Section: Topic 5 | 0530 Spanish ECR Speaking (2021)

Low level response

Whole test - click to listen

Example candidate response transcript – low

Role play 2 transcript

Teacher/examiner: Vamos a empezar con la prueba. Est as en Panama. Vas a la comisaría porque te han robado el pasaporte. Hablas con el agente de policía. Yo soy el agente de policía. ¿Cómo se llama? [Teacher/examiner sets the scene using the prompts provided and doesn’t stray from the booklet script]

Candidate: Uhm… ¿Puedes repetir por favor? [Good use of target language]

Teacher/examiner: ¿Cómo se llama? [Teacher/examiner repeats the question as per procedure. The Teacher/examiner can repeat any role play question if the candidate does not understand or does not hear the question].

Candidate: Me llama Nathan [slight error with verb ending but this does not impede communication due to the reflexive pronoun and name given, it’s clear he’s understood the question].

Teacher/examiner: ¿De qué país es usted? [Teacher/examiner asks first part of the question only, allowing the student to respond before reading the second part].

Candidate: Mi país es en Panama

Teacher/examiner: Vale ¿Con quién está en Panama? [Student hasn’t understood the question, Teacher/examiner reads the next part]

Candidate: Uhm… en Panama estoy…

Teacher/examiner: ¿Con quién está en Panama? [Teacher/examiner repeats the question as it’s clear the candidate hasn’t understood. This is good practice].

Candidate: En Panama quiero…

Teacher/examiner: ¿Y cuántos días va a pasar aquí? [When it is clear the candidate is unable to respond, the Teacher/examiner moves on].

Candidate: seis días [Appropriate vocabulary. Short answers are perfectly acceptable for the first two role play questions. Students are encouraged to develop answers in questions 3-5 to meet the time specified].

Teacher/examiner: Vale ¿Cuándo le robaron el pasaporte?

Candidate: … La semana pasada [Accurate time phrase]

Teacher/examiner: ¿Y dónde? [Good delivery of the separate elements of the question]

Candidate: A la playa [Accurate location]

Teacher/examiner: ¿Qué va a hacer aquí en Panama?

Candidate: En Panama… fui… fui en el mar con mi familia [Accurate activity but incorrect time phrase]

Teacher/examiner: ¿Qué va a hacer aquí en Panama? [Teacher/examiner repeats the question with added stress/ intonation on the future tense to help the student]

Candidate: En Panama, voy a hacer, voy a visitor en montañas [¿por qué?] porque es muy interesante. [Student is able to answer the question correctly thanks to sympathetic and patient examining. Student is able to secure two marks for this question despite needing prompts].

Teacher/examiner: Vale. Y ahora vamos a seguir a la conversación y la primera parte… [Good signposting]

Topic conversation 1 transcript [la televisión y el cine]

Teacher/examiner: ¿Cuándo ves la televisión normalmente?

Candidate: Normalmente veo la tele a las ocho horas al día porque es muy interesante para mí [Good repetition of the time phrase and use of the present tense. Second half of the answer is ambiguous].

Teacher/examiner: ¿Puedes decir un poquito más de eso? [Teacher/examiner gives student an opportunity to clarify their ambiguous response].

Candidate: ¿Puedes repetir por favor?

Teacher/examiner: ¿Puedes decir algo más?

Candidate: Uhm… mi favorita película ver la tele es de horror, porque es me encanta lo horror [Good use of opinion phrases. Inaccuracy with verbs but these do not impede communication. Good that student continues to attempt questions despite struggling with the questions].

Teacher/examiner: Muy bien ¿Qué tipos de programas te gustan? [Positive encouragement]

Candidate: Uhm… me gusta la programa de… de drama porque es… muy divertido y me gusta mucho

Teacher/examiner: Describe un programa que viste recientemente

Candidate: recientemente… la programa en la tele es muy aburrido… porque… la caractor es muy abr es muy antipático y no me gustan mucho [Not clear candidate has understood the question due to lack of time phrases/ past tense verbs.

