Topic 4

Conduct of the test

The teacher/examiner greeted the candidate in Chinese and indicated the start of the speaking.

Candidate response

The candidate started with a greeting to the teacher/examiner and gave the topic of her presentation, which is ‘My favourite Chinese celebrity’. The content included a brief biography of the celebrity, the reasons the candidate liked the celebrity’s movies and what she learned from the celebrity and the movies. The timing was just within 3 minutes which is in line with the stipulated 2 to 3 minutes. According to the descriptors of Content and Presentation, this falls in Level 4 as good coverage and sound organisation of the topic, with relevant factual points and some ideas and opinions. The language in the presentation might not always be precise but the meanings were clear. The delivery was fairly fluent. Therefore, 8 Marks is awarded for Content and Presentation.

Conduct of the test

The teacher/examiner didn’t say 第二部分 but did explain that she will ask some questions based on what the candidate has just said. The questions were all relevant to the celebrity, to movies and actors, all open enough for the candidate to develop, such as both sides of being an actor, ‘if you met the celebrity, what would you say to him?’, from different movie genres to whether a fan of someone. The questions were kept clear and short, making them easy for the candidate to understand what was asked. The timing was just 3 minutes which is shorter than 4-5 minutes as noted in the syllabus. This could have disadvantaged the candidate as not enough evidence was found in the shorter timing.    

Candidate response

The candidate understood the questions without problem and coped reasonably well with different questions. The responses were all relevant and at a reasonable length which makes frequent prompting unnecessary. Some expressions could have been more precise. The performance in this part is in Level 4 for Comprehension and Responsiveness, with the short timing and some expressions not always precise, the lower mark at Level 4 is best fit.

The vocabulary used in this part was limited, with quite a few ambiguities, for example, 有没有做特别的东西让他现在变了这样很有名, 我都喜欢看热爱的电影和年轻的电影, 我会根据周星驰的方面，跑步人, etc. A mark of 3 is awarded.

The candidate demonstrated correct use of some complex structures, 如果，就，让他，令我，有没有，而，根据，一样，etc. A mark of 4 is awarded.

Mark for Comprehension and Responsiveness = 7 out of 10

Mark for Vocabulary = 3 out of 5

Mark for Structures = 4 out of 5

Total mark awarded = 14 out of 20

Conduct of the test

The teacher/examiner didn’t announce 第三部分 but said ‘now we move on to next part’. Ideally, the teacher/examiner mentions the topic area before starting the actual questions which will give the candidate some direction of the conversation ahead. In this part, the teacher/examiner covered two topic areas, Area A 学校 and Area C 旅行和环境保护. The questions were mostly open style, for example, to invite the candidate to introduce her school, ‘Tell me about an unforgettable travel’, ‘how should we protect the environment?’, etc., so it is easy for the candidate to give an extended answer. The timing of this part was about 5 minutes which is in line with the 4-5 minutes requirement.

Candidate response

The candidate had no problems understanding the questions and responded thoughtfully for each question, and was reasonably forthcoming but tended to follow the teacher/examiner’s lead. The responses were all relevant to the questions at a good length. Some expressions could have been more precise, 你如果出门的时候要把防晒 , 他们的屋子被热的天气就没了.As whole, the Comprehension and Responsiveness in this part is awarded the top mark of Level 4 so 8.

For Vocabulary and Structures, the candidate has used a sufficient range of good vocabulary and structures, such as 善良，耐心，堵车，冰川暖化，一次用的袋子，太阳能，as well as 不会太..但是，热到..，虽然，用了一次就丢了,etc.  Both marks achieve Level 4 in this part of the performance.

Mark for Comprehension and Responsiveness = 8 out of 10

Mark for Vocabulary = 4 out of 5

Mark for Structures = 4 out of 5

Total mark awarded = 16 out of 20

How the candidate performance could improve

The candidate could improve the performance by improving the pronunciation of some vocabulary as well as to try to be more precise when expressing ideas. Reading authentic materials more often will also help to build up vocabulary and learn accurate expressions.

Note re. marking: The same error should not be penalised repeatedly, for example, the candidate used 和 to link two sentences which was wrong. This will be considered when giving a mark for Structures when it first happens but should not be counted again in later performance.