts 1 and 3. Focusing on the sequence of tenses in continuous text and extended noun/pronoun sequences would also be beneficial, particularly in Part 3.
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• DOs and DON’Ts for FCE PAPER 1 READING DO
make sure that you choose the correct option(s) when you find similar information in different sections of the text in Parts 1 and 4.
DO
read and re-read your answers in Parts 1 and 3, and be prepared to change your mind. If you find that none of the choices you have left fits, you may need to think again about the choices you have already made. Always be prepared to go back and check.
DO
read through the main text in Part 3 so you have a good idea of what it is about before you look at the extracts and choose any answers.
DO
think about the text before and after each gap in Part 3 and try to guess what is missing.
DO
pay careful attention to references to places, people and things (pronouns) in the extracts in Part 3. They must refer correctly to the nouns in the text before and after the gap.
DO
fill what you think are the easy gaps first in Part 3, and leave the problem areas until last.
DO
read through Part 3 after making your choices to check that everything makes sense. Check that linking words, tenses and time references all fit with the choices you have made.
DO
prepare for the FCE Reading paper by reading as widely as you can in English, both fiction and non-fiction.
DO
remember, in your personal reading as well as in the exam, you will not need to know the exact meaning of every word. Use clues like the title or any pictures to help you understand what a text is about, and then try to read for the main idea. Getting into this habit will help you to read quickly and effectively.
DON’T
choose an answer just because you see the same word in the text and in the question option (‘word-spotting’). In all parts of the paper, seeing the same (or similar) word in both text and question is no guarantee that you have found the correct answer.
DON’T
forget that in Part 3, introductory adverbs or phrases in the extracts must be connected with the ideas which go before the gap (e.g. ‘However’ must be preceded by a contrasting idea; ‘Another mistake we made...’ must be preceded by a previous mistake, etc.).
DON’T
forget that, if a Part 2 multiple-choice question is an incomplete sentence, the whole sentence must match the text, not just the phrase presented as A, B, C or D. The information in these options may be true in itself, but not work with the sentence beginning you are given.
DON’T
choose your answers too quickly in Part 3. Only start to look at the extracts when you have a good idea of what the main text is about.
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PAPER 2 – WRITING Part
Task Type and Focus
Number of Tasks and Length
Task Format
1
Question 1
1 compulsory task
Writing a transactional letter (formal/informal)
120-180 words
Candidates are required to deal with input material of up to 250 words, which may include graphic and pictorial material. Texts may include advertisements, letters, postcards, diaries, short articles, etc.
2
Questions 2-4 Writing one of the following: • an article • a non-transactional informal letter • a report • a discursive composition • a descriptive/narrative short story Question 5 Writing a composition, article, report or an informal letter on a prescribed background reading text
•
4 tasks from which the candidates choose 1
A situationally-based writing task specified in no more than 70 words.
120-180 words
Question 5 has two options
Marking
All scripts are marked by experienced examiners, who must attend a training and standardisation day before they commence any marking. Examiners award marks according to a General Mark Scheme, which has detailed Performance Bands from 0-5, where Band 3 describes a ‘satisfactory’ level. Within the bands, examiners place the script more exactly at bottom, mid or top of the band range, e.g. 3·1, 3·2, 3·3. These scores are converted to provide a mark out of 20 for each piece of writing. Examiners also use a Task-specific Mark Scheme for each question. This describes satisfactory Band 3 performance and covers content, organisation, range, register and format, and effect on target reader. Examples of the mark schemes are included in the FCE Past Paper Pack. Examiners work in small teams and are monitored and advised by Team Leaders, who in turn are monitored by the Principal Examiner.
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•
Candidate Performance
Part 1, Question 1 For this compulsory question, candidates were asked to write a formal letter to their college director about how a large sum of money should be spent to improve the college facilities. Most candidates found the question accessible and showed a clear understanding of what was required in terms of content and the need for formal language. They used a range of functions, and were appropriately courteous in disagreeing and commenting positively and negatively on different issues. Because they understood the scenario well, most candidates were able to link the individual points together clearly (points 2, 3 and 4 were connected). The fact that the candidates had obviously read the question carefully before they started writing showed that they were well trained in what was expected on this task. The majority of candidates had little difficulty in including all five points in the letter with the small number who missed out one or more points being penalised. The strong candidates expanded appropriately on the various points and used a consistently formal register throughout the letter. Weaker candidates occasionally mixed the register of the letter, starting with a formal opening, but finishing with something casual (e.g. ‘Hope you like my suggestions!’). Others interpreted the task as a letter of complaint, which was not appropriate. The word ‘money’ was often used wrongly as a plural (‘those money’). Candidates often make errors related to the concept of countable and uncountable words, and it is therefore useful for teachers to review this with their students before they sit the FCE exam. The first point caused few problems and most candidates used the prompt, as intended, to produce a positive comment about the gift (e.g. ‘useful’, ‘generous’, ‘kind’, ‘a great chance to improve the school’). This provided a good opening to their letters. Candidates covered the second point by disagreeing with the comment or by mentioning the sports facilities which already existed in the college. Both approaches were acceptable. Some candidates partly agreed with Mr Brown that there was a need for more facilities, but as long as they disagreed with the swimming pool idea, this was also acceptable. Some candidates linked this point to point 5, and this generally worked well. For the third point, answers were accepted which explicitly stated that the pool was not needed, or which implied this (‘the pool is not the best option’). Those who answered the point directly often continued with some good expansion, mostly explaining that there was a good public pool nearby which students at the college could use. Most candidates dealt with the fourth point well, expanding with plenty of reasons about why they wanted to keep the garden (e.g. ‘for relaxing in breaks’, ‘studying in the summer’, ‘playing sport’). The only misunderstanding was when students tried to ask a question (‘Could you explain why students like the garden?’). This was not accepted. The final point proved very straightforward for most candidates, and there was some excellent expansion. Suggestions included building a theatre, concert hall or library, extending the garden or improving the classroom facilities. Part 2 The most popular task was Question 4, the composition, chosen by 38% of candidates. Question 2, the report, was answered by 33% of candidates and Question 3, the article, was chosen by 27% of candidates. A minimal number of candidates responded to Question 5, the set text question. © UCLES 2004 0102
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Question 2 Candidates who answered this question well wrote full descriptions of their areas. Various interpretations of the word ‘area’ were accepted, which included towns, regions and even countries. Strong candidates gave a general description of their area, and went on to write about facilities, communications, entertainment, services etc. as well as future changes, which could be both positive and negative. It should be noted, however, that answers which were too negative in tone did not work well in terms of the underlying scenario, which was to attract the film company to the candidate’s area. Some strong candidates in fact referred directly to the film (‘If you want to make a good film, please come here in August, when we have our famous blues festival.’). The weaker candidates tended to give the impression that they were attracting tourists to the area, rather than a film company.