Teacher/examiner: Vale. ¿Fue interesante?

Candidate: No. No es interesante [¿Por qué no?] porque no me gusta la comedia…

Teacher/examiner: ¿Puedes decirme un poquito más de eso? [Teacher/examiner gives student an opportunity to clarify his ambiguous response].

Candidate: Uhm… [Candidate is unable to answer the question so the Teacher/examiner moves on to save the pace and avoid the student re-attempting the same question for the third time – this is good practice].

Teacher/examiner: Bueno, está bien. Háblame de un actor o una actriz que te gusta.

Candidate: Me gusta la actor es Amanda Seyfried porque es muy guapo y divertido. [Student is able to answer with relevant vocabulary and using the correct tense, with justifications. Adjectival agreement isn’t correct but this doesn’t impede communication].

Teacher/examiner: ¿Me puedes decir un poquito más de eso?

Candidate: Uhm… es… uhm… [Candidate could have added more detail such as name, age, personality, physical description, etc.].

Teacher/examiner: Bueno. ¿Este fin de semana te gustaría ver una película en el teléfono móvil o ir al cine?

Candidate: En la vista sana, en la semana pasada, es veo la película en el móvil [Student has clearly misunderstood the question].

Teacher/examiner: Muy bien. ¿Y qué ventajas tiene ir al cine?

Candidate: Uhm… venta ir al cine con mi familia y con mi amigo porque la película en el cine es muy interesante para mí y es muy importante por en el futuro. [References to other time frames, use of porque to develop answer, use of connectives to link ideas].

Teacher/examiner: Vale. Pues, vamos a cambiar de tema un poquito. Y vamos a... [inaudible]

Topic conversation 2 transcript

Teacher/examiner: ¿De qué color y tamaño es tu teléfono móvil?

Candidate: Uhm… mi teléfono móvil es … azul… y rojo [Good use of colours but size is not communicated]

Teacher/examiner: Muy bien. ¿Y puedes decirme un poquito más de eso?

Candidate: Uhm… en el futuro me gustaría… compro… el móvil naranja porque naranja es me encanta la naranja. [Student is able to develop answer further but unfortunately not with the size of the phone].

Teacher/examiner: Muy bien. ¿Y qué miembros de tu familia tienen teléfono móvil? [When student is still unable to answer, the Teacher/examiner moves on].

Candidate: Uhm… mi madre y padre y hermano tiene un móvil… porque es muy importante para trabaja

Teacher/examiner: ¿Puedes decir un poquito más de eso?

Candidate: Mi padre me gusta mucho es móvil porque es muy rápido. Y es más importante por la… en el… vacaciones por… comunicación de comunicación con la recepcionista. [Struggles to manipulate common language such as me gusta, but is able to develop his point].

Teacher/examiner: Muy bien. Ok. Háblame de la última vez que utilizaste tu móvil.

Candidate: La último es ocho horas porque es muchas deberes y no no tiempo para tu móvil. [Good repetition of the time phrase from the question, but answer is ambiguous due to a lack of verb/ time phrase]

Teacher/examiner: Vale… ¿Y piensas que los jóvenes usan demasiado el móvil?

Candidate: Uhm… piensa que… es pienso que mi móvil es…

Teacher/examiner: ¿Piensas que los jóvenes usan demasiado el móvil? [Good repetition of the question].

Candidate: En las jóvenes demasiado es

Teacher/examiner: O sea ¿En tu opinion, los jóvenes pasan mucho tiempo en el móvil? [In topic conversations, the Teacher/examiner should only repeat the question if the candidate does not answer the question. The alternative question should not be used if the candidate has misunderstood].

Candidate: En mi opinión… sí… tiene muchas horas al día en el móvil [¿Por qué?] Es muy muy importante para los deberes porque es los deberes es muy difícil y aburrido.

