Section outline
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Transcript and commentary
Example candidate response transcript – middle
Role play card 6 transcript
Teacher/examiner: Bonjour Mademoiselle. [The teacher/examiner begins the first question as printed.]
Candidate: Bonjour. [The candidate responds naturally but this is not a requirement of the task.]
Teacher/examiner: A quelle heure arrive votre taxi ? [The teacher/examiner asks the first set question.]
Candidate: Le taxi arrive à le quatre heures. [A clear appropriate answer, although a brief answer would also have been appropriate here. The incorrect definite article is a minor error and does not impede communication.]
Teacher/examiner: Où allez-vous aujourd’hui en taxi? [The teacher/examiner reads the question exactly as printed.]
Candidate: J’ai allé … j’ai allé … [The candidate attempts an answer but gets into difficulty.]
Teacher/examiner: Où allez-vous aujourd’hui en taxi? [The teacher/examiner repeats the question to give the candidate the opportunity to work for the available marks.]
Candidate: J’ai allé où avec mes amis. [An irrelevant answer. It seems the candidate has not understood the interrogative où.]
Teacher/examiner: Hier, qu’est-ce que vous avez fait comme activités à notre hôtel ? [As the teacher/examiner has already repeated question 2 once, she moves on to the next question.]
Candidate: Nous avons joué au tennis et nous avons fait de la natation et nous avons mangé beaucoup de nourriture. [The candidate gives three pieces of relevant information in the correct time frame when one piece of information would have been enough. Short, appropriate answers are preferable in the role plays to avoid errors leading to ambiguity.]
Teacher/examiner: Que pensez-vous de votre chambre ? [The teacher/examiner reads the first part of the question and marks the pause in the script to give the candidate time to answer.]
Candidate: Ma chambre est très claire et le … le … ma chambre est très claire et très grande et très confortable et le scenery de mon chambre est très belle. [The first part of the candidate’s answer would have been enough to fully complete this part of the task. But the extra information contains details that make the response as a whole ambiguous.]
Teacher/examiner: Pourquoi? [The teacher/examiner reads the second part of the task.]
Candidate: Parce que le hôtel est un près de un océan et parce que est très belle. [Again, the candidate gives more detail than she needs to, but some relevant information is communicated.]
Teacher/examiner: Voudriez-vous revenir dans cette région l’année prochaine? Voudriez-vous revenir dans cette région l’année prochaine ? [The teacher/examiner repeats the question before giving the candidate time to respond. It is important to give candidates time to hear the question and process the information before repeating if necessary.]
Candidate: Oui, je … [The candidate begins her response.]
Teacher/examiner: Pourquoi? [The teacher/examiner asks the second part of the task.]
Candidate: Oui , j’aime revenir dans cet hôtel parce que est très bon et nous avons beaucoup s’amuser dans cet hôtel. [This answer indicates that the candidate had understood the first part of the question. But the verb errors in the justification lead to ambiguity as the time frame is incorrect.]
Teacher/examiner: Très bien. Merci. Maintenant on va passer au premier sujet de la conversation. [Clear end to the role play and transition to the first Topic conversation.]
Topic conversation 1 transcript – Topic 3 Les loisirs
Teacher/examiner: Le thème c’est les loisirs. [Clear announcement of the first topic.]
Teacher/examiner: Qu’est-ce que tu fais souvent comme passe-temps ? Qu’est-ce que tu fais souvent comme passe-temps ? [The teacher/examiner repeats the question before giving the candidate time to respond. It is important to give candidates time to hear the question and process the information before repeating if necessary.]
Candidate: Je fais écouter de la musique et je jouer au basket et nous avons joué pendu et je visite le parc. [Several relevant details. Some ambiguity due to incorrect verb forms.]
Teacher/examiner: Le soir, après les devoirs qu’est-ce que tu fais en famille ? [The teacher/examiner reformulates the question slightly. Each question should be asked exactly as printed.]
Candidate: Nous avons regardé la télé et nous avons mangé les bonbons et nous avons parlé avec nos jours et nous avons joué le X-Box. [Again, this is a good attempt to add extra detail, without repeating vocabulary from the previous response. But there is no range of connectors to link ideas and the incorrect time frame leads to ambiguity.]
Teacher/examiner: D’accord. Parle-moi de ce que tu as fait le weekend dernier pour t’amuser avec tes copains. [The teacher/examiner reads the question exactly as printed.]
Candidate: Le weekend dernier nous avons allé à la … un parc d’amusement et nous avons joué beaucoup dans le parc d’amusement. Et après le amusement parc nous avons allé à le restaurant et nous avons mangé le poulet, du riz, le ratatouille et nous avons boire jus de fruit. [The candidate has recognised the need for a past time frame although there are some errors of conjugation. She communicates several pieces of information, but the response remains factual with no opinions or justifications.]
