Topic 5

Conduct of the test

The teacher/examiner announced the candidate’s information and ‘Part one’ in English before asking the candidate 你今天想说什么话题？which is brief and clear. It would be even better to include a short greeting in Chinese, to avoid a sudden change from English to Chinese. For example, 你好，我们开始口语考试，第一部分，你今天想说什么话题？

Candidate response

The candidate greeted to the teacher/examiner and gave the topic of her presentation, which is always recommended as it shows the focus of the presentation. The candidate has recited the story of Quyuan, fairly fluently with a couple of pauses over about 2-minutes. The main issue about the content here is that there are few ideas or opinions, just narration of the story, without mentioning other factual points such as different food, other ways of celebrating, etc. Therefore, the content only fits the description of ‘Adequate coverage of the topic, generally organised’, ‘Includes some factual points with few ideas or opinions’ at Level 3.

For Vocabulary and Structures, the candidate has used a sufficient range of vocabulary to recite the story, sometimes lacks precision, for example, 为了and 为的是。Pronunciation and intonation are generally clear, apart from 屈原，吞并。Some complex structures such as 不仅如此，所以，为了，被，就，etc. with a range of simple structures have been used successfully. This indicates a mark of Level 4 for both Vocabulary, pronunciation & Intonation and Structures.

Conduct of the test

The teacher/examiner has announced the second part of the speaking exam in which she will ask some questions based on the presentation. The timing of this part was in line with the suggested 4-5 minutes and the teacher/examiner worked hard trying to get the most out of the candidate. However, the first handful of questions were asking what the candidate has already said in the presentation, as a result, the candidate had to repeat the vocabulary and sentences from the presentation which will not gain further merit. Furthermore, many of the questions are closed questions that the candidate could answer with one word or short phrase. A couple of the questions could have been tidied up and kept brief and accurate so as not to confuse the candidate.     

Candidate response

The candidate understood the questions but mainly gave short answers, sometimes one word answer, needed prompting and encouragement to develop topics, such as how people celebrate the festival and in different regions. There was some delay in response for more complex ideas, for example, thoughts on Quyuan’s action, etc. There was not much contribution from the candidate in the conversation. Therefore, for Comprehension and Responsiveness, a mark at Level 3 is best fit.

For Vocabulary and Structures, apart from those repeated from Part 1 Presentation, there was a limited range of vocabulary and structures that could be considered as new evidence. A mark at Level 3 is fair for the candidate’s performance in this part.

Mark for Comprehension and Responsiveness = 6 out of 10

Mark for Vocabulary = 3 out of 5

Mark for Structures = 3 out of 5

Total mark awarded = 12 out of 20

Conduct of the test

The timing of this part was about 5 minutes so again was in line with the required time. The teacher/examiner announced this is Part 3 which will include two topic areas as well as the name of the first topic before starting the first question. This will give candidates some direction of the conversation ahead which is recommended. The first question to invite the candidate to introduce her school was an open question, as desired, the candidate produced an extended answer in good length. Some information from this answer helped the teacher/examiner to form some good questions for further discussion later, 不同种族的老师和同学是怎么相处的？The questions in this part were a mixture of closed and open questions, factual based and opinion based, which led to a natural conversation.    

Candidate response

There was one question on school subjects that the candidate got confused with and asked for clarification. There were some hesitations and delay in response, especially in more complex ideas such as 如何相处. The length of responses is better than one word, however, still short and needed prompting and encouragement to develop the answers. Looking at the descriptors in the Mark Scheme for Comprehension and Responsiveness, the candidate’s performance hasn’t quite reach Level 4 descriptors yet and so the top mark in Level 3 is awarded.

The vocabulary that the candidate has used to answer the questions in this part is mainly basic and simple, so more of a limited range than a sufficient range. Some vocabulary lacks precision, for example, 生意 as a subject, 集合空间 as a place. There were hesitations when going beyond simple expressions when attempting the question of 不同种族的老师和同学怎么相处. The Vocabulary mark is at Level 3 instead of Level 4.

For Structures, while many of the answers were one sentence or short phrases, generally simple structures were used accurately. A mark of 3 is awarded.

Mark for Comprehension and Responsiveness = 6 out of 10

Mark for Vocabulary = 3 out of 5

Mark for Structures = 3 out of 5

Total mark awarded = 12 out of 20

Total mark awarded for Speaking test = 38 out of 60

How the candidate performance could improve

The candidate needs to be reminded to develop their responses wherever possible, by giving examples and detailed information, clarifying reasons and justifications, providing opposite views, etc., so that they can show the maximum of what they can do within the time.