GCE French/German/Spanish Unit 1 and Unit 3 Advice for teachers

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1 GCE French/German/Spanish Unit 1 and Unit 3 Advice for teachers GCE French/German/Spanish Unit 1 and Unit 3 Advice for teachers Version 1.0, June 2011 Copyright 2011 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. The Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (company number ). Registered address: AQA, Devas Street, Manchester M15 6EX

2 Unit 1 On-screen marking is used for this unit and students should be reminded that they must answer the questions in the spaces provided, as instructed on the front cover of the question paper. It is also very important that the instruction to students to write in black ink or ballpoint pen is adhered to, as answers written in blue ink or pen are very difficult to mark on screen. Guidance for Writing Section Question Paper and Answer Booklet Students must write using single line spacing when writing their answer for this section. Double line spacing (i.e. writing on alternate lines) must not be used. Those students who cannot complete their answer in the answer booklet must use additional answer sheets; they must not use the Essay Planning Sheet for this purpose as it is not sent for marking. Essay Planning Sheet The Essay Planning Sheet must be used for the plan only and will not be assessed. Essay Planning Sheets, together with any inserts, must not be enclosed with the question paper and answer booklets when they are despatched for marking. ADDITIONAL GUIDANCE FOR RESPONDING TO THE WRITING QUESTION Are students expected to include an introduction and conclusion in their essay? If so, how many words approximately? Students are not expected to include an introduction or conclusion, but it enhances the structure if there is a brief introduction and a concluding short paragraph, possibly including a personal response. One of the criteria is for a logical structure and this would enhance the overall structure of the essay. Is a personal opinion valid as a point in the argument? Yes, we give ticks for personal opinions as we consider them valid as developments. Should each point/opinion be backed up with an example? Generally, yes. There must be plenty of justification of points/opinions in order to gain marks in the higher bands. Are the examiners looking for a certain number of points/opinions plus examples, eg 3 arguments for one point of view with evidence and 3 against with evidence? This would be sensible but we have no hard and fast rule on this since a limited number of points very well illustrated and developed would also be considered for the higher mark bands. How does the marking scheme work in practice? Is there a list of relevant points, some of which the examiners are expecting to be included? If so, how many represents poor versus sufficient/very good? There is a list of suggested content points for the guidance of examiners but these are by no means prescriptive and students will get credit for well-argued points not in the list. Examiners 2

3 tick every relevant, clearly expressed point and give further ticks for development/ examples/ opinions etc. Thus a list of bullet point type arguments with no development cannot access the highest mark band. In order to access the highest mark band, students must also ensure that they meet all the other criteria, eg their ideas are clearly expressed, there is a logical structure to the essay and they have answered fully the question set. Is it just an instinctive overall rating of logical sequence and therefore individual points are not counted up? There is no mathematical guide to Content marks - examiners have to make a decision based on the descriptors in the assessment criteria. Web Pages Centres are reminded that a wealth of support documents can be found on our web pages ( ( ( These include the latest version of the specification, past papers, Reports on the Examination and the Teacher Resource Bank (TRB). For SPAN1, FREN1 and GERM1 the TRB includes for the Writing Section additional specimen questions (to supplement past papers from previous series) and student exemplar work; this is an invaluable resource for preparing students for future examinations. Unit 3 General On-screen marking is used for this unit and students should be reminded that they must answer the questions in the spaces provided, as instructed on the front cover of the question paper. It is also very important that the instruction to students to write in black ink or ballpoint pen is adhered to, as answers written in blue ink or pen are very difficult to mark on screen. Section A If students are careless in writing the letters they use in answering the comprehension questions, they may be hard to decipher. If students change their minds after writing the letter for an answer, they must cross it out and write the second attempt alongside. The principle behind the marking of the translation into English is that the passage is divided into 20 boxes, and the mark for each box is awarded if the sense of the French/German/Spanish is conveyed in acceptable English. The working total of 20 is then halved to give the final mark out of 10. Similarly, for the translation into the target language, each sentence is divided into 4 boxes and the mark for each box awarded if the English is rendered in correct French/German/Spanish. The working total of 20 for the exercise as a whole is then halved to give the final mark out of 10. Further detailed guidance is provided in the published mark scheme for each language available via e-aqa. 3