Unfortunately, there were a number of candidates who failed to address the second part of the question about future changes, and these were penalised. It is important that candidates are aware that all the points in a report question must be dealt with. In some cases, candidates mentioned disadvantages or problems instead of future changes. This was accepted if future changes were implied.
In terms of format, the report worked best if candidates divided their answer into headings such as shopping, restaurants and traffic. It was then possible to write about the advantages of the area, and potential changes in the future, under each heading. However, a variety of other approaches were used and accepted. For example, the future changes could easily be dealt with under a separate heading, or as a final paragraph. Question 3 The article about colour was generally well done, with candidates thinking the question through carefully and producing answers that were interesting to read. Article style was generally good, with eye-catching titles, rhetorical questions and effective lay-out. Most answers were very personal, and expressed strong views about what life would be like without colour, dealing very clearly with the second part of the question. Candidates had to address the first point, about their own favourite colour, as well as the second, but were not penalised if this was dealt with implicitly rather than explicitly.
Question 4 Candidates liked the topic of the composition, and produced some good answers, with a range of vocabulary and structure. Various approaches to the question were possible, but the key issue of who should be paid more had to be addressed, even if far more was said about one of the professions (normally doctors) than the other. Some candidates chose the enormous salaries paid to footballers as their starting point; this worked well provided there was a comparison made between the two careers elsewhere in the composition.
Questions 5a and 5b Question 5a was more popular than Question 5b. For 5a, successful answers were given relating to all the books on the list, some of them of a very high standard. There were also some good answers on 5b, with answers based on Round the World in Eighty Days, Pride
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and Prejudice and Ghost Stories. The candidates who answered these questions were well prepared, and clearly knew the book they had chosen well.
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CANDIDATE PREPARATION
As always stated in these reports, candidates must read each question carefully and carry out what is required, including the necessary points and keeping to the task set. Information about the target reader and the reason for writing is given in each question to help the candidate, and this should be borne in mind during classroom preparation. Working with past papers in pairs or groups, where students spend time identifying the reader, the text type, and the important content points, is all useful in planning what to write. It is often very instructive for students to work on a second draft of a homework answer. In this way, the teacher, or fellow students, can make useful suggestions regarding organisation, language, and content omissions. The second draft can then be compared to the first, which is not only instructive regarding weaknesses, but also builds confidence. Students should be encouraged to experiment with a wider range of language in the second draft, for example replacing any repeated words with near synonyms. Candidates who use a variety of adjectives rather than repeating the word ‘beautiful’ six times will usually score a higher mark. Classroom brainstorming of relevant adjectives and verbs with similar meanings can be useful preparation immediately prior to a homework assignment.
Part 1 In this type of task especially, students need to consider the ‘bigger picture’ of why they are writing, and be sensitive to the type of scenario described and whether formal or informal register is required. They should also be prepared to express their ideas using a range of functions within each letter, such as thanking, suggesting, explaining, offering, etc. Students should be encouraged to make a plan before they start writing, and should then think carefully about how to organise their ideas and what they can say on each point. It is good to explain to students how a content point can be developed, perhaps by the use of obviously contrasting sample answers, where one is only minimally expanded and the other includes good development. In class, paired discussion can often lead to more ideas for expansion. Where candidates develop the points, they generally score higher marks. Students should also be encouraged to make sensible use of paragraphing and use a variety of linkers. This is another reason for developing a plan prior to writing. In class, students could be given a text without paragraphs and asked to suggest paragraphs for it, or add appropriate linkers to it. They also need to be taught which linking words and phrases are appropriate to formal and informal letters. Finally, students should be aware of the need to write in a consistent register throughout the letter, using formal or informal language, as appropriate. Part 2 Students need to be trained in report writing, and the need to identify clear sections and appropriate headings for the task. Many students attempt to use invented statistics in this type of answer (e.g. ‘22% of people thought that…’). This is appropriate for the summing up of information collected in a survey, but not required for the type of report set as a task in the FCE exam.
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The special style and layout used in articles, which usually have catchy titles, rhetorical questions and lively tone, can be taught in class with the help of real material (coursebooks usually contain examples of them). The register of articles is generally less formal than that of compositions, and it is worth exploring in class colourful adjectives, adverbs and expressions that can be used in this kind of task. Students may be unfamiliar with composition as a type of writing, and may need to be shown examples written in a suitable style. Work can be done in class on how to organise and present an argument, and on the kind of linkers which are appropriate to introducing opinions and ideas and drawing conclusions in this context. There are many ways to incorporate a set text into classroom work, and parts of it can be assigned for homework. Students will benefit from reading on their own, both in terms of new vocabulary and the reinforcement of structures already learnt. Early examination in class of past papers will allow students to practise questions regularly, in relation to different parts of the book.
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DOs and DON’Ts for FCE PAPER 2 WRITING
DO
read the whole question thoroughly and highlight or underline important parts.
DO
make a plan for each answer, including ALL the points.
DO
expand the points in Part 1 if you can, using relevant ideas and information.
DO
write in paragraphs, whenever appropriate.
DO
use a range of vocabulary, even if you are unsure of the correct spelling.
DO
check tense endings, plural forms and word order in sentences.
DO
check irregular past tenses and question formation.
DO
use language that is appropriately formal or informal for the task type.
DO
choose a Part 2 question that you feel confident you can write about.
DO
write clearly, so that the examiner can read your answer.
DON’T
misspell key words which appear on the question paper.
DON’T
‘lift’ too much language from the question paper.
DON’T
mix formal and informal language.
DON’T
use formal linkers in an informal letter.
DON’T
waste time writing addresses for a letter, as they are not required.
DON’T
answer Question 5 if you haven’t read one of the books.
DON’T
worry if you run slightly over the 180-word limit.
