The Questions
All Tasks
Correct use of technical terms is important in all the tasks on the Papers. It's tested explicitly in the tasks for Paper 1/1 and 1/2, but throughout the exam inaccurate use of terminology will lose you marks (and that includes inaccurate spelling). So as you are revising, check any terms which you come across which you are not 100% sure of. You should find all the ones you need in An ELT Glossary, where they're listed both alphabetically and by topic. In addition, try looking at one topic based index every day, and check out any terms you're not fully familiar with.
Paper 1/1
How would you have done in the past exams? Here are
some definitions that have come up in Paper 1/1 in past exams. Could you name
each of them? Click on the links to check your answers.
A) A sound that is made by bringing both lips
together. Eg: /p/ or /m/
B) A type of
test given at the end of a course to measure how much has been learned. Eg: to
test the content of a particular course or syllabus.
C) Using tentative
language to avoid
committing yourself 100% to a belief in the validity of a statement. It is
often seen in academic genres, where writers will cite the work of other
researchers - eg ; Danesbury (2012) suggests that modern
coursebooks are overloaded with language items, leading to learners becoming
confused and assimilating less than they might otherwise do.
D) An
adverbial which conveys the logical relationship
between the idea in the current clause and a previous one. Eg : We missed the bus. As a result, we
were half an hour late.
E) The effect, which may be positive or negative, of the
L1 on the learner's use of the target language. For example : An
Italian learner who has never heard the word "invention" before may
still understand it because of its similarity to the Italian
"invenzione"
F) A phase which often occurs at intermediate level and refers
to a period during which the learner "stops learning". Eg: During
this phase errors may begin to fossilise
NB: Check your spelling. Remember that in any task, incorrect spelling of technical terms loses you the mark.
Paper 1/2
How would
you have done in one of the past exams? Here are some terms that have come up
in previous sessions in Paper 1/2. Could you define and exemplify each of them?
Morpheme Pre-modifier Present participle Assimilation
Click on the links to
check your answers.
Paper 1/3
A group of late elementary (CEFR A2) learners are given the following task:
You receive an e-mail from someone you met when you were in England for a language course and who you decided to stay in touch with. In the e-mail, your friend describes the type of TV programmes they like, and asks you what type of programme you like or don't like and why. Write a paragraph from the e-mail answering this question.
This task asks you to describe three key language features learners would need to be able to use in order to complete the task successfully. How many marks would the following points gain?
1. Lexis relating to TV programme genres. Example: "I always watch the news in the evening, so I can stay up to date with what's happening in the world"
2. Ability to use connective expressions expressing reasons : "But my favourite programmes are travel documentaries because I can see parts of the world which I will probably never visit as it's too expensive."
3. Verbs describing likes and dislikes followed optionally by verb + ing: I enjoy (watching) crime series too, but unfortunately my husband can't bear them."
4. Lexis related to the specific genre(s) which the learner has mentioned. Example (for crime series): "There are always three murders and there's a detective called Barnaby who investigates them."
Paper 1/4
Look at the text which you'll find here. It was spoken by an upper intermediate (CEFR B2) learner. Can you find three key strengths or weaknesses (at least one of each among your three) in the areas of:
- Pronunciation - intrusive consonants
- Pronunciation - bilabial consonants
- Pronunciation - fricative consonants
Paper 1/5
a) Identify 3 problems that multiword verbs might cause for learners.
b-i) Can you transcribe the following sentence into phonemic script? I think he must be ill - he looks really pale
b-ii) If this sentence were said in fairly rapid connected speech, where might elision occur?
b-iii) And where might an "intrusive" consonant be used (2 instances)? Which one(s) and why?
c) Comment on the form and use of so in the following sentences.
1. Do you like thrillers? If so, read this!
2. So, what did you do next?
3. It was raining, so we decided to stay at home
Paper 2/1
See here for the test which is being used in the following situation.
G wants to enrol on an advanced (CEFR C1) Business English course to improve her writing skills. She needs to be able to write emails to customers dealing with complaints regarding the gardening tools sold by her company. G is given this task to confirm that she is at the correct level for the course.
Evaluate the effectiveness of the task for the learner in this situation. Make three points, of which at least one must be positive and one negative, using the following headings:
- Evidence of level
- Text genre
- Linguistic relevance to her needs
Paper 2/2
Look at the materials which you will find here.They are a unit with the overall aim of teaching learners to read and write customer reviews of places tourists are likely to visit - historic sites, museums, restaurants etc.
