Exemplar for Unit Standard

Transcription

1 Exemplar for Unit Standard English Language Level 3 This exemplar supports assessment against: Unit Standard Write texts on familiar topics (EL) An annotated exemplar is an extract of student evidence, with a commentary, to explain key aspects of the standard. It assists teachers to make assessment judgements at the grade boundaries. New Zealand Qualifications Authority To support internal assessment

2 Grade Boundary: Low Excellence 1. For Excellence, the student needs to write two texts, each of a different text type, on different familiar topics, to communicate ideas precisely and fluently. This involves: ensuring that the content, structure and organisation of each written text are appropriate to the topic, audience and text type writing in a coherent and cohesive manner with minimal lapses using a wide range of language features and vocabulary conveying the meaning of each written text with minimal inaccuracies. The student has written an information text about the New Zealand education system. Content, structure and organisation are appropriate to topic and text type. The opening statement clearly classifies the topic (1). Information is predominantly factual, with no personal involvement. Relevant facts are presented in a logical sequence and arranged in paragraphs with topic sentences describing successive stages of schooling (2). The text is coherent and uses a range of cohesive devices (3) with minimal lapses, although cohesion between paragraphs relies primarily on noun phrases and there is some under-use of pronoun referencing. A wide range of language features and vocabulary is used. Control is demonstrated of a variety of simple, compound and complex sentences (4). Punctuation is usually accurate, although the omission of commas within long complex sentences is noticeable. There are only occasional inaccuracies in word choice. For a more secure Excellence, the student could use more cohesive devices between paragraphs and improve punctuation within complex sentences.

3 (Extract only) The New Zealand Education System The New Zealand education system is considered one of the best in the world. This is primarily because the government spends a lot of money on education and also because the citizens of the country believe that everyone should get the education they deserve. The education system is also both practical and academic which makes learning much easier. Pre-school, also known as Early Childhood Education, starts from birth and continues until children go to primary school. Some pre-schools are run by teachers who are qualified while others are led by family and caregivers. Pre-schooling is taught in many languages although the primary language is English. [ ] Intermediate school covers students from year seven to eight. However, children can choose to stay at primary school as some primary schools are designed to cover both levels of education. The education system is mainly focused on building literacy and numeracy skills. This helps students to prepare for secondary or high school. By the age of twelve or thirteen, students are ready to move to secondary schools. These schools provide students with a range of practical and theoretical programmes and pathways that enable students to gain the skills they need in order to attend a higher level of education. For example, in the first two years of high school, students may take up to ten subjects like economics and drama. From year eleven onwards however, students may choose the subjects they need in order to pursue their dreams whether in a university or through other pathways. [ ] In conclusion, New Zealand provides a world class education that is internationaly understood and accepted.

4 Grade Boundary: Low Merit 2. For Merit, the student needs to write two texts, each of a different text type, on different familiar topics, to communicate ideas effectively. This involves: ensuring that the content, structure and organisation of the written text are appropriate to the topic, audience and text type writing in a coherent and cohesive manner with minor lapses using a range of language features and vocabulary conveying the meaning of the written text with minor inaccuracies. The student has written an information report about the New Zealand education system. Content, structure and organisation are appropriate to topic and text type. The opening statement clearly classifies the topic (1) and information is predominantly factual and objective, without personal involvement. Central paragraphs all have clear topic sentences (2) followed by relevant description and exemplification in a logical order. The text is coherent and a sufficient range of cohesive devices, including pronouns, conjunctions and connectives, is used correctly (3), although the use of many short, simple sentences affects cohesion. A range of language features is used to communicate ideas clearly and quite effectively. Control of simple, compound and a limited range of complex sentences is demonstrated (4). The range of vocabulary is sufficient for Merit. For a more secure Merit, the student could use a greater range of cohesive devices and complex sentence structures.

5 (Extract only) Information report about New Zealand school system New Zealand has a free compulsory school system. Generally, the school system in New Zealand is supportive and helps most students to achieve in some way. In New Zealand there are four parts to the school system. The first part is the kindergarten and then students move on to primary school when they are 5 years old. Sometimes after primary school students attend an intermediate school for their last two primary years from years old. Intermediate school is a bridge to the high school. In high school the student work to get credits for NCEA which means National Certificate of Educational Achievement. Students have internal and external assessment and classroom work and from these assessments they get credits which go towards NCEA level one, two and three certificates. If students achieve NCEA level three, they can study at a university or polytechnic. In New Zealand schools there are lots of practical subjects, as well as academic subjects to choose. Some examples are PE, Photography and Art which are supporting subjects. [ ]. There are also lots of opportunities for educational trips, especially the students who take Outdoor Education. There are four terms during the school year. [ ] The school day lasts about six hours in New Zealand. Schools usually start about 9am and finish about 3 pm or 3.30 pm. The New Zealand school system is helpful to students. Normally most students can achieve at all levels in New Zealand because they can get a lot of help from the school.

