Skills for Life
Entry 3
Writing Examination Report - Test 056
September 2006
University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations
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Skills for Life Writing (Entry 3) Examination Report
This report is based on candidate performance on Skills for Life (Writing) tests between
September 2005 and May 2006. It also includes data collected from a questionnaire
completed by candidates, which asks them to supply details of their age, gender, experience
of English and first language(s).
The report is intended as an aid to teachers and colleges in preparing candidates for future
Cambridge ESOL Skills for Life (Writing) tests. It includes a number of sample candidate
answers accompanied by examiner comments.
Entry 3 (Test 056)
The three tasks in this test were loosely related to the theme of studying English at college.
They were: a questionnaire about the college learning centre, an email to a friend giving
advice on learning English and a report, written as part of a classroom activity, on a popular
television programme.
There were 33 marks available on the paper. The breakdown of marks available for each
assessment focus (Text, Sentence and Word) is shown below:
Text
Sentence
Word
Task 1
0
6
3
Task 2
6
3
0
Task 3
6
6
3
Overall, most candidates performed well on the paper with 87.6% of candidates scoring the
18 or more marks required to pass. The average mark was 22.9 (69.5%). Candidates
performed most strongly in the Word focus; the average mark was 4.7 out of 6. Candidates
also performed well in the Text focus, scoring an average of 8.4 out of 12. Candidates
scored less well in Sentence focus, averaging 9.7 marks out of the 15 available.
Task 1. – Learning Centre Questionnaire
Candidates generally answered this task well, averaging 6.4 out of the possible 9 marks.
Higher marks were scored in Word focus than in Sentence focus – this is a pattern which is
repeated in most tasks at Entry 3, and indeed at other levels. Good answers did not recycle
the language contained in the questions and contained effective use of conjunctions (e.g.
‘if’), and modals (e.g. ‘should’), alongside phrases to express opinion. Stronger candidates
also demonstrated good use of multi-word verbs and lexis related to computer use e.g. ‘look
up’ and ‘surfing’. Some potentially good answers were marred by poor legibility or the
misspelling of common words. Weaker candidates had difficulties with countable and
uncountable nouns, active versus passive and word order.
Task 2. – Email to Messaouda
Task 2 was the part of the paper where candidates produced their best work, averaging 6.6
marks out of the maximum 9. Stronger candidates tended to expand both parts of the
question with examples, using an encouraging and friendly tone to show adaptation to
audience. These candidates often demonstrated control of present, past, and perfect tenses
in the affirmative and negative. Weaker answers showed limited control of tenses, articles
1
and uncertain command of prepositions of time and place. There were very few
misinterpretations of the task or omissions of content, though some candidates occasionally
left it to the reader to infer the difficulties involved in learning English.
Task 3. – Report on TV programme
Candidates scored lower marks on average on this task than on the other two tasks – 10.0
out of the maximum 15. Again performances were stronger in Text and Word than in
Sentence focus. Better answers used appropriate paragraphing, with some appropriate use
of headed sections, a range of tenses (including present, past and present perfect) and
effective use of a range of appropriate vocabulary. The presence of discourse linkers (e.g.
‘However,’; ‘To sum up’, as well as sequencing words (e.g. ‘Firstly,’) contributed to wellconstructed arguments in some answers. A few weaker candidates produced singleparagraph answers and a number showed poor control of word order, tense, pronouns, and
sentence. Weaker candidates were also penalised for wrongly spelling higher frequency
words (e.g. ‘bussines’) or for producing illegible text.
Candidate Information
61% of candidates taking the test were female and the largest proportion (45%) were aged
between 21 and 30. Though many candidates (21%) had less than one year’s experience of
learning English, the largest proportion of candidates (23%) had between one and two years’
such experience. Speakers of at least 56 first languages took this version of the test, the
most common being Polish (15.6%), Spanish (6.7%), Farsi (5.2%), French (5.2%) and
Slovak (4.2%).
2
Recommendations for Candidate Preparation
All Cambridge ESOL Skills for Life tests are based closely on the Adult ESOL Core
Curriculum and cover all the Basic Skills Standards in each mode at each level. Therefore,
by following the Adult ESOL Core Curriculum, teachers will be preparing their students for
the tests. Candidates will benefit from being reminded of the following Dos and Don'ts:
Do
•
complete all the tasks in the paper.