Teacher/examiner: Vale. ¿Y qué sitio web visitarás este fin de semana?

Candidate: Uhm… en los fin de semana pasada, en los fin de semana uhm… me gustaría visitar Madrid [Correct use of the conditional but the candidate has misunderstood the question, so the context is incorrect].

Teacher/examiner: ¿Pero… qué sitio web visitarás este fin de semana? [Repeats the question once as per procedure]

Candidate: Uhm… sitio es Barcelona. [Student attempts a different response with a place]

Teacher/examiner: ¿Pero… qué página web vas a visitar este fin de semana? [as above re. use of the alternative question].

Candidate: Oh… lo página veinte seis

Teacher/examiner: Vale. ¿Por qué?

Candidate: Uhm… porque la página veinteséis tiene las informaciones de Barcelona y es muy importante para las vacaciones. [Relevant development to his answer but unfortunately incorrect for the original question].

Teacher/examiner: Vale. Muchas gracias. End of test.

Moderator comments - Role play

Role play card 2

Conduct of the test

The teacher/examiner greets the candidate using the prompts provided. He sets the scene for the role play Card 2, by reading out the role play scenario exactly as it is printed in the instructions booklet (Estás en Panamá. Vas a la comisaría porque te han robado el pasaporte. Hablas con un agente de policía. Yo soy el agente de policía). Where there are two parts to a task, the teacher/examiner pauses and waits for the candidate to respond before asking the second part. The teacher/examiner can repeat any role play question if the candidate does not understand or did not hear the question. The candidate requires frequent repetition of the first role play task.

Candidate response

Task 1: The candidate asks for repetition of the question. The teacher/examiner can repeat any role play question if the candidate does not understand or does not hear the question. The information is communicated. Two marks are awarded despite the incorrect verb ending, me llama instead of me llamo. The meaning is clear and this error does not impede communication.

Task 2: The candidate does not understand the question. No creditable response.

Task 3: The teacher/examiner asks the first part of the task and pauses. The candidate is unable to respond. The teacher/examiner repeats the question. The candidate does not respond and the teacher/examiner moves onto the second part. The candidate answers the second part with a short response. This is perfectly acceptable. The information for the two-part task is partly communicated.

Task 4: The candidate answers both parts of the task with short responses.

Task 5: The candidate misunderstands and answers using an incorrect time frame. The teacher/examiner repeats the first part of the task. The candidate answers using a correct time frame, ‘voy a visitar en montañas’ and is able to answer the second part of the task. The information is communicated.

Mark awarded for task 1 = 2 out of 2

Mark awarded for task 2 = 0 out of 2

Mark awarded for task 3 = 1 out of 2

Mark awarded for task 4 = 2 out of 2

Mark awarded for task 5 = 2 out of 2

Total mark awarded = 7 out of 10

Moderator comments - Topic conversations

Conduct of the test

The teacher/examiner starts by introducing the topic and then proceeds to ask each question exactly as it is printed. The teacher/examiner listens carefully and acknowledges the candidate’s answer to each question. The teacher/examiner uses the alternative question in topic conversation 2, tasks 3 and 4. Alternative questions should only be used if the candidate does not answer after the question has been repeated. When a candidate has misunderstood, the teacher/examiner should move on to the next task and be prepared to ask up to two further questions on the same topic to ensure that the conversation lasts 4 minutes. Topic conversation 1 lasts nearly 4 minutes and topic conversation 2 lasts just over 4 minutes. In the topic conversations, the teacher/examiner makes good use of extension questions to encourage longer responses.

Candidate response

Topic 1: La televisión y el cine

Task 1: The candidate gives an ambiguous response. The candidate starts well with ‘Normalmente veo la tele a las ocho’ but then adds ‘al día porque es interestane’. The teacher/examiner gives the candidate an opportunity to clarify, ¿Puedes decirme un poquito más de eso?