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PAPER 3 – USE OF ENGLISH Part
Task Type and Focus
1
Multiple-choice cloze Focus: Vocabulary
15
A modified cloze text containing 15 gaps and followed by 15 four-option multiple-choice questions.
2
Open cloze Focus: Grammar and vocabulary
15
A modified cloze text containing 15 gaps.
3
‘Key’ word transformations Focus: Grammar and vocabulary
10
Discrete questions with a leadin sentence and a gapped response to complete using a given word.
4
Error correction Focus: Grammar
15
A text containing errors. Some lines of the text are correct. Other lines contain an extra and unnecessary word which must be identified.
5
Word formation Focus: Vocabulary
10
A text containing 10 gaps. Each gap corresponds to a word. The ‘stems’ of the missing words are given beside the text and must be transformed to provide the missing word.
•
Number of Questions
Task Format
Marking
Candidates write their answers on a separate answer sheet, which is marked according to a mark scheme and then scanned by computer. Questions 1-30 and 41-65 carry one mark each. Questions 31-40 are marked on a scale 0-1-2. The total score is adjusted to give a mark out of 40.
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Candidate Performance
Part 1, Questions 1-15: Shopping Malls Multiple-choice Cloze Candidates performed very well on this part of the paper, especially on Questions 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12 and 14. Interestingly, most of these questions were testing reading of the text at sentence level – it is encouraging that students were clearly responding to their classroom training and engaging fully with the flow of ideas through the text. On this occasion, the questions which candidates found more challenging were fixed lexical phrases such as ‘on a much grander scale’ (Question 7), ‘on the edge of the city’ (Question 13) and ‘growing in popularity’ (Question 15). Especial care should be taken when possible lexical combinations are wrong because of the context. For example, Question 9, option B, ‘parking lines’ might
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be a possible collocation in some contexts, but in this context there is a contrast with shopping areas. Another interesting common wrong answer was Question 15, option C, (‘raising’) – it seems some weaker candidates had not mastered the difference in grammatical use between ‘raise’ and ‘rise’. ‘Rising’ would, of course, have been correct. Part 2, Questions 16-30: Dictionaries Open Cloze In general, candidates performed less well on Part 2 than on any other part of the paper. The three most challenging questions (18, 24 and 25) were testing fixed phrases. It seems the phrases ‘a great deal’, ‘at one time’ and ‘make use of’ were not known by the majority of candidates. With Question 25, weaker candidates failed to spot that ‘use’ must be a noun because of the following ‘of’, and some of these even left the gap blank. More commonly, however, they put ‘can’. The most common wrong answers for 18 were ‘big’, followed by ‘small’ and ‘much’. This might suggest weaker candidates simply reached instinctively for the familiar collocation ‘big deal’, but stronger candidates were able to process the text around the gap. For the other challenging question (24), the most common wrong answer was ‘in’. It would seem that candidates find prepositions much more challenging when they occur as part of fixed phrases. Candidates performed particularly well on Questions 17, 19 and 21. Question 20 produced an interesting common wrong answer in ‘eventhough’, spelt as one word. In Question 30, spelling was an issue. ‘If’ was the most common answer but ‘whether’ was frequently misspellt as ‘weather’ or ‘wether’.
Part 3, Questions 31-40 ‘Key’ Word Transformations Candidates performed consistently well on this part of the paper, coping best overall with Question 32. The questions in this part contain both grammatical and lexical elements. Stronger candidates performed equally well in both areas. Weaker candidates made grammatical mistakes such as ‘was drove’ and ‘has being driven’ in Question 33, and lexical mistakes such as not knowing the correct form of a phrasal verb. In Question 31, some wrote ‘put at’ or ‘put in’, and in Question 35, some wrote ‘carried out’, ‘in’ or ‘with’, while others used a following infinitive. In Question 36, a relatively common mistake was to retain ‘prefer’ in the answer (‘would rather prefer’). In Question 38, some weaker candidates, perhaps translating from their own first languages, tried to impose a subjunctive structure where none exists in English – ‘possible that Jenny get’. It should also be said that a small number of candidates made mistakes in copying out their answers from the question paper to the answer sheet. Candidates who wish to write their Part 3 answers on the question paper should take great care in copying them out. Alternatively, they should consider writing the answers straight onto the answer sheet, and be given class time in which to practise this. Part 4, Questions 41-55: My Grandmother Error Correction Candidates coped very well with this task. Questions 41, 42, 43, 45, 49 and 52 were correctly answered by the majority of candidates. This was particularly pleasing in the case of Question 43, as this question appears challenging, given that ‘gives coffee to us’ would be correct. A significant number of weaker candidates put correct lines for Questions 47 and 48, whereas stronger candidates had no difficulty with distinguishing between ‘used to’ and ‘be used to’ (47) and with the use of ‘would’ to refer to past habit (48). There was also a notable difference between stronger and weaker candidates with Question 50. Weaker candidates tended to look at the words in the line as they occurred, judging ‘too’ to be the © UCLES 2004 0102
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extra word. Stronger candidates read at sentence level, spotting that the ‘too’ was necessary grammatically, given the continuation of the sentence. In Question 51, however, even some of the stronger candidates were tempted by the word ‘had’ in what was a correct line. Candidates should take care with this – the fact that a word could be omitted does not make it wrong. Extra words are all definitely wrong in this task. Part 5, Questions 56-65: Island in the Sun Word Formation This part of the paper was generally well answered, candidates coping particularly well with Questions 59 and 63. In the case of 63, this was particularly pleasing, as questions with negative prefixes have often proved challenging in the past. Similarly, it might reasonably have been predicted that Question 57 would prove particularly challenging – this is the only question where the change to the base word is internal rather than involving an affix – but in fact, candidates performed well on this question. Common wrong answers were of three types. This part of the paper also tests correct spelling, and misspelling was an issue in Questions 56 (‘delightfull’), 61 (‘anually’, ‘annualy’) and 65, where some candidates failed to spot that the letter ‘y’ in the verb must be changed in the adjectival form. Question 61, indeed, proved to be the most challenging question on the paper, possibly because of these spelling issues. The second type of common wrong answer was inventing words, perhaps based on candidates’ first languages. Thus, in Question 58, some weaker candidates produced ‘impressant’ and in Question 62, ‘stormful’. Thirdly, a small number of candidates produced words that were formed from the base word, but which did not fit grammatically or semantically into the text. Examples of this were ‘delighted’ in Question 56 and ‘impressing’ in Question 58. A small number of candidates misunderstood the task, and thought they were being asked to place the words in bold in the correct gap.