6 Grade Boundary: Low Achieved 3. For Achieved, the student needs to write two texts, each of a different text type, on different familiar topics, to communicate ideas. This involves: ensuring that the content, structure and organisation of each written text are generally appropriate to the topic, audience and text type writing in a generally coherent and cohesive manner using a limited range of language features and vocabulary generally conveying the meaning of each written text although there may be errors and inaccuracies. The student has written an information text about X Girls High School. Content, structure and organisation are generally appropriate to topic and text type. The opening statement clearly classifies the topic (1), although the inclusion of specific information about school wings is inappropriate immediately following this statement (2). Central paragraphs have clear topic sentences (3) followed by relevant description and exemplification in a logical order without personal involvement. However, the concluding sentence introduces new, unsupported information (4). The text is generally coherent and a limited range of cohesive devices, including pronoun referencing and some repeated connectives, is used (5). A very limited range of language features and vocabulary is used to communicate information. The majority of the sentences are simple, but control is demonstrated of compound sentences and complex sentences using relative clauses (6). There are no repeated errors and the few inaccuracies do not obscure meaning. For a more secure Achieved, the student could improve the structure of the opening and closing paragraphs and use a greater range of compound and complex sentences and vocabulary.

7 (Extract only) X Girls High School X Girls High School is a single sex school in the city of, New Zealand. The school is divided into two wings. Students usually call them North Wing and South Wing. The uniform is the symbol of this school. There are two kinds of school uniforms with six different combinations allowed for the uniform; one is for summer and the other one is for winter. The summer school uniform includes a pair of blue shoes, a pair of white socks and a tartan dress with white and red. They can also combine a red jacket or a blue sweater. Students can also wear badges on both collars. [ ] XGHS can also offer girls the chances to do their sports at the highest possible level. Girls can take part in plenty of sports. For example, swimming, netball, basketball, rugby and so on. A numbers of girls represent the school and the country to take part in competitions. For example, one Year 13 student is a New Zealand swimming champion. XGHS can offer Kiwi girls opportunities to learn knowledge but it also welcomes the girls from other countries. There are 34 international students who are from these countries in this school. [ ] XGHS offers Esol class which is learning about basic English grammar and vocabulary to some international students who need to improve their English. XGHS has a very long history and it is very proud of it.

8 Grade Boundary: High Not Achieved 4. For Achieved, the student needs to write two texts, each of a different text type, on different familiar topics, to communicate ideas. This involves: ensuring that the content, structure and organisation of each written text are generally appropriate to the topic, audience and text type writing in a generally coherent and cohesive manner using a limited range of language features and vocabulary generally conveying the meaning of each written text although there may be errors and inaccuracies. The student has written a comparison between schools in New Zealand and China. Content is generally appropriate, but the topic is not clearly stated in the opening paragraph which itemises specific facts about the New Zealand education system. The inclusion of personal opinion is inappropriate for this text type (1). Comparative information about school uniform rules, subject choices and school holidays is organised into paragraphs, with topic sentences (2), but the inclusion of some unrelated facts within paragraphs detracts from coherence (3) and some topics are insufficiently developed. A very limited range of cohesive devices is used (4) with a reliance on the repetition of nouns and some loose pronoun reference (5). There is some inappropriate personal involvement in the use of the first person pronouns and determiners (6). A very limited range of language features and vocabulary is used. The majority of sentences are simple and compound. For Achieved, the student could improve the introduction and paragraphing, use objective language consistently and include more cohesive devices and complex sentence structures.

9 (Extract only) A comparison between schools in New Zealand and China Generally, the school in New Zealand will help students to achieve their NCEA. The school in New Zealand is more free. The system is compulsory from 5 years old to 16 years old. They leave at 16 years old as they want. New Zealand school system is divided by primary school, intermediate school and high school. The rules in College are typical of most high schools in New Zealand. They are not so strict compared to my country. In College changing hair colour into normal colour is acceptable but extreme colours like blue, red and green are unacceptable. In New Zealand a little jewellery is acceptable, for example ear rings, but in China they won t allow you to do it. [ ]. In China mostly we wear uniform but not more than two days in mufti, however at College we have more time to wear mufti. In my country there is punishment if you can t pass the exam but not in New Zealand. Generally in New Zealand high schools have more choice for subjects. You will have many choices in school but in China all the subjects are all set for you and the teachers only focus on core subjects. The school time in New Zealand is short and has 2 breaks but in China it is all boring and terrible. The difference between New Zealand schools and other countries is New Zealand has more holidays. In College there are 10 weeks for a term and they have 2 weeks off for holidays and we have one long holidays at the end of the year. New Zealand system compared to other countries is more free and more relaxed.