Teacher/examiner: A ton avis, les loisirs sont-ils importants pour les jeunes ? [The teacher/examiner could have asked the candidate for more details in answer to Task 3 to encourage some simple opinions and/or explanations.]
Candidate: Oui … [The candidate begins an answer but is hesitant.]
Teacher/examiner: A ton avis, les loisirs sont-ils importants pour les jeunes ? [The teacher/examiner repeats the first part of the Task.]
Candidate: Oui le loisirs est très important. [A short answer indicating the candidate has understood the question.]
Teacher/examiner: Pourquoi? [The Teacher/examiner asks the second question of task 4.]
Candidate: Parce que est-ce assiste moi relaxer et pour le travailler lendemain. [The candidate has understood what is required but has difficulty expressing her ideas.]
Teacher/examiner: A l’avenir, quels autres passe-temps voudrais-tu essayer ? A l’avenir, quels autres passe-temps voudrais-tu essayer ? [The teacher/examiner moves on to the first part of task 5 without an extension question to encourage a simple opinion on the importance of hobbies. She repeats the question immediately before giving the candidate time to respond.]
Candidate: Je … je lis les bandes dessinées et je … je me regarder le laptop. [It is unclear whether the candidate has fully understood the question. The verb errors lead to ambiguity, as does the interference from another language, although les bandes dessinées is good vocabulary.]
Teacher/examiner: Pourquoi voudrais-tu essayer ces passe-temps ? [The teacher/examiner asks the second part of Task 5.]
Candidate: Parce que après les devoirs je me relaxer et je … je me garde. [The candidate’s answer contains an attempt at a relevant justification, but the time frame and vocabulary errors lead to ambiguity.]
Teacher/examiner: D’accord. On passe maintenant au deuxième thème de la conversation. Le sujet c’est le travail. [Clear end to Topic conversation 1 and transition to Topic conversation 2.]
Topic conversation 2 transcript – Topic 5 Le travail
Teacher/examiner: Qui travaille dans ta famille? [The teacher/examiner reads the first question as printed.]
Candidate: Mon père travaille dans ma famille. [Clear, straightforward answer. No attempt at development.]
Teacher/examiner: Le soir, combien d’heures de devoirs fais-tu ? [The Teacher/examiner reads the question as printed.]
Candidate: J’ai six heures de devoirs et j’ai beaucoup de devoirs dans l’école. [The candidate gives an appropriate answer and adds an extra detail. There was the opportunity here to give an opinion about homework: too much / not enough / easy / difficult, etc.]
Teacher/examiner: Parle-moi des matières scolaires que tu as étudiées l’année dernière. [The teacher/examiner reads the question as printed.]
Candidate: J’ai … [The candidate begins an answer but is hesitant.]
Teacher/examiner: Parle-moi des matières scolaires que tu as étudiées l’année dernière. [The teacher/examiner repeats the question.]
Candidate: L’année dernière j’étudie les mathématiques parce que j’ai beaucoup de … de devoirs dans les mathématiques et j’ai finissais les devoirs … derniers. [The candidate has understood the need for a past time frame. She tries to give an explanation but errors in verbs and word order lead to ambiguity.]
Teacher/examiner: D’accord. Est-ce que tu penses que les études supérieures sont nécessaires pour trouver un bon travail ? [The teacher/examiner reads the first part of task 4 as printed.]
Candidate: Oui le … [The candidate begins an answer but is hesitant.]
Teacher/examiner: Est-ce que tu penses que les études supérieures sont nécessaires pour trouver un bon travail ? [The teacher/examiner repeats the question.]
Candidate: Oui l’écoute supérieure est nécessaire pour le travail [There is clear ambiguity in this response. The mistaken use of écoute in place of étude makes it unclear whether the candidate has understood the question.]
Teacher/examiner: Pourquoi? [The teacher/examiner asks the second part of task 4. Given the ambiguity of the candidate’s response to the first part the Teacher/examiner could have asked the alternative question provided.]
Candidate: parce que le … est très assiste pour le continuer un promotion dans le travail et … [The candidate attempts an answer but does not have the necessary command of the language to express her ideas.]
Teacher/examiner: Dans l’avenir, aimerais-tu travailler à l’étranger? Dans l’avenir, aimerais-tu travailler à l’étranger? [The teacher/examiner reads the question as printed. She repeats the question immediately before giving the candidate time to respond.]
Candidate: Oui, j’aimerais travail dans l’étranger [A clear, straightforward answer in the correct time frame with no explanation or opinion.]
Teacher/examiner: Pourquoi? [The teacher/examiner asks the second part of task 5.]
Candidate: Parce que j’aime le travail [A simple opinion but it does not really answer the question.]