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CANDIDATE PREPARATION
In all the text-based parts of the paper, candidates should attempt as far as possible to engage with the whole text. They should keep asking themselves whether their answer makes sense at this point in the text. In Part 3, candidates sometimes lose marks for ‘over-transforming’ – that is, they change elements from the lead-in sentence needlessly and make mistakes in doing so. Alternatively, they introduce new ideas and write a new sentence that is too far in meaning from the lead-in sentence. In view of this, the best way for candidates to approach this part is always to get as close to the meaning of the lead-in sentence as possible. The task is simply to rewrite the lead-in sentence using different words. In Part 4, candidates should be aware that some lines look correct until the following line has been read and understood. It is important not to do the task ‘line by line’ but to follow the meaning of the text through the sentences. When preparing for Part 4, candidates should be made aware that extra words must definitely be incorrect because they do not fit the sense of the text or they do not fit grammatically. For example, in the sentence ‘I decided to go along to the party’ the word ‘along’ is perfectly correct, even though it could be omitted.
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DOs and DON’Ts for FCE PAPER 3 USE OF ENGLISH
DO
make sure in all parts that you put your answer by the correct number on your answer sheet.
DO
be sure to write individual letters clearly.
DO
be careful to spell the prompt word correctly in your answer for Part 3.
DO
read the lines in Part 4 carefully; sometimes a missing word may make another word wrong.
DO
make sure that an answer in Part 5 is based on the word at the end of the same line.
DON’T
use a pen to write your answers on the answer sheet.
DON’T
give alternative answers for any question.
DON’T
write more than 5 words in your answer in Part 3.
DON’T
change the prompt word in Part 3 in any way.
DON’T
leave the word which is in capitals in Part 5 unchanged.
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PAPER 4 – LISTENING Part
Task Type and Focus
1
Multiple choice
Number of Questions 8
A series of short unrelated extracts, of approximately 30 seconds each, from monologues or exchanges between interacting speakers. The multiple-choice questions have three options.
10
A monologue or text involving interacting speakers and lasting approximately 3 minutes.
5
A series of short related extracts, of approximately 30 seconds each, from monologues or exchanges between interacting speakers. The multiple-matching questions require selection of the correct option from a list of 6.
7
A monologue or text involving interacting speakers and lasting approximately 3 minutes. The questions require candidates to select between 2 or 3 possible answers, e.g. true/false; yes/no; three-option multiple-choice; which speaker said what, etc.
Understanding gist, main points, detail, function, location, roles and relationships, mood, attitude, intention, feeling or opinion 2
Sentence completion, note completion or blank filling Understanding gist, main points, detail or specific information, or deducing meaning
3
Multiple matching As for Part 1
4
Selection from 2 or 3 possible answers As for Part 2
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Task Format
Marking
Candidates write their answers on a separate answer sheet, which is marked according to a detailed mark scheme and then scanned by computer. Each question carries one mark. The total score is adjusted to give a mark out of 40. For security reasons, more than one version of the Paper 4 Listening test is made available at each session. As with all other FCE papers, rigorous checks are built into the question paper production process to ensure that all versions of the test are of comparable content and difficulty. In addition, for Paper 4, the marks are adjusted to ensure that there is no advantage or disadvantage to candidates taking one particular version. All texts and tasks were representative of what can be expected in future versions of the paper. In Part 4, three-way matching tasks and two-option tasks, as outlined in the FCE Handbook, may appear in future versions.
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Candidate Performance
Candidates performed well on all versions of the paper. In each version, no one part was significantly more difficult overall than another. This report is based on results from candidates who took version C of the Listening test.
Part 1, Questions 1-8 The eight short listening texts in Part 1 provide a range of text types and voices as well as a range of focuses across the eight questions. Candidates did not have too many difficulties with these questions, which are intended to provide a gentle lead-in to the test, although some did prove more challenging than others. The majority of candidates tackled the first two questions well, and Questions 6 and 7 were also well attempted by most candidates. The most challenging questions in this part of the test were Questions 4, 5, and 8. Question 4 was based on a conversation between two friends about a job interview, and tested candidates’ ability to recognise what feelings were being expressed by one of the speakers. The majority of candidates chose option A, presumably making a false inference from the young man’s comment that neither music nor football should be described as hobbies. Option B was also popular, and it may be that many candidates simply guessed the emotion being expressed without relating it to the reason why the young man felt that way. In Question 5, candidates heard a woman talking about a journey from Ireland. The task required careful reading of the options as, although B and C are plausible in the context, they are not actually stated here. Weaker candidates were spread fairly evenly across the three options, which can suggest candidates have resorted to guessing. In Question 8, a woman talks about living on her own, and candidates must match one of the multiple-choice statements with what she says. One of the incorrect options, B, was chosen by a high proportion of candidates, especially weaker ones. Perhaps the problem was that the key sentence in the text is not only the very first thing the woman says, but is also immediately negated by her, ‘...and hated it.’ The effect might have been for candidates to write this part of her experience off, as she appears to be doing. Part 2, Questions 9-18 This was a sentence-completion task based on an interview with a woman who is responsible for staff in a museum. Candidates often perceive Part 2 as being the most difficult section of the test, but their performance does not necessarily support this view. Certainly, there was a wide range of performance, but candidates in general coped well with the topic and tasks, with stronger candidates performing consistently better than weaker candidates. Of the ten questions, six were answered successfully by the majority of candidates: these were Questions 10, 11, 13, 14, 15 and 18. A few points are worth noting. Question 10 required an answer in the plural as this is what was heard on the recording. Some candidates lost the mark by writing ‘room manager’, and thus failing to fit their answer into the context. A common cause of failure in Question 13 was omitting the word ‘team’, ‘leader’ alone being too general in this context. Question 15, for which the simple answer was ‘orange’, had a large number of acceptable alternative answers (such as ‘orange coloured’). Finally, Question 18 was straightforward if candidates listened with great concentration, in
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order to find their way through a number of distracting dates to the one which answered the question. Questions 9 and 12 presented problems for weaker candidates, for different reasons. Many were perhaps unaware of the meaning of ‘natural history’, and consequently wrote either just ‘history’, or ‘national history’ as their answer to Question 9. And the answer to Question 12, ‘Japanese’, was accompanied by the names of other languages: careful and focused listening was needed to identify it as the correct answer – this question differentiated well between weaker and stronger candidates. Question 16 was quite poorly answered, even by stronger candidates. This was largely through failure to identify which of the two salary figures mentioned was the one required by the question, but it may also be the case that candidates simply need more practice in listening to more complex numbers. Finally, Question 17 was without a doubt the most demanding question, and it proved to be beyond all but the strongest candidates. Incorrect answers included ‘leisure card’, ‘free entrance’, ‘day (off)’ and ‘week (off)’. It may be that some candidates were unaware of the meaning of ‘off’ in this context and failed to connect it with ‘do not have to work’ in the question. Other candidates may not have heard the word ‘weekend’, focusing instead on ‘week’ and ‘day’ which they have heard earlier in the same sentence. Part 3, Questions 19-23 This was a multiple-matching task based on five short texts in which five different people talk about their favourite teacher. The topic