4 Section B Question Paper and Answer Booklet Students must write using single line spacing when writing their answer for this section. Double line spacing (i.e. writing on alternate lines) must not be used. Those students who cannot complete their answer in the answer booklet must use additional answer sheets; they must not use the Essay Planning Sheet for this purpose as it is not sent for marking. Essay Planning Sheet The Essay Planning Sheet must be used for the plan only and will not be assessed. Essay Planning Sheets, together with any inserts, must not be enclosed with the question paper and answer booklets when they are despatched for marking. Writing In order to gain the highest marks in the Cultural Topic essay students need to show a detailed knowledge of the topic, answer the question precisely with a wide range of examples and/or evidence, show the ability to analyse and evaluate and express their ideas in confident, fluent and accurate language. Students who show very little knowledge of the topic and have great difficulty in expressing their ideas will inevitably be awarded a very low mark. Students should avoid rubric infringement that is, for example, answering on the work of a dramatist but with reference to a film director or answering on a poet/playwright but with reference to a novelist. Further guidance on the suitability of topics is contained in the Report on the Examination for each individual language and teachers are strongly advised to read the helpful advice and language-specific guidance provided in these reports, particularly in relation to the Cultural Topics. The reports can be accessed via e-aqa. Whichever topic is chosen, the key to success is for the student to answer the question set. Where the student adopts the all I know about... approach or where a previous essay is reproduced without being adapted to the requirements of the specific question, essays tend to be placed in the sufficient band for Content at best, and it should not be forgotten that the marks for the Quality of Language cannot come from a higher band than those awarded for Content. For the region, it is important to note that it must be a region where the language being studied is the main language spoken. For example, Vietnam, while retaining some French speakers, is not an appropriate topic unless the essay is focused solely on those speakers. Those students who choose a very small region tend to find that they do not have sufficient information to answer the question in the required degree of depth and detail eg, Karlsruhe in German or Cannes in French. Teachers are advised to look carefully at the bullet points in the specification to ensure that the source material studied allows students to study at a level appropriate to A2 and to cover the various aspects (geography, history, population etc) in sufficient depth to meet the requirements of the assessment criteria when responding to an examination question. The period of history topic is popular across all three languages, but students must beware of choosing a period which is too wide or too narrow, eg in German and in Spanish the whole of the Civil War both of which are far too long. It must also be a period of 20 th century history. The French Revolution is therefore not appropriate. 4

5 The study of an author is also a popular choice. One important point to make is that if a shortstory writer is chosen, students should study a collection of stories and if a question is set on a general subject such as the themes or techniques of an author s work, then reference should be made to a number of stories. However, as the Cultural Topic FAQs section of the AQA website makes clear, if an essay asks for a study of a character then it is permissible to refer to just one story. Likewise, if the source material studied is entirely in English (eg an English film), then the essay will be awarded zero, irrespective of the nationality of the director. For the topic of a director, architect, musician or painter, students should refer to work produced by one person; a film on which two directors worked in collaboration, for example, would not be appropriate. For the study of a musician, a musician must be defined as someone who writes music rather than just a singer and answers should contain some reference to musical aspects rather than just the lyrics. It should also be noted that the topic of painter cannot include sculptor, fashion designer or photographer. The FAQ document mentioned above can be accessed on the language pages for GCE French/German/Spanish in the Key Materials tab, select Teacher Resource Bank or use the following link: If centres would like confirmation that their chosen topic is suitable and it is not already covered in the FAQ document mentioned above, they are advised to contact the subject team via the MFL Mailbox mfl@aqa.org.uk for assistance. Web Pages Centres are reminded that a wealth of support documents can be found on our web pages ( ( ( These include the latest version of the specification, past papers, Reports on the Examination and the Teacher Resource Bank (TRB). For SPAN3, FREN3 and GERM3 the TRB includes for the Writing Section additional specimen questions (to supplement past papers from previous series) and student exemplar work; this is an invaluable resource for preparing students for future examinations. 5