Topic 3

The teacher/examiner announced the candidate information in Chinese which is helpful to set the candidate’s mind in the target language. She clearly indicated this was part one of the speaking exam and invited the candidate to start the presentation.

Candidate response

The candidate greeted the teacher/examiner and started her presentation with a Chinese saying, leading to her topic of the presentation, which was Chinese people’s eating habit. It is very clear that the candidate has used a series of conjunctions 首先，此外，但是，不仅…还要，另一个，总的来说 to organise the different aspects of the topic to achieve a full coverage. There are lots of ideas and opinions supported by quotations, examples and justifications. The delivery of the presentation was smooth, steady and fully grabbed the teacher/examiner’s interest. The timing was about 2 and half minutes which is ideal for the instructed 2 to 3 minutes. This is a good example of a well-prepared, well-organised and lively presented performance at Level 5.

Mark for Content and Presentation = 10 out of 10

Again, the teacher/examiner announced clearly Part 2 of the speaking exam, followed closely by the first question which didn’t overlap with the content in Part 1, but another aspect of the topic, whether Chinese cuisine is considered healthy in the candidate’s opinion. There was a good balance of factual and opinion-based questions that led to a natural and spontaneous conversation.

Candidate response

The candidate continued the discussion on her chosen topic in this part, extending to different aspects and examples to support her ideas, able to defend a point of view, for example, 健康与财富. Most of her responses were at good length which showed sustained ability to maintain the conversation. There was one question about 理想的生活环境 the teacher/examiner interrupted while it could still make sense that living in a city in the UK for university was her ideal living environment. A couple of expressions could have been better, for example, 这就没有关系了(就没有意义了)，减少减肥的风险. Combine all of the above, a mark of 9 at Level 5 is best fit for Comprehension and Responsiveness for the candidate’s performance here.

For Vocabulary and Structures used in this part, again, a wide range of vocabulary generally accurately and a variety of complex structures such as 排比句，so full marks for both categories.

Mark for Comprehension and Responsiveness = 9 out of 10

Mark for Vocabulary = 5 out of 5

Mark for Structures = 5 out of 5 

Total mark awarded = 19 out of 20

The teacher/examiner skilfully picked up from the candidate’s previous response the mentioning of going to university in the UK to form the first question, so a natural flow from Part 2 to Part 3. Further searching questions such as为什么对这个(专业)特别感兴趣 has provided scope for the candidate to talk in detail about her future career option. The second topic area 兴趣爱好 also linked to the future career nicely. The last topic area for this part was again picked up from what the candidate replied in Part 2你刚刚说到美国加州的环境不是很好，你认为未来比较理想的城市应该是什么样的？so the question was not abrupt. The timing of this part was 4 and half minutes in line with the stipulated time.

Candidate response

There was no problem of comprehension and the candidate’s responses were natural and spontaneous even to those unexpected ones. The candidate continued to present and defend a point of view (我觉得未来的城市应该整合…这样人们不用…) and contributed at some length. Apart from a couple of sentences needed a twist, for example, 为了对未来的大学有更大的吸引力 meant 为了将来上大学时更有竞争力, the overall performance worth Level 5 but the lower mark so 9 is awarded for Comprehension and Responsiveness.

Mark for Comprehension and Responsiveness = 9 out of 10

Mark for Vocabulary = 5 out of 5

Mark for Structures = 5 out of 5

Total mark awarded = 19 out of 20

Total mark awarded for Speaking test = 58 out of 60

How the candidate performance could improve

It will be even better if the candidate could distinguish use of the synonyms, for example, 利用and 使用，关系and意义，吸引力and竞争力，to use advanced vocabulary more precisely.