and the texts were credible, and results suggest that candidates were able to relate to them without much difficulty. It is worth noting that the six summary sentences which candidates had to match to the five listening texts fell into two categories. Half were quite broad, general descriptions of a teacher’s practice – ‘...wouldn’t let me miss any classes’, ‘...trained me in useful skills’, while the others described one-off, specific examples of the teacher’s conduct – ‘...allowed me to break a school rule’, ‘...prevented me from making a mistake’. The preparation time allowed for candidates to read through the questions could have picked up on this kind of contrast, which has implications for what candidates try to identify as they listen. Perhaps the most significant feature of candidates’ performance in this part of the test is the contrast between the performance of stronger candidates and that of the weaker ones. In the case of the former, from the first question onwards there is virtually no distraction towards ‘wrong’ options, whereas weaker candidates were consistently attracted to a spread of options in each question. One explanation of this is clearly the format of the question itself. If you make the wrong choice in the first question, you also lose the potential use of that option in another question. In extreme cases, a couple of incorrect choices can produce a domino effect and result in five wrong answers. Question 19 sets the tone. Strong candidates chose option E, one of the very specific summary sentences mentioned above, whereas the weaker ones also opted in significant numbers for B and D. Question 20 was similar, with only option A tempting a few of the stronger performers away from the correct option, C, but A, D and F featuring substantially in the work of the weaker entrants. This pattern was even more marked in Question 21: again, the stronger candidates confidently and correctly chose A, with a small number preferring B, but the candidates identified as weaker opted in substantial numbers for every single one of the six options, suggesting that at this stage they were losing touch. The pattern in Question 22 was very similar, though less dramatically.
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Question 23 was a little different, in that a significant number of the weaker candidates chose option F, basing their choice on the distracting sentences ‘...if I didn’t like a teacher, I just missed their lessons. But I always went to Miss Ford’s classes...’. All in all, this was a demanding but fair Part 3 of the test, and one whose results clearly exemplified the range of performance among FCE entrants.
Part 4, Questions 24-30 This was a three-way multiple-choice task based on an interview with a man who works at an animal hospital. The task was generally successfully attempted, and only two questions stand out from the others as worthy of comment: Question 28, because it was so well answered – few candidates had any problems – and Question 26 for the opposite reason. It is difficult at first to see why Question 26 was so poorly attempted, even by stronger candidates. The question asked why it was more difficult to rescue the baby seal called ‘Pippa’. The text actually contains the words, ‘We were lucky that it wasn’t dark’, which eliminates option A. There were two factors which may have led to so many making the wrong choice: an unwarranted inference that because Pippa could not be seen, she was necessarily hiding, and a misunderstanding of the word ‘still’, used here in its meaning of ‘without motion’, but possibly assumed to be the time adverb closely related to the word ‘yet’.
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CANDIDATE PREPARATION
The Listening test is based on recorded material taken from various authentic contexts and is designed to test a range of listening skills. The test lasts about 40 minutes and contains 30 questions. There are four parts to the test, and a range of text and task types is represented. All instructions, rubrics, repeats and pauses are included on the recording, as is the copying time at the end. Candidates record their answers in one of two ways: in Parts 1, 3 and 4, candidates must choose the appropriate answer from those provided and mark or write the appropriate letter (A, B, C etc.) on their answer sheet. No part of the wording of the chosen option should be copied onto the answer sheet. In Part 2, candidates must write a word, a number or a short phrase in response to a written prompt, and only the candidate’s answer should be copied onto the answer sheet. Part 1 This part of the paper is designed to enable candidates to settle into the Listening test in a relatively gentle way. Unlike the other parts of the paper, they both hear and read the questions. Candidates should be encouraged to use the information contained in the contextualising rubric for each question to help them focus on what they are about to hear and what they are listening for. Some texts may target points of detail in the question, others call for elements of gist understanding. Speakers’ attitudes, opinions or feelings may also be tested (as in Question 4 above), or the focus may be on the topic, function or main point of what the speakers say. Candidates should listen carefully when the text is repeated, particularly when an option seems to be obviously correct, and is supported by an individual word or phrase used in the text. Careful listening to the surrounding text may reveal shades of meaning not appreciated at first. Additionally, teachers should give students plenty of practice in dealing with the
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range of text types and focuses (page 18), so that candidates are prepared for the varying character and pace of texts in Part 1. Part 2 In Part 2, candidates are required to produce written answers in response to various types of prompt. The task consists of 10 gaps in either a set of notes or a set of sentences. Texts may be either monologues or dialogues and a contextualising rubric sets the scene in terms of speaker(s), topic and context. Candidates should be reminded that questions are chronological, following the order of the information in the text. Adequate time is given for candidates to read the task before they hear the recording, and they should use this time to think about the type of information which is missing and the part of speech which is likely to fit in the gap. In preparing for this part of the test, candidates should be encouraged to practise writing the short answers which are required in a productive task. It is vital that candidates’ handwriting is legible, especially when writing vowels such as ‘a’ and ‘o’ which can be easily confused. The answer to Question 12 in this test was ‘Japanese’, and while some alternative spellings were accepted, there were candidates who lost the mark by failing to write the letters ‘a’ or ‘e’ unambiguously. It is also important that great care is taken to ensure that an answer fits and makes sense with what comes before and, if relevant, after the gap, and does not repeat information already included in the question stem. Most answers will be a single word, a number or a very short phrase, and candidates should be warned that writing unnecessarily wordy answers will almost certainly lose them marks. It is very unlikely that any answer will need more than four words and more often than not, questions can be answered using fewer. Where keys focus on numerical information, this may be written in number form and need not be written out in words. Occasionally, an answer requires two separate words, separated by ‘and’ in the box on the question paper. In this case, candidates may write their answers in either order (e.g. ‘drawing, painting’ or ‘painting, drawing’). Candidates are not expected to rephrase what they hear and should therefore focus on writing down the key information as it is heard in the text. They are not asked to reformulate language in note form in note-completion tasks, nor to make grammatical transformations from text to task in sentence-completion tasks. Some minor spelling mistakes are accepted if the meaning of the word is not changed, but the words and phrases tested are limited to those which candidates can reasonably be expected to spell correctly. Whatever the task type (sentence-completion or note-completion), the keys usually focus on concrete items of information such as ‘hotel’ and ‘orange’ in Test C, for example. Test C also contains examples of such factual items expressed in short phrases rather than single words: ‘room managers’ and ‘team leader’. Both US and British spellings are accepted. Part 3 In Part 3, the focus is on gist listening skills. Candidates listen to five short texts on a topic which is indicated in the contextualising rubric, and the task is multiple matching. Candidates should be encouraged to think carefully about the context and should use the preparation time to read the options; this will help them to know what it is they are listening for. In Test C, for example, the task focused on the speakers’ memories of their favourite teachers. Candidates should be encouraged to listen for the meaning of the whole text, and to focus on identifying which teacher is being described in each of the options listed.