Comment on how the following activities combine.
- Activity 2b with Activity 2a
- Activity 2c with Activity 1
- Activity 4a with Activity 3
- Activity 6b with Activity 4b
- Activity 5/2 with Activity 5/1
- Activity 6c with Activity 6a
Paper 2/3
In past weeks we've been looking at questions for this task that focus on specific teaching techniques. but another Cambridge "favourite" is to take a specific skill (eg listening) or language system (eg phonology) and ask about an aspect of that. If you look at the Articles Index in the Notebook you'll find that various aspects are covered. This week we'll look at questions on skills, and next week on systems
All skills - Consider the various subskills involved in each skill, which subskills specific genres might involve, difficulties learners might have and why/how you might teach them to different learner types and in different learning contexts. The following links will help:
Listening and Reading - See here for examples of a subskills approach to teaching these skills, while the article by Richards in the Recommended Reading includes a great list of listening subskills. This was a very early article on the topic and uses the term micro-skills. But this was later dropped in favour of subskills, which is now the standard term. See also here, here and here for more information on inference skills.
Listening - Areas I would focus on include reasons Ls have difficulty when listening (see here), the relative importance of top-down versus bottom-up processing, how to incorporate both TDP and BUP into a lesson (see here, here and here), and listening to specific genres (see here).
Speaking - Make sure you could answer questions on fluency development and reasons learners have difficulty when speaking, the subskills involved in different spoken genres, and how you might teach them. See here, here, here and here
Reading - Consider questions on the usefulness of standard approaches to teaching reading, on the use of authentic vs simplified or lexically enhanced texts (see here and here), on extensive reading, and on reading aloud (which has already come up twice in the exam)
Writing - Work on different approaches to writing, particularly the genre approach, process approach, and eclectic approaches.
For exam practice, I suggest trying to do at least one of the articles which has questions in the exam format under exam conditions (unseen - just click on the link and, if the questions are at the beginning of the article, write your own answer in approximately 35 minutes before comparing it with the points in the article).
The Suggested Answers
Paper 1/1
Click on the letters a-f for the answers and further information on each topic - which may be necessary for other tasks in the exam.
Problems with this task? See here for advice.
Paper 1/2
Click on the links for the answers and further information on each term.
Problems with this task? See here for advice. (Scroll down)
Paper 1/3
Point 1: the feature is valid (2 marks), but the expression "stay up to date" would not necessarily be known at A2 level.
Point 2 - fine: the feature is relevant and the example is feasible at A2 level. (4 marks.) However, notice that two connectives are exemplified, while Cambridge only ask for one, so the second would waste time in the exam.
Point 3 - The feature is valid (2 marks) but "can't bear" would not necessarily be produced by an A2 learner, who might replace it with "hates". Your examples must be within the capabilities of the specified learners. And again, it's a second example which was not necessary.
Point 4 : Remember that only the first three points you make will be considered for marks. So regardless of whether it is valid or not, if you had included all of points 1-3, point 4 would not be marked. However, both the feature and example are fine so if it had been one of only three points it would have gained the marks.
Problems with this task? See here to check your understanding further.
Paper 1/4
1. Strength : Pronunciation - intrusive consonants. All three approximants /j/, /w/ and /r/ are used to create liaison between syllable final and syllable initial vowels. Example : the intrusive /w/ in "also it's" (line 4): /ɔ:lsəʊwɪts/
2. Weakness : Pronunciation - bilabial consonants. Despite its accurate use as an intrusive consonant, the bilabial approximant /w/ is consistently replaced by the labiodental fricative /v/ - eg line 9 "why" - /vaɪ/ in lexical items. (Alternative valid examples: "as well", and "working" - again, only give one in the exam.)
Paper 1/5
a) Any of the following would gain marks in the exam:
1. Many multiword verbs have a number of different meanings – eg look up information vs look up friends vs things are looking up. Ls who have met one meaning may try to interpret the text using that meaning when another is actually being used.
2. Many MWVs are non-transparent in meaning as in Things are looking up. They can’t therefore be “interpreted” through the meaning of their individual parts, but each meaning has to be learnt separately.
3. Ls need to understand the difference between phrasal verbs (ie verb + adverb) which are separable when transitive, and prepositional verbs (verb + preposition) which are not. Using prepositional verbs separably would lead to errors such as *I’m relying you on.