Teacher/examiner: Est-ce que tu peux me dire un peu plus? [The teacher/examiner asks an extension question to encourage a fuller response.]
Candidate: Parce que moi et mes amis travailler dans le office [The candidate tries to give a justification, but it is unclear from this response whether she has fully understood the question and again there is interference from another language.]
Teacher/examiner: Okay. Quelle profession tu veux faire plus tard ? Quelle profession tu veux faire plus tard? [As the conversation has lasted less than 3.5 minutes the Teacher/examiner asks a further question on the same topic. She repeats the question immediately before giving the candidate time to respond.]
Candidate: Je veux un commencer et j’aime le commencer parce que j’ai commencé le commencement pour le dernière année et le … [A very ambiguous answer giving no indication that the candidate has understood the question.]
Teacher/examiner: D’accord. Est-ce que tu penses aller à l’université dans ton pays ou dans un pays étranger ? [The teacher/examiner can ask up to 2 further questions at the end of the 5 set questions up to a total time of 4 minutes. This must be the final question of the conversation.]
Candidate: Je pensais le … [The candidate attempts an answer but hesitates]
Teacher/examiner: Est-ce que tu voudrais faire tes études dans ton pays ou dans un pays étranger? [The teacher/examiner repeats her final question with a slight reformulation. It is not an entirely different question so this can be permitted.]
Candidate: Je pensais dans un pays étranger parce que est assiste pour mon étudies supers … supers et le lycée pour un travail bon. [The basic message is communicated but the attempt at a justification is unclear.]
Teacher/examiner: D’accord. Merci beaucoup. Votre épreuve est terminée. [The teacher/examiner ends the conversation and the examination.]
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Moderator comments - Role play
Role play card 6
Conduct of the testThe teacher/examiner identifies herself and then, as required, gives the candidate number and name followed by the date. (This has been edited out.) She then reads out the role play card number. This should be done for all candidates. The teacher/examiner then greets the candidate using the prompts provided.
The scenario is read out clearly, exactly as printed in the instructions.
Tasks 1-4 are read out precisely as printed, at a good pace and clearly. Task 2 is repeated once by the teacher/examiner as the candidate is struggling to reply. On task 4 the [PAUSE] in the script is respected and the candidate has time to respond before the next part of the task is read out. On task 5, which also has two parts, the teacher/examiner reads the first part but immediately repeats the question before the candidate has the chance to respond. The question should only be repeated if the candidate is clearly unable to respond. The teacher/examiner asks the second part of the task too quickly.
After the role play has finished, the teacher/examiner correctly announces in French that it is time to move on to the topic conversations and gives the title of the first topic.
Centres should note that the role play does not need to be timed.
Candidate response
Mark awarded for task 1 = 2 out of 2 The response communicates an appropriate answer and is unambiguous.
Mark awarded for task 2 = 0 out of 2 The candidate misunderstands the question and gives an irrelevant answer, eventually saying who she went with rather than giving a destination.
Mark awarded for task 3 = 2 out of 2 The candidate understands the question well and also develops her answer well. All the verbs are in an appropriate time frame.
Mark awarded for task 4 = 1 out of 2 The candidate gives several messages which are relevant (some with minor errors) but introduces a word in another language during part of the task which leads to ambiguity.
Mark awarded for task 5 = 1 out of 2 The candidate does not recognise the future time frame (a conditional tense is used). There is a notion of wanting to come back expressed and an attempt to say why. The message is only partly communicated in language which is not totally appropriate to the situation and contains more than minor errors.
Total mark awarded = 6 out of 10
Moderator comments - Topic conversationsTopic 3: Les loisirs
Topic 5: Le travail
Conduct of the testThe timing of this topic starts as the first question is asked. The first question is read out clearly but is repeated immediately before the candidate has time to answer. The teacher/examiner changes the interrogative form on the question on task 2 but reads out tasks 3 correctly. On task 4, the teacher/examiner repeats the initial question straight after the candidate responds “oui”. A little more thinking time could have been given to the candidate here. There is, however, a chance given by the teacher/examiner for the candidate to give a fuller statement in support of her thinking that leisure activities are important before the teacher/examiner moves on and asks for a reason why. The teacher/examiner does not make use of extension questions to encourage the candidate to develop her responses and does not ask any further questions of her choice on this topic. The timing on Topic conversation 1 is consequently too short.
The teacher/examiner then announces in French that she is moving to the second topic. The questions on tasks 1 and 2 are read out as printed. On task 3, the candidate starts to respond but falters and the examiner repeats the question quite quickly. The teacher/examiner also repeats tasks 4 and 5 quite quickly. On task 5 the teacher/examiner makes use of an extension question and invites the candidate to add to her answer. The teacher/examiner is aware that the timing is short and that she needs to ask up to two further questions of her own on the same topic. She asks a first question about the candidate’s desired future profession and then asks her a further question about whether she wants to study abroad (which is quite similar to the set question on task 5). As this question is not immediately understood by the candidate, the examiner rephrases it slightly rather than just repeating her original question. The speaking test ends after 4 minutes of conversation on the second topic.