Task 2: The candidate communicates the information, justifying his response. There was an opportunity here for the teacher/examiner to ask an extension question or for the candidate to provide more details.

Task 3: The first part of the response is difficult to follow. It is not clear whether he is referring to programmes in general or a specific programme and whether the opinion he gives is related to a specific programme. His command of language and the incorrect use of tenses impede communication. The teacher/examiner gives him an opportunity to provide some more detail and clarify, ¿Puedes decirme un poquito más de eso? There is a pause. The candidate does not add any further detail and the teacher/examiner moves on to the next task.

Task 4: The candidate communicates the information including a reason for his choice. The teacher/examiner gives him an opportunity to provide some more detail. Here the candidate could have given some more details such as age, nationality and/or physical description.

Task 5: The candidate initially misunderstands the question and responds with ’En la semana pasada’, reverting to the present tense. He makes a good attempt at explaining his viewpoint.

Topic 5: Los teléfonos móviles

Task 1: The candidate communicates the colour of his phone but not the size. The teacher/examiner uses an extension question to elicit some more information. The candidate is able to provide some more information about the colour of a future mobile phone purchase and a reason. There are language errors that do not impede communication.

Task 2: The candidate communicates the required information, adding more information following the use of an extension question by the teacher/examiner. He struggles to manipulate the language, for example his use of the verb gustar.

Task 3: The candidate gives a brief answer saying ‘la última’ without using a verb. There is some detail, the time and a reason. The explanation is not communicated clearly with a suitable verb and past time frame.

Task 4: The candidate starts to respond but is unable to continue. The teacher/examiner repeats the question and waits for a response. The teacher/examiner then asks the alternative question. The candidate is able to give a good reason why he thinks that young people spend time on their mobile phones. He does not state his opinion clearly.

Task 5: The candidate does not appear to notice the future time frame starting with ‘la semana pasada’ and later using the correct ‘me gustaría’. He hears visitar and sitio but not sitio de web. The teacher/examiner repeats the question. The teacher/examiner asks the alternative question. The candidate provides an answer. It is unclear whether he has understood the question. In this instance, when a candidate has misunderstood, the teacher/examiner should move on to the next task or in this case ask up to two further questions on the same topic to ensure that the conversation lasts 4 minutes.

In the topic conversations, the candidate had difficulty with many questions and communicated some information relevant to the questions. For communication, his performance across both topic conversations adequately met the Weak level statement.

The quality of language was weak. The candidate used a limited range of structures and vocabulary, with frequent errors and ambiguity. His pronunciation and fluency were satisfactory. For quality of language across both topic conversations, the candidate just met the Weak level statement.

The candidate’s performance was uneven. He gave explanations and there was some good use of adjectives.

Communication Mark awarded = 5 out of 15

Quality of Language Mark awarded = 5 out of 15

Total mark awarded = 17 out of 40

Moderator comments (Whole test)

How the teacher/examiner performance could improve

Teacher/examiners should introduce the topics of the conversations by saying: ‘Primero vamos a hablar de…’ (topic 1) and ‘Ahora, vamos a hablar de…’ (topic 2) before starting each topic conversation. Generally, the speaking test was conducted well. The teacher/examiner had familiarised himself with the role play and the topic conversations. The pace was appropriate for the candidate and the teacher/examiner asked extension questions to give the candidate the opportunity to develop his responses. The topic conversations were the correct length of time. In topic conversations, the teacher/examiner should only repeat the question if the candidate does not answer the question.

How the candidate performance could improve

The candidate was awarded 7 out of the possible 10 marks for the role play. He lost marks through a lack of accurate verb forms and time frames. The candidate should take his time to respond and communicate the information, giving a clear, correct response with particular attention to verb tenses and verb forms.

The candidate could have improved his performance by concentrating on verb forms and tenses. Candidates should be prepared to give two or three sentences in response to the questions in the topic conversations and expand and develop their responses wherever possible.

Section outline