English as Second

Language Studies
2 0 0 7 A S S E S S M E N T R E P O R T

English Learning Area

 ENGLISH AS SECOND LANGUAGE STUDIES

2007 ASSESSMENT REPORT

GENERAL COMMENTS

There were approximately 2170 candidates for English as Second Language Studies in 2007.
The students have generally been able to respond successfully to the challenge of the
examination but there were a number of students who, according to the markers, found the
English language demands of the subject challenging.

ASSESSMENT COMPONENT: EXAMINATION

SECTION 1: LISTENING COMPREHENSION

The general standard of Listening Comprehension answers reflected good comprehension and
relatively accurate responses to the questions, with a mean mark of 20/30. Both parts required
sound note taking skills.

Part A

In this section students needed to demonstrate understanding of the text and to write brief
answers in complete sentences, or to insert information in a chart, table, etc. Students were
able generally to cue their listening and gain marks for this section. Questions 1 and 6 were the
least challenging. Questions 2, 3, and 4 required selective listening to the text. In Question 5(a)
some candidates did not gain full marks because they were unable to identify the metal strands
that were woven together like a bird’s nest.

With the exception of Question 6, Part A required students to write in complete sentences.
Even though students were able to identify the correct word from the listening text, some were
unable to present the response in a complete sentence. It is important that students not only
write complete sentences but also avoid adding extra information as this indicates that they are
not proficient in selecting relevant information.

Part B

This section requires students to understand and interpret information and structure their
answer logically. Students found this section more difficult, with very few students gaining
full marks.

Those who responded well displayed an appreciation of the text, expressing and structuring all
the relevant key points for the question. On the other hand, many students found difficulty in
bringing information from all through the passage, and organising it into a cohesive paragraph.
For Question 7 many students were able to identify the first two reasons mentioned, for
hunting and household pets, but were unable to mention the third reason. It is important that
students develop their skills in being able to recognise relevant information at any time during
the passage, and not expect to find all the information in a discrete section of the passage.

Some students, particularly in Question 9, were able to recognise many of the problems, but
became repetitive, and the answers were not well organised. The students who received higher

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marks were able to group the reasons in a logical way, such as environmental effects and
economic/agricultural effects.

Note taking skills for listening comprehension require decoding, comprehending, and then
selecting relevant information in response to questions. Students need to be taught these skills,
so that they are able to respond to the questions, rather than leaving out key information while
note taking for an answer. It was noticeable that some students lack this skill as they were
unable to respond to some of the less challenging questions, possibly because their note taking
skills were not well developed.

SECTION 2: WRITTEN PAPER

Part A

Question 10
This section requires students to interpret and synthesise ideas from given articles and present
the relevant information in a formal academic essay. It was pleasing to note that in general,
essays were logically developed, cohesive, and contained information well synthesised.

Generally introductions were well written with general statements and a well structured thesis
statement indicating the stance to be taken. On the other hand, some introductions were far too
long containing information that would be better suited to the body of the essay. Quite a few
students used emotive language in their introductions, e.g., ‘…the argument is absolutely
ridiculous…’ In addition, some students discussed both sides of the question, which made the
stance ambiguous.

Similarly, in conclusions, a summary of the key ideas and then a conclusion drawn from the
information provided was expected. In order to do this successfully students may need to be
taught the difference between a summary and a conclusion. Another important point is that
students should not introduce new information in the conclusion.

Many students have been taught how to answer the question and structure it well. They were
able to identify arguments for a particular side of the question, and group them together in a
logical way with relevant topic sentences. On the other hand, for some students differentiating
between key ideas and supporting evidence proved to be more difficult. Other students stated
the main arguments but provided no support.

There was a relatively large number of students who were reliant on the language used in the
text with only very minor changes. Another new style emerging is the use of quotation marks.
The skill in itself is good to learn but to be used in every paragraph to avoid
paraphrasing/summarising is not an effective tool in essay writing. Direct quotations should
be used to preserve the original wording of a source: therefore there should be something
noteworthy about the quotation, and if the idea can be conveyed just as effectively in the
student’s own words this is how it should be done. Due to this many students were not as
effective in their essays as expected.

A further point to note is that in many essays there was a lot of anecdotal evidence/personal
information presented. Citing article references for their own ideas/information is another
tendency for some students, e.g.: ‘. . .Their knowledge about themselves are truly helpful for
students, however, they might not get used to the habit of using the internet. . . (The South
Australian Gazette, 2007).’ This task requires students to only interpret/comprehend the
information provided in the articles to write the essay. Synthesising of the articles is important

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but there was evidence that many students due to a lack confidence were not able to use this
skill. Some students also tried to summarise and present the information by using a text by text
approach, rather than synthesising information from different articles. The use of all the texts
was generally not evident, especially the graphs. Students need to learn how to utilise the
information from graphs and other sources.

Most students included in-text references appropriately but a minority referenced poorly, e.g.,
by including the whole headline of the article or by putting the surname in brackets when it
was part of the sentence. Students should realise that it is unnecessary and distracting to write
a reference at the end of virtually every sentence. Conversely, referencing does not justify
students writing out whole sections from the texts. Referencing of the web page/ blog has been
quite varied as well. A suggestion which students may prefer to use: <www.edublog.com;
Mark,’07 comments> or the URL should be in place of www.edublog.com; and the date
accessed. In text referencing just by the name of a person is insufficient as a reference. For
further reference on this topic please check the SSABSA website.

It is important to revisit the academic style of writing. Students should be discouraged from
writing using emotive and informal language. The language used in blogs, etc., is personal
and the students need to be taught how to rewrite it into formal language which is
appropriate for the essay, rather than direct transfer of the comments in quotation marks.

Part B

Questions 11 and 12
The letters were generally well written with Question 11 being more popular than
Question 12.

Most students showed an understanding of the stimulus and were able to relate it to their
writing. The appropriate formalities were correctly written but this year a new format has
emerged, in which students are writing their address at the end of the letter after their
signature. This is not an accepted setting out of a formal letter. The addresses should be
written at the beginning of the letter, before the salutation. In addition, ‘Yours sincerely’ and
‘Yours faithfully’ need to be used appropriately.

The most common letter types were letters to the editor, to the shopping centre management,
or to the local councils. The majority of the letters were successfully addressed for the
chosen text and a clear purpose was stated at the beginning, with ideas being well developed.
More successful students were able to formulate an issue, supporting it with details,
expressing opinions, and offering some creative suggestions. It was also evident that some
students had prepared for the letters by learning some stock phrases, while a few answers
were marred by features such as overuse of rhetorical questions.

The notice about the banning of teens from shopping centres asked for expressions of opinion
about the proposal, but some students placed more emphasis on writing about the problems of
young people and the role of parents and schools in ensuring good behaviour in teenagers.
Most responses for Question 12 were clearly related to the picture, but complaints about
toilets, or airline food were somewhat remote.

Nevertheless, many students still experienced difficulty with formulating topic sentences and
grouping reasons/supporting details into logical paragraphs, and were also unable to adhere to
the word length and, hence, were not able to develop their ideas. A few letters were
exaggerated and overly personal: a few also had a weak connection to the text. Although

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students were not penalised for the use of ‘firstly’, ‘secondly’, etc., as paragraph beginnings
they do detract from the tone of a formal letter and make it more like an essay.

Chief Assessor
English as Second Language Studies