•
make use of the guidelines which tell you how much to write and how much time to
spend on each task.
•
make sure that your handwriting is clear and easy to read.
•
read the task instructions carefully and check that you have done what the
instructions say.
•
think carefully about your relationship to the intended audience and your reason for
writing.
•
write in sentences where you are asked to do so.
•
make use of appropriate opening and closing formulae (e.g. Dear Fatima and Yours
sincerely) in notes, letters and emails.
•
spend time planning your answers.
•
spend time checking your answers for accurate spelling and grammar.
Don’t
•
worry if you run out of space: your Centre will provide extra paper which will be
marked in the normal way.
•
write a full, rough copy of your answer. Just write a few notes to plan your answer.
•
write in pencil.
•
spend too long on one answer.
Sample Scripts
Sample scripts are provided for each task in the question paper. Please note that it is not
possible to reproduce the original candidate answers, and so any references in the
commentaries to quality of handwriting will not be reflected in the samples provided.
3
Entry 3 (Test 056) Sample Scripts and Commentaries
Entry 3 Script A
Task 1
(About 15 minutes)
Your college has a Learning Centre with a library and computers where students can study on their own.
In the Learning Centre you receive a questionnaire to fill in.
Answer the questions.
Learning Centre Questionnaire
Name: HELMUT SCHUTZ
How often do you visit the Learning Centre?
I visit the Learning Centre once a week.
How does the Learning Centre help you with your studies?
(Write about 25 words. Use sentences.)
The Learning Centre help me with my English. I've just started to learn English language
and sometime I need sombody who can explain me English grammar and other difficulty
which I couldn't solution by myself.
How can we improve the Learning Centre?
(Write about 25 words. Use sentences.)
It will be great if I can meet with the support person fact to face because sometime I
sheme others. I understand that you are very busy. And I'm going to ask for you about
possibillity using computers by all studends. Because sometime I can find a new English
words in webside dictionary.
(Total: 9 marks)
4
Entry 3 Script A
Commentary
Band
Mark
Text
focus
Text focus is not assessed in this task.
Sentence
focus
Isolated loss of clarity occurs but there is evidence of
control over verb tenses.
2
4
Word
focus
Spelling is generally accurate despite occasional loss of
clarity (e.g. sheme).
3
3
5
Entry 3 Script B
Task 1
(About 15 minutes)
Your college has a Learning Centre with a library and computers where students can study on their own.
In the Learning Centre you receive a questionnaire to fill in.
Answer the questions.
Learning Centre Questionnaire
Name:
Tonino Sfregola
How often do you visit the Learning Centre?
I visit Learning Centre four times a week
How does the Learning Centre help you with your studies?
(Write about 25 words. Use sentences.)
Learning Centre is very important not only for me but all the students. I can study, read,
use computers and more things there. This help you because is very quiet
How can we improve the Learning Centre?
(Write about 25 words. Use sentences.)
We can improve the Learning Centre coming more days there
(Total: 9 marks)
6
Entry 3 Script B
Commentary
Band
Mark
Text
focus
Text focus is not assessed in this task.
Sentence
focus
Candidate shows some ability to construct compound
sentences (e.g. Learning centre is very important ….
students). Full stops and capitals not always
consistently used. Grammar is sufficiently controlled.
2
3
Word
focus
Candidate spells familiar common words correctly.
3
3
7
Entry 3 Script C
Task 2
(About 20 minutes)
You receive an email from your friend Messaouda.
Hi!
I am coming to Britain next year but my English is not very good. Your English is very
good. How did you learn English? Can you tell me what you did? Was it difficult?
Best wishes
Messaouda
Write an email to Messaouda. Tell her how you learned English, what was difficult and what was not
difficult.
Write about 80 words.
To:
Subject:
[email protected]
English
Hi Messaouda!
I was learning English for long time it was about 10 years. I was learning English in my schools and
I had private lessons twice a week. I couldn't remember a new words. And I was thinking about
ruls and I couldn't speak fast. But I like English grammar and I think it was easy for me. I had to
learn English every day. I wrote down the new words million time and later my mather asked me
about it. If you want to learn other language you have to have many free time, Good luck
Messaouda!