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Candidates should be advised to make good use of the repetition of the texts, even if they have answered every question on the first listening. They may find that they need to change more than one answer if they discover a mistake, because one incorrect answer may have a knock-on effect on the other questions. Part 4 Candidates should be prepared to encounter any of the following task types: 3-option multiple choice, 3-way matching and 2-option tasks (TRUE/FALSE, YES/NO), as any of them could appear in any version. They should know that with all the task types, adequate time is given for them to read the questions before they hear the recording. In the multiple-choice task, candidates are given one minute to read through the questions. As in Part 2, the questions follow the order of the text. Each question focuses on one part of the text, and will generally test understanding of that whole section rather than isolated words and phrases. The questions may test points of detail, gist meaning and the understanding of opinions, feelings and attitudes. Candidates should be reminded that all three options in multiple-choice questions will include ideas and information from the text, but only one (the key) will combine with the question prompt to reflect the exact meaning expressed in the text.
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DOs and DON’Ts for FCE PAPER 4 LISTENING
DO
listen to and read the rubric. Make sure you understand what you are listening for and what you have to do.
DO
use the time allowed before hearing each recording to read through all the questions carefully, so you are prepared for what you hear.
DO
use the information on the question paper to help you follow the listening text.
DO
look carefully at what is printed before and after the gap in Part 2 and think about the kind of information that you are listening for. Write only the missing information on the answer sheet.
DO
write your answers as clearly as possible in Part 2; if in doubt, use capital letters.
DO
check that your idea of what the correct answer is when you first hear the recording is confirmed when you hear it for the second time.
DO
remember that any wrong answer you discover in Part 3 when hearing the recording for a second time may affect your other answers.
DO
concentrate on understanding in as much depth as possible what speakers say, especially in Parts 1, 3 and 4; don’t be distracted by individual words and phrases.
DO
answer all the questions – even if you’re not sure; you’ve probably understood more than you think.
DO
make sure that you copy your answers accurately onto the answer sheet.
DON’T
rephrase what you hear in Part 2; do write down the figure(s) or word(s) that you hear spoken.
DON’T
complicate an answer in Part 2 by writing extra, irrelevant information.
DON’T
spend too much time on a question you are having difficulty with, as you may miss the next question.
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PAPER 5 – SPEAKING Part
Task Type and Focus
1
Short exchanges between each candidate and the Interlocutor
Length of Parts
Task Format
3 minutes
The Interlocutor encourages the candidates to give information about themselves.
4 minutes
The candidates are in turn given visual prompts (two colour photographs) which they each talk about for approximately 1 minute. They are also asked to comment briefly on each other’s photographs.
3 minutes
The candidates are given visual prompts (photographs, line drawings, diagrams, etc.) which generate discussion through engagement in tasks such as planning, problem solving, decision making, prioritising, speculating, etc.
4 minutes
The Interlocutor encourages a discussion of matters related to the theme of Part 3.
Giving personal information; socialising 2
Long turn from each candidate, with a brief response from the other candidate Exchanging personal and factual information; expressing attitudes and opinions; employing discourse functions related to managing a long turn
3
Candidates talk with one another Exchanging information, expressing attitudes and opinions
4
Candidates talk with one another and the Interlocutor Exchanging and justifying opinions
•
Marking
The Speaking tests are conducted by trained examiners, who attend annual co-ordination sessions to ensure that standards are maintained. The Assessor awards marks to each candidate for performance throughout the test according to the four Analytical Criteria (Grammar and Vocabulary, Discourse Management, Pronunciation and Interactive Communication). The Interlocutor awards marks according to the Global Achievement Scale, which assesses the candidates’ overall effectiveness in tackling the tasks. These scores are converted by computer to provide a mark out of 40.
•
Candidate Performance
Candidate performance in this administration was consistent with that of December 2003 and historical norms. Feedback from Oral Examiners has been very positive and students, as always, were well prepared for this paper. Candidates who performed less well were those who did not listen carefully to the instructions, did not respond fully to questions asked or © UCLES 2004 0102
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who dominated the interaction. To perform well, a candidate should answer the task set and therefore should not be afraid to ask for repetition of instructions before embarking on the task. Candidates should be made aware that asking for the instructions to be repeated will not affect their marks in any way, whereas redirection by the examiner once the task has begun may affect their performance. Part 1 This part of the test focuses on areas with which the candidates will be familiar (e.g. personal experiences, work and education, leisure activities, travel and holidays, etc.). It gives the examiners their first impression of the candidates and it is therefore important that the candidates speak naturally and with appropriate detail. One word responses are inadequate and will affect the score for Interactive Communication. Candidates should also be advised not to prepare long responses to questions they feel they may be asked as this often means that they do not answer appropriately. This tactic does not lead to effective Interactive Communication, and is noticed by examiners. Candidates who have not met prior to the test should not feel concerned, as feedback from examiners indicates that this does not affect performance in this or any other part of the test. Part 2 The tendency in this part of the test is for weaker candidates to focus on the pictures without listening carefully to the task set by the examiner. Simply describing the two pictures often results in the candidate producing a limited range of grammar and vocabulary, and is unlikely to provide enough to talk about for a full minute. Candidates will always be asked to compare, contrast ‘and say... (something specific about the photographs)...’. They should listen very carefully for the ‘and say...’ so that they complete the task and are able to continue for the full minute, using a range of language appropriate to this level. Candidates should not feel concerned if the examiner interrupts as this simply means that they have talked for the allotted time. It is important for candidates to start talking as soon as they can in order to make full use of their long turn.
