Integrated Skills in English

ISE IV Portfolio tasks 2019

These are the only acceptable portfolio tasks for candidates taking the ISE IV
exam from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019.

Your ISE IV Portfolio must contain a total of three tasks. You must present
one task from each section:

One from Section 1 – Correspondence

One from Section 2 – Factual writing

One from Section 3 – Critical and analytical writing

Please write the task question number on each piece of work.

At the end of each task, write the number of words you have used to complete
the task. You must not exceed the stated maximum word length range.

ISE IV Portfolio tasks 2019

ISE IV Portfolio preparation rules

ISE IV candidates and teachers must follow these important rules when
preparing portfolio tasks:

1. The Portfolio must contain the candidate’s own work and no one else’s.
2. Nobody except the candidate personally should correct, add to or take
anything out of a task.
3. Teachers (or any other person) must not correct a candidate’s work.
4. Teachers are allowed to give one piece of feedback per portfolio task
only. The ISE IV student portfolio feedback form should be used for this
purpose. This must be the only form of feedback given.
5. No one except the candidate’s teacher is permitted to give the candidate
feedback on their work.
6. Candidates must not copy a piece of written text from any other source
and present it as their own work.

Please note that if any of the above rules are broken, a U (Ungraded) grade
will be awarded by the examiner and the candidate will score zero in his/her
portfolio.

Candidate disqualification warning!

Trinity will not tolerate any cheating, unfair practice or breach of its rules
and regulations. Candidates found to have committed any such conduct will
be disqualified.

ISE IV Portfolio tasks 2019

ISE IV Portfolio tasks 2019

Section 1

ISE IV – Correspondence (word length range: 300-350 words)

1. The local education authority has decided that the art college in your
town is to close, as it is merging with a university in a city 100km away.

Write a formal letter to your local education authority asserting your strong
disapproval of the plan and evaluating the effect it will have on the people of
your town.

AND

Write an informal email to the current students at the college affirming the need
to support a campaign you are mounting against the closure.

2. An international hotel chain is planning a major development in your

local area. Some people strongly support the proposal, while others
fervently oppose it.

Develop a blog with various contributors where the value of the development is
affirmed and counter-arguments presented. Provide relevant examples to
illustrate the opinions put forward.

3. A new music venue recently opened in your area and some local
residents have complained to the authorities about noise pollution and
anti-social behaviour.

Write a formal letter to your local authority challenging the assertions made by
these residents and implying that they are exaggerating.

AND

Write an informal email to the manager of the music venue gently proposing a
range of strategies to improve relations with the disgruntled residents.

4. Your rural community has had persistent problems with its Wi-Fi
provision. You work predominantly from home and you feel that you and
fellow residents are being unfairly disadvantaged.

Write a formal letter to your Wi-Fi provider expressing your strong dismay that
the problems have not been rectified and outlining the consequences of them
not taking swift action to remedy this.

AND

Write an informal email to local residents urging them to join a campaign group
you propose setting up to put pressure on the Wi-Fi provider.

ISE IV Portfolio tasks 2019

5. Young people are not getting enough exercise these days. It’s time
something was done to counteract this trend.

Develop a blog with two or more contributors exploring the causes behind this
lack of exercise, discussing who should be responsible for reversing this trend
and proposing ideas to motivate young people to exercise more.

Remember – you must choose your 2019 ISE IV correspondence task from
the above list.

Please note the word length range given above for ISE IV correspondence
tasks is for the whole task, eg letter and email. Dividing the word length
between the individual pieces of correspondence is the responsibility of
each candidate. However, you must not exceed the stated maximum word
length range.

ISE IV Portfolio tasks 2019

ISE IV Portfolio tasks 2019

Section 2
ISE IV – Factual writing (word length range: 300-350 words)

1. At what age should second language learning start?

Write an article for an educational website asserting your opinion on the best
age to learn a second language, supporting your viewpoint with relevant
examples. Discuss other critical factors, in addition to age, that have an impact
on language learning.

2. A number of employees have recently left the company you work for,
resulting in a fall in morale among the remaining staff.

Write a report for your managing director identifying the reasons behind this
trend, proposing ways of incentivising current staff to stay and asserting what
the outcome would be if no action is taken.

3. It has been said that music videos are close in form to films and that
they play an increasingly important role in a successful music career.

Write a review of a music video which illustrates the close relationship between
music videos and films. Analyse what your chosen music video has in common
with films and consider the effect this video had on you. Evaluate to what extent
the quality of music videos affects the popularity of a piece of music.

4. There has recently been a project in your area in which a group of

teenagers and a group of elderly people regularly got together to share
knowledge and skills.

Write an article about this project for a community website outlining the
attitudes held by the two groups of people towards each other before the project
started. Assess the value of what the young people taught the elderly people
and affirm what the young people gained from the project.

5. For many years now, towns and cities worldwide have been experimenting
with traffic reduction schemes with varying degrees of success.

Write a report commissioned by city leaders outlining a scheme that you believe
will be successful in curbing traffic congestion in your city and examining what
impact the scheme would have on the local economy. Conclude with what the
next steps should be in taking the scheme forward.

Remember – you must choose your 2019 ISE IV factual writing task from
the above list.

ISE IV Portfolio tasks 2019

ISE IV Portfolio tasks 2019

Section 3
ISE IV – Critical and analytical writing (word length range: 300-350 words)

1. ‘Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together

and motivating them, the teacher is the most important.’
(Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, born 1955)

Write an essay commenting on the validity of this statement, supporting your

opinion with relevant examples from the education system in your country
today. Conclude with your views on the extent to which artificial intelligence
will replace teachers’ traditional roles in the future.

2. ‘Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else
can see.’
(Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher, 1788-1860)

Write an essay giving your own interpretation of Schopenhauer’s statement and

assessing how accurate you believe it is. Provide relevant examples to support
your arguments.

3. ‘The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but
to unlearn.’
(Gloria Steinem, journalist, born 1934)

Write an essay exploring the meaning behind this statement in terms of

achieving gender equality, illustrating your ideas with relevant examples. Assess
to what extent this statement is true of the society in which you live.

4. ‘Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent.’

(Henry David Thoreau, poet and historian, 1817-1862)

Write an essay demonstrating your understanding of Thoreau’s statement and

assessing to what extent it is still valid today. Illustrate your assertions with
relevant examples.

5. ‘You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the
world around you. What you do makes a difference and you have to
decide what kind of a difference you want to make.’
(Jane Goodall, anthropologist, born 1934)

Write an essay interpreting the meaning of this statement in relation to our

responsibility towards nature. Discuss in what ways humans can have a positive
impact on the natural world, supporting your ideas with relevant examples.

Remember – you must choose your 2019 ISE IV critical and analytical
writing task from the above list.

ISE IV Portfolio tasks 2019