(Total: 9 marks)
8
Entry 3 Script C
Commentary
Band
Mark
Text
focus
Candidate covers all three points, showing some
awareness of audience.
3
5
Sentence
focus
Grammar sufficiently controlled. Errors occur when
compound sentences attempted.
2
2
Word
focus
Word focus is not assessed in this task.
9
Entry 3 Script D
Task 2
(About 20 minutes)
You receive an email from your friend Messaouda.
Hi!
I am coming to Britain next year but my English is not very good. Your English is very
good. How did you learn English? Can you tell me what you did? Was it difficult?
Best wishes
Messaouda
Write an email to Messaouda. Tell her how you learned English, what was difficult and what was not
difficult.
Write about 80 words.
To:
Messaouda@grc com
Subject:
English
Hi!
I'm Tomas I was born in Zaire
I came to Britain one year ago, my English is not good at all.
I study in Rochdale College and I think is very good College
In the begginner when I came to this country I had many problems, was very difficult to improve my
English. To improve my English I had to stopped speak my language and try to speak English. I
watched English programmes, I rood only English books. In my house I told my family to speak
only English.
I think In the begginner I had more problems to speak but after, speak wasn't a problem to me.
I think to learn English is not difficult but you have to try don't worry if you don't know, but you really
have to speak what you know or if you saying wrong. If you don't try how you gonna know if what
you saying is good.
I think you have to come.
Love
Tomas
(Total: 9 marks)
10
Entry 3 Script D
Commentary
Band
Mark
Text
focus
Candidate covers both context points but lacks detail on
what was easy. Over paragraphing has an impact on
coherence of text but the message is clear.
2
4
Sentence
focus
There is evidence of ability to construct compound
sentences. Despite a number of errors, grammar is
sufficiently controlled for message to be communicated.
Punctuation is mostly consistent.
2
2
Word
focus
Word focus is not assessed in this task.
11
Entry 3 Script E
Task 3
(About 25 minutes)
Your class is discussing popular television programmes around the world.
Write a short report about a popular programme from a country you know.
Describe the programme and say why you think it is popular.
Write 120-150 words.
The name of the programme is coresponders The idea of this programme is that they send a
coresponders to different countries to find out or to search in one issue just like the life style or a big
problem or phenomena they focus in it and give us the ditails The programme devides into four parts
The first part is the introduction, the producer speaks about the country whitch they are going to focus in
and he gives us some informations about it, the picture runs at the same time he speaking The next part
is the coresponder gives us the details with pictures and he concentrate in one proplem or a phenomena
and also gives us jeneral information about this country The third part is about the suggestions of the
watchers. The final part is about the letters of the watchers.
(Total: 15 marks)
12
Entry 3 Script E
Commentary
Band
Mark
Text
focus
Text is organised but not paragraphed. The second
point is not addressed.
2
4
Sentence
focus
Sentence boundaries not always consistently marked.
There is some evidence of an ability to use more
complex structures.
2
3
Word
focus
Candidate can spell familiar common words accurately –
some inaccurate spellings occur with low frequency
words.
3
3
13
Entry 3 Script F
Task 3
(About 25 minutes)
Your class is discussing popular television programmes around the world.
Write a short report about a popular programme from a country you know.
Describe the programme and say why you think it is popular.
Write 120-150 words.
I think lots of programmes are popular around the word.
`The programme what I think is popular MTV because every country where I lived have this programme.
This programme is very good because I think most the people around the world like music and like dance.
MTV tell you what musics are new and dances, show you everything about the musics and the dances.
Tell you about the history about the singers.
Show documentaries about the more famous people in the world.
Everiday you can listen and watch lot's of musics.
Everiday show to you documentary about how music was before how is know and how gonna been in
the future.
(Total: 15 marks)
14
Entry 3 Script F
Commentary
Band
Mark
Text
focus
The report addresses the content points. Whilst there is
an attempt at organisation (e.g. the introduction), the text
is not cohesive but a string of sentences.
1
2
Sentence
focus
There are some shorter sentences and lack of clarity
(e.g. was before now, is know and how gonna been).
2
3
Word
focus
Errors in spelling are infrequent and minor.
3
3
15