Comments on Released Test Materials Painting and Decorating As can be seen in the sample paper, the first picture shows a group of workmen who are removing graffiti from the walls of buildings in a street, and the second, a woman painting a wall in her living room. Candidates were asked to say why they thought the people were painting the different walls. A strong candidate will have used the pictures as a springboard to answering the task along the following lines: ‘In the top picture I can see some men who are painting the walls because some people have written on them and the street doesn’t look very nice. There’s a lady walking past with her two children and she’s looking at the men. The men are very busy and are doing a good job. I think it’s important for them to do this because it makes the town look better. The problem is that some people will probably come and write on the walls again when they have finished. It’s a pity. The other picture shows a lady who is painting in her living room. There’s a mirror on the wall and you can see her in the mirror. She’s on a ladder because the walls are high. I think she’s painting her walls because she wants to have a change. The walls were white and now she’s making them pink. I don’t like the colour very much. I think the walls were better when they were white and I don’t know why she’s doing it! I think she’s wasting her time!’ It should be noted that candidates were not expected to come up with lexis above the level, such as the word ‘graffiti’. Tasks are not designed to test specific items of vocabulary, and candidates should not tell the examiner that they don’t know certain words, but should employ tactics such as © UCLES 2004 0102
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paraphrase in order to complete the task. This candidate moved on to the second part of the task and related the question to her own experience. Responses which were restricted to a description merely of what candidates could see in each picture were inadequate. Candidates who did this tended to have problems completing their long turn or ran into difficulties with lexis. Natural World Candidates were given pictures of people spending time in the outdoor world in different and rather dangerous situations. The first showed a man sitting on the edge of a mountain top, above the clouds, with his tent pitched next to him. The second showed a group of people white water rafting. Again, candidates were not only expected to describe the two photographs, but to say why they thought the people had chosen to go to these different places. Candidates who performed well produced answers along the following lines: ‘The first picture shows a man at the top of a mountain. He’s sitting looking at the view which is really beautiful. There are mountains covered with snow so it looks like a cold place. He has been camping because he has a small orange tent next to him. I think he has chosen to go to this place because he likes climbing and maybe he works hard every day and has a very busy life, and so he wants to spend a quiet time on his own. I would really like to see a view like that, but I don’t think I would like to go on my own, especially if it was for a long time because then I would feel very lonely and I would miss my friends. In the second picture, there are some people in a boat and it looks very dangerous. There is water everywhere and the boat might turn over. I think they have chosen to go here because they like doing dangerous things because it’s exciting. They are quite young and maybe it’s a sports holiday. I think it would be really good to be in that boat and I would like to try it one day but only if I have a good teacher!’ Again, candidates who failed to move beyond a description of the two photographs performed less well.
Part 3 The aim of this part of the test is for candidates to discuss the task outlined by the examiner as fully as possible, and to work towards a negotiated outcome in the time available. In this part of the test candidates are always invited to do two things. They are required to respond to and give their views on a range of visual prompts, then to come to a negotiated decision. The wording of the rubric is: ‘First talk to each other about….. . Then decide….. .’ Candidates, presented with the visual stimulus, sometimes fail to hear the first part of the instructions, which is in fact the bulk of the task. Candidates who performed less well were therefore those who made their decisions very early on in the interaction, without first considering and discussing as fully as possible the range of suggestions presented to them and, as a result, ran out of things to say. Candidates should listen carefully for the words, ‘First talk to each other about...’ and to internalise the task set. As already mentioned in the section on candidate performance, candidates should be made aware that they will not lose marks if they need to ask the examiner to repeat the rubric. To perform well in this part of the test, candidates should be able to take a full and active part in the interaction, making use of the range of visual prompts available, expressing their own views clearly, listening to their partner and developing their partner’s comments. However, candidates should be aware of the importance of inviting their partner to respond, ensuring that both candidates take an equal part in the development of the interaction. Candidates are expected to negotiate an outcome and should not be concerned if they do not agree. Disagreeing in a friendly way can be an effective part of Interactive Communication. However, strong disagreement can undermine their partner’s confidence and an overbearing © UCLES 2004 0102
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candidate may lose marks. Candidates should make full use of the time available, starting promptly and finishing only when the examiner interjects. They should not feel concerned if they are asked to stop as this will probably mean that they have talked for the allotted time. Comments on Released Test Materials Careers Talks Work and jobs is a familiar area for candidates and this task proved popular, candidates generally finding plenty to say. The task required candidates to imagine that the headmaster of a school had invited some people to come and talk about their jobs. Candidates were given seven pictures showing the different people who had been invited: a nurse, engineer, chef, scientist, porter, artist, post office cashier. Candidates were asked to talk about what was good or bad about the different jobs and to decide which three jobs would be most interesting to hear about. As in other tasks, some candidates were tempted to start with the second part of the task, e.g. ‘I think the artist has the most interesting job because...’. Candidates who did this often performed less well because they came to their final decision without having fully explored the alternatives. Candidates should not have felt concerned if they were unable to make use of the full range of visual prompts but they should have managed to discuss several pictures before making their decision. Candidates should discuss the different ideas offered as fully as possible in the available time and come to a negotiated decision towards the end of their three minutes, rather than making a decision at the outset, which may lead to them running out of things to say. In this case, candidates should have discussed each picture together saying what they thought was good or bad about all the different jobs. For example, with the nurse, candidates could have commented on the positive aspects of helping people and caring for them, seeing someone get better and the negative aspects of long hours, some of the work not being very pleasant and so on. Then, having explored the advantages and disadvantages of all the different jobs in turn, candidates should have attempted to come to a negotiated decision as to which three jobs would be most interesting to hear about. Candidates were not penalised if they ran out of time and failed to come to a final decision. Part 4 In this part of the test, candidates are given a further opportunity to demonstrate their language ability by engaging in a three-way discussion with their partner and the examiner. It also provides an opportunity for examiners to redress any imbalances in turn-taking that may have occurred in other parts of the test. It is therefore vital that candidates offer more than a minimal response and take the opportunity to initiate discussion as well as answer the examiner’s questions. Candidates who performed well in this part of the test were those able to develop and illustrate the topic by giving their opinions and talking about the reasons behind them, thus demonstrating a range of vocabulary. Comments on Released Test Materials Candidates generally performed well and spoke fully on the task ‘Careers Talks’. They were able to discuss whether or not they thought it was useful to hear about different people’s jobs and how well they thought schools prepare young people for work. They were also able to talk about the sort of jobs people do in their area. Candidates were then asked to speak more generally about the importance of being happy at work, the difficulties of finding a job and the best age to make decisions about the job you want to do in life. They found it harder to talk about some of these issues and sometimes had less to offer. Candidates should be reminded that there is no right or wrong answer and that they are being marked on the language they use, not on how well they justify their opinions. Candidates sometimes feel © UCLES 2004 0102
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that the questions sound as if they merit a more sophisticated response than they feel able to give and are therefore reluctant to respond. They should be encouraged that this is not the case and that their contribution will be appropriate if it provides an appropriate response to the question asked. Candidates will find however, that there are certain questions that they are less familiar with or have not considered before, and these questions are likely to result in shorter answers. This is natural in any interaction and will not be penalised. Candidates should therefore try not to be thrown by an unfamiliar question but should give a short confident response and give fuller responses to other questions asked.