4. MWVs take their meaning from the whole. Ls therefore need to distinguish between prepositional verbs where both the verb and preposition are fixed and cannot be changed (eg Look after the children; look for the children – the preposition cannot be changed without changing the meaning of the whole verb) and “ordinary” lexical verbs followed by a prepositional phrase, where the preposition is independent of the verb ( eg Look into/under/behind the box)
b-i) /aɪ θɪŋk hi: mʌst bi: ɪl hi: lʊks rɪəli: peɪl/
b-ii) Elision of /h/ in "he" x2 and elision of /t/ in "must"
b-iii) /j/ both between / bi:jɪl/ and / ri:jəli:/. Intrusive consonants are used (liaison) when there are two adjacent vowels - one at the end and the other at the beginning of a syllable. Here rea.. could be pronounced as one syllable, with a diphthong / rɪəli:/ or as two monophthongs joined with the intrusive /j/ : / ri:jəli:/.
1. Do you like thrillers? If so, read this! Adverb – acts as a proform substituting for the verb phrase you like thrillers which is retrievable from the co-text. It therefore avoids unnecessary repetition and creates a cohesive tie with the previous sentence.
2. So, what did you do next? Sentence adverb, used to indicate that the speaker will state (or here, ask about) a logical conclusion.
3. It was raining, so we decided to stay at home. Usually classed as a co-ordinating conjunction, though does not share all the features of “typical co-ordinating conjunctions (see here). Alternatively, conjunct. Used to indicate that the speaker will state a logical conclusion.
Problems with this task? See here for advice.
Paper 2/1
- Positive - Evidence of level: The test comes from a BEC Higher exam which is a proficiency test at C1 level. The task is, however, "doable" at B2 level. The text that G produces will therefore show the teacher where she is currently placed on the B2-C1 spectrum. If only low B2, the course might be too difficult for her and enrolment would not be advisable. Effect on the learner: She will only be accepted for the course if she currently is at a level which would allow her to benefit from it.
- Negative - Text genre: G is asked to write a report, which has quite different genre features to the genre she needs to work on - e-mails dealing with complaints. Lack of knowledge of the genre features of reports, and failure to use them, might therefore lead to her being assessed at a lower level than her overall language competence actually warrants. Effect on the learner: She may feel that her result is unfair as she has been asked to write something she neither has knowledge of nor has any interest in. This would be demotivating for her, especially if it meant she was excluded from the course.
- Negative - Linguistic relevance to her needs: The language she will need to use in the test gives no indication of her competence in the linguistic areas she will need to use in the e-mails she needs to write - eg lexis in the field of gardening tools or functional exponents of apologising and suggesting remedies. Effect on the learner: She may feel the irrelevance of the test to her linguistic needs will also mean that the course will be irrelevant, and change her mind about wishing to enrol.
- a statement of whether the feature is positive or negative. Cambridge will not "guess" what you mean, and no marks will be allotted to points where this is not made explicit.
- the feature of the test you are discussing.
- a brief explanation of why this feature is positive or negative.
- the effect on the learner
Paper 2/2
- Activity 2b checks that learners have understood the adjectives presented in Activity 2a and can use them appropriately in an evaluative context.
- Activity 2c continues the personalisation of the topic started in Activity 1. It gives the Ls the chance to use some of the adjectives they have studied to express their own ideas from Activity 1, which should increase the depth of cognitive processing and retention.
- Activity 4a provides a "break" from the fairly low-paced lexical focus of Activity 3 by inserting a faster-paced PW speaking activity which does, however, give the learners the chance to use some of the lexis from Activity 3, (park, buildings, historical etc) thus providing continuity.
- Activity 6b asks the learners to write a review using the same genre features as were modelled in Activity 4b, thus providing free practice of all the features they have studied in the unit.
- Activity 5/2 increases the level of difficulty encountered in Activity 5/1, as Ls are no longer shown where and how many words are ellipted, but have to identify them for themselves. The progression provided by the combination of these two activities ensures that the later "jump" to free practice is not too challenging for the learners.
- Activity 6c asks the learners to peer/self-review their texts, using the criteria in Activity 6a and other prompts in 6c as a checklist. These combined criteria ensure that the learners know what they are looking for and can learn from each other's comments.
Remember that each point you make in this section should be different not only from the others in the section (section b of the task), but also from the purposes that you identified in section a. You will never get marks twice by repeating points within the same task.
Problems with this task? See here for advice and practice activities for parts a and c.
Paper 2/3
See the links in the questions. And see here for advice on tackling the task.
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