In-Service Teacher Training

Assessment in IGCSE English as a Second

Language 0510

Session 2: Question papers and mark schemes

www.cie.org.uk

• Introductions• Background• Aim of training

Welcome

www.cie.org.uk

Session 2 looks at:

Summative assessment• The construction of question papers and mark

schemes• Analysis of question papers• Grade descriptions• Recent candidate scripts• Creating suitable summative exercises and mark

schemes

www.cie.org.uk

What is summative assessment?

Summative assessment might be:• A means to place students in rank order• External to the teaching and learning situation• Regarded as an objective way of recording

achievement• The pressure under which teachers work• Seen as the ‘end’ of a course of learning

www.cie.org.uk

How question papers are set

• Using Assessment Objectives• Levels of difficulty• Mark schemes

www.cie.org.uk

Question papers (1):Reading - Locating specific information

• Timetables and signs• Newspaper advertisements• Collecting and analysing brochures

www.cie.org.uk

• Factual/informative articles• Newspaper and magazine articles• Articles which include a visual display - e.g.

graph, chart, diagram

Question papers (2):Reading - Locating more detailed information

www.cie.org.uk

Question papers (3): Reading and writing as an integrated skill

• Filling out a form – the information transfer

exercise

www.cie.org.uk

• Analyse summaries to recognise similarities• Convert a set of notes to a summary• Practise the language of summaries• Encourage use of own words

Question papers (4): Reading and writing – writing a summary

www.cie.org.uk

Question papers (5): Extended writing - Descriptive/personal writing

• Writing letters• Recording personal feelings, opinions• Describing events, places, people• Semi-formal style and register• Audience is always given

www.cie.org.uk

• Of a more formal style/register• Often deals with an issue open to debate, e.g. to

persuade, to comment upon, to state own point of

view, to consider a variety of others’ views• Higher level concepts are introduced• Same mark scheme/criteria as first task

Question papers (6): Extended writing: Using language for a specific purpose

www.cie.org.uk

Question papers (7): Listening for specific information in short statements

• Factual detail presented• Often in the form of announcements, e.g. at

railway stations, airports, etc.• News reports, weather reports, travel reports• Understanding directions• Recognising numbers, amounts, currency

www.cie.org.uk

Question papers (8): Listening to longer conversations/interviews/talks

• Semi-formal interviews are often used• Most interviews have a developed topic or theme• Gap-filling is required for some exercises• ‘Gist’ is also tested - working out the attitudes,

opinions and feelings of speakers• Core candidates will use multiple choice• Extended candidates will answer using sentence-

length responses

www.cie.org.uk

Question papers (9):Speaking - the Oral Test

• Topic-based conversation/discussion• Includes a 2-3 minute ‘Warm up’ - not assessed• Conversation to last 6-9 minutes - assessed• Examined at the Centre, moderated by CIE• Graded separately

www.cie.org.uk

Question papers (10): Coursework• Conduct three different and separate activities

throughout the course• Try to include group work and pair work - not just

individual work• Assessed by the teacher/Examiner using the same

criteria as for the Oral Test• Same procedure applies for sending in samples• The only Coursework option for the E2L IGCSE

course

www.cie.org.uk

The Oral Assessment criteria• Three criteria: Development and Fluency,

Vocabulary and Structure• The full grid appears in the syllabus, and applies

to both the Oral Test and Coursework• Teachers/Examiners, in applying the criteria,

tend to be lenient more often than severe• Grade 1 candidates are not expected to be ‘First

Language’ users

www.cie.org.uk

Grade descriptions:Why have grade descriptions?• To make clear the level of performance required

for different grades• Help Examiners to set questions of the

appropriate difficulty• Help teachers assess the level of their students• Form a basis for school-based assessment

www.cie.org.uk

• Enjoyable to read • Very few errors• Confident and wide-ranging use of language, idiom

and tenses • Excellent sense of purpose and audience• Shows independence of thought• The interest of the reader is aroused and sustained

Extended Writing criteria (1): extracts from Mark Band 8-9

www.cie.org.uk

• Meaning is clear and work is of a safe, literate

standard• Mainly simple structures and vocabulary• Infrequent spelling errors, which do not interfere

with communication • Material is satisfactorily developed • Fulfils the task

Extended Writing criteria (2): extracts from Mark Band 4-5

www.cie.org.uk

• Partly relevant and some engagement with the

task• Frequent, distracting errors hamper precision

and slow down reading • Simple structures and vocabulary• Supplies some detail and explanation, but the

effect is incomplete

Extended Writing criteria (3): extracts from Mark Band 2-3

www.cie.org.uk

• Weak, with many errors in grammar and spelling • Only partial engagement with the task • Language simple but still often wrong choice of

register and vocabulary • Meaning may be obscured or neutralised by the

weight of linguistic error

Extended Writing criteria (4): extracts from Mark Band 0-1

Closing comments