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CANDIDATE PREPARATION
Candidates are expected to take a full and active part in the test. It is important, therefore, that candidates seek as many opportunities to practise their spoken English as possible, inside and outside the classroom. ‘Exam training’ can help with nervousness, and candidates certainly benefit from being familiar with the different parts of the test, but this is no substitute for a genuine interest in the language. Candidates who put themselves in a position where they need to use English on a regular basis are likely to perform well. Part 1 For this part of the test, candidates will benefit from finding opportunities to practise talking about themselves (their likes and dislikes, personal/educational history, present circumstances, plans and hopes for the future, etc.). Part 2 Candidates can improve their performance in this part of the test by choosing pairs of thematically-linked photographs, practising comparing and contrasting them, and going on to talk about the theme in a more general way. Candidates should time themselves to check that they are able to keep going for a full minute. Without practice, candidates may find it difficult to speak for a full minute in the test. Candidates should attempt photographs with which they may be less familiar, and try to talk for a minute on a question related to the photographs. For example, in the 2003 materials there was a task entitled ‘Speed’ where candidates were asked to compare a picture of an old woman moving slowly beside a donkey with one showing an urban scene with cars travelling much faster. They were asked to talk about how important they thought it was to travel fast. Candidates should not be put off by unfamiliar topics, but should be able to address the task set, in this case talking about times when it is pleasant to be able to travel slowly, enjoying the peace and quiet and the scenery, and times when it is very necessary to travel at speed, for example in order to get to work on time. As mentioned earlier, candidates are not expected to know lexis beyond the level of FCE, the word ‘donkey’ in this case, but need to learn strategies for coping when items of vocabulary are unknown. Part 3 The best preparation for this part of the test is for candidates to practise taking part in discussions in small groups, so that all candidates have the opportunity to take the floor. Candidates with a quieter disposition should be encouraged to develop strategies to ensure they are able to take their turn. Stronger candidates should be encouraged to invite opinions from others. Suitable thematic areas for discussion can be found in FCE coursebooks and should relate to the candidate’s own experience rather than more abstract concepts (see the FCE Handbook for a list of topic areas).
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Part 4 As in Part 3, candidates will benefit from being given as many opportunities as possible to give their opinions on a range of issues, and to expand on their views while inviting opinions from others and responding to them. As with the more challenging questions in the task ‘Career Talks’, candidates need to learn to respond confidently, even if answers are short, and should be discouraged from making responses such as ‘I don’t know’, ‘I’m not sure’ or ‘I haven’t thought about that’.
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•
DOs and DON’Ts FOR PAPER 5 SPEAKING
DO
familiarise yourself with the focus, function and procedures of all parts of the test.
DO
take every opportunity to practise your English in groups and pairs both inside and outside the classroom before the test.
DO
listen carefully to instructions given and questions asked throughout the test and focus your answers appropriately.
DO
ask for repetition of instructions if you are unclear about what you should do.
DO
speak clearly so that both the Assessor and the Interlocutor can hear you.
DO
make sure that you talk about the additional ‘and say...’ task in Part 2, when comparing and contrasting the photographs.
DO
respond to your partner’s contributions and invite your partner to contribute in Parts 3 and 4.
DO
make use of opportunities to speak in all parts of the test and give extended contributions where you can.
DON’T
prepare long responses in advance. You are unlikely to answer questions appropriately.
DON’T
try to give your views during your partner’s long turn.
DON’T
try to dominate your partner or to interrupt him or her in an abrupt way.
DON’T
make frequent pauses and hesitations during the interaction or during your own turn.
DON’T
worry if you disagree with your partner in Parts 3 and 4. As long as you are polite and not overbearing, this is all part of interactive communication.
DON’T
worry about being interrupted by the examiner. For administrative reasons, it is important that tests do not overrun.
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FEEDBACK FORM
FCE Examination Report June 2004 – 0102
We are interested in hearing your views on how useful this report has been. We would be most grateful if you could briefly answer the following questions and return a photocopy of this page to the following address: University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations Reports Co-ordinator 1 Hills Road Cambridge CB1 2EU Fax:
+44 1223 460278
1.
Please describe your situation: (e.g. EFL/ESOL teacher, Director of Studies, Examinations Officer, Local Secretary, etc.)
2.
Have you prepared candidates for FCE?
YES/NO
3.
Do you plan to prepare candidates for FCE in the future?
YES/NO
4.
How have you used this report? (e.g. to provide feedback to other teachers, for examination practice, etc.)
5.
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6.
Which parts are not so useful?
7.
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8.
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Thank you.
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