After the response to the last question, the teacher/examiner thanks the candidate and ends the test.Candidate response
On the first topic, the candidate understands some questions quite well and attempts a response to all of them but there is frequent ambiguity of message due to the time frames used in her responses. Although she can recognise and use a past time frame appropriately (as in task 3), there are some inaccuracies which impede communication in responses to other questions. Her performance is inconsistent, and the responses sometimes require an effort to understand fully on the part of the listener.
On tasks 1 and 2, the time frames used in responses sometimes lead to ambiguity. In Task 3, the candidate recognises the time marker of le week-end dernier and makes some successful attempts to respond relevantly. The information given however is very factual. There is an attempt at an explanation in task 4 but there are no opinions expressed. The response to task 5 is ambiguous due to the candidate not recognising that the question points to a future time frame. She does however always try to develop her answers to all the questions and the examiner does not need to resort to the use of the alternative questions to elicit an answer.
In terms of language, the candidate is sometimes aware of appropriate time frames and attempts to answer some questions not just in the first person singular. There is evidence of her using some time frames appropriately and accurately and she also shows that she can conjugate some verbs in past tenses in plural forms. Her use of vocabulary is satisfactory but there are errors. Her pronunciation is also generally satisfactory despite some errors.
Overall, at this point on the first topic the performance would be at the top of the 'Satisfactory' level for Communication and Quality of Language. It should also be noted that she shows that she can understand questions quite well without needing alternative questions and she always attempts to develop her answers which is one of the descriptors for the 'Good' level. This needs to be taken into account when deciding upon a final mark for the two topics together.
On the second topic of le travail, the candidate answers the first two tasks quite well, but on the remaining tasks she seems to show less understanding of the questions. The answer to task 4 is very ambiguous and there is only partial communication on task 5. Her responses on the two further questions are at an equal level of performance. She does attempt to convey some simple ideas on this topic but there is little explanation of them and there is some irrelevance. In terms of language, the candidate shows only a limited awareness of future and past time frames and finds such structures difficult to use accurately. The use of tenses is insecure. There are also gaps in her vocabulary at times which prevent her from expressing her ideas. Generally, the performance on this second topic is weaker than on the first topic.
The two topics are awarded one global mark for both topic conversations. The best fit over the two topics would put this performance at the top of the 'Satisfactory' level for Communication and in the middle of the 'Satisfactory' level for Quality of Language.
Communication Mark awarded = 9 out of 15
Quality of Language Mark awarded = 8 out of 15
Total mark awarded = 23 out of 40
Moderator comments (Whole test)
How the teacher/examiner performance could improve
The candidate is clearly and correctly identified by the teacher/examiner and the test itself is conducted in a calm and sympathetic way. The teacher/examiner has prepared her role but needs to leave adequate time for her candidates to process her questions and to respond before repeating the questions in both the role plays and topic conversations. It is also important to adhere precisely to the wording of the questions in the instructions, to ensure fairness to all candidates.
The transition to the conversation topics is done efficiently but the teacher/examiner should make more use of extension questions, especially during the responses to tasks 3, 4 and 5 on the topic conversation tasks. More use of extension questions and use of further questions could be made on the first topic to make sure that the timing was taken up to the full 4 minutes. On the last topic, the second further question asked was very similarly to one of the set questions, and this may have confused the candidate. A different question should have been used. In the preparation time for the teacher/examiner before the test it is well worth the teacher/examiner making a list of differentiated questions on each conversation topic which do not crossover with set questions. Care needs to be taken with further questions to avoid the need to rephrase them. Further questions should enable candidates to explore different aspects of the topic and cater for candidates of different abilities to show what they know and can do, and should be clearly and carefully worded.
It is also advisable to make sure that candidates themselves realise that there is a hierarchy of difficulty in the set questions on each topic and that the first two tasks do not require tenses other than the present tense to be used.
How the candidate performance could improve
To improve, the candidate needs to have more practice in identifying the time frames used in questions, as the verbs used in response to questions were often insecure across the tenses in their conjugation in the first person. This would help to ensure that a correct time frame is used, which would help improve marks for both Communication and Quality of Language. Work on associating appropriate time frames with time markers could help here, e.g. À l’avenir with a future time frame, la semaine dernière with a past time frame. The candidate also needs to be able to express more simple opinions and start to connect simple ideas with some simple connectors. Further work on giving simple reasons for an action would also add interest to the performance. Thorough learning of vocabulary for each topic would also help the candidate to avoid the use of words in another language for commonly met words.