The Questions
Paper 1/1
Can you
provide the term for these definitions? Click on the links for the answers.
A) 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
"necessity" before may still understand it because of its similarity
to the Italian "necessità" .
B) An approach from structural linguistics
which involves comparing features of one language
against another. Eg that both English and German include the form Have/Haben +
past participle, but the use of the form differs in the two languages.
C) A phase which often occurs at intermediate level and refers to a period
during which the learner seems to "stop learning" for a while. Example: It is typified by such
features as a gap between receptive and productive competence and a progression
in the development of fluency at the expense of complexity.
D) The result of a learner applying
a newly learned rule too broadly; this is a typical source of developmental
errors. Eg : go – goed
E) Psychological/emotive
factors involving the feelings and attitudes of learners such as motivation,
interest and involvement, anxiety and fear of failure, feelings of being valued
by the group etc, which may impact on success in learning either negatively or
positively.
F) This term is used in phonology to refer to
the boundary between sounds where the speaker may pause slightly to show where
the boundary is; this explains the difference between the pronunciation of that stuff and that’s tough
Paper 1/2
Can
you distinguish between these frequently confused terms? How would you define
and illustrate each one?
Phatic Communication and Primarily Interactional Discourse
Backchaining and Backchannel Language
An inductive approach and a deductive approach
Paper 1/3
A group of Upper Intermediate (CEFR B2) learners are given the following task:
Write a negative review for a website of a restaurant where you recently had lunch with a colleague who was visiting your city for the first time. Include three things that went wrong.
The task asks you to identify three key language or discourse features that learners at this level would need to use in order to complete the activity successfully, giving an example for each.
How many marks would the following points receive?
1. Lexis related to restaurants. Example: Although I had booked a table for one fifteen, we had to wait for ten minutes before it was ready and another ten minutes before the waiter brought the menu.
2. Logical organisation of the text - eg a chronological account of what happened from the time they arrived at the restaurant until the time they left.
3. Adjectives with negative denotation. Example: All the food was extremely bland and the vegetables were soggy and overcooked.
Paper 1/4
Look at the example of a learner's speech which you will find here. Find a key strength or key weakness in each of the following categories. Your answer should include at least one strength and at least one weakness.
- weak forms
- intensification
- dental fricatives
Paper 1/5
a) The operator is so-called because it is the verb in the clause which is used to perform grammatical “operations”. Can you list five different grammatical operations that the operator is needed for?
b) Can you write the following utterance in phonemic script? Use weak forms for the unstressed grammatical words.
I saw John today, just outside the bookshop. He was catching a bus to the university. Apparently he’s enrolled on a course there. Something to do with Banking and Finance.
c) Comment on article use in the following sentences:
Winston Churchill, the former Prime Minister of Britain, once
said…
Andrew Law, a former Prime Minister of Britain, once said…
Paper 2/1
A group of adult learners at a UK language school are about to start a four-week course. In a placement test they have all been assessed as early B1 level. On the first morning the teacher gives them the multiple choice test which you will find here in order to diagnose their strengths and weaknesses in grammar and vocabulary. It is not from the coursebook that the class will be using on the course.
Evaluate the effectiveness of this test using the following headings. You should write four points, of which at least one should be positive and at least one negative:
- Level
- Coverage
- Number of Distractors
- Practicality
Paper 2/2
You'll find the text for this task here. It comes from Crace, Total English Pre-intermediate (Pearson). The questions are here. You'll receive the suggested answers and feedback when you submit your own answer to each question. Note that it is no longer possible to save your answers. If you can't complete the activity in one sitting, note the number of the question where you left off, and when you come back to the activity, click through the early questions and continue from there.
Paper 2/3
When you're doing this task, you must be sure to stick to the point and answer the set questions directly without getting sidetracked by related issues. For example, a task focusing on Using the L1 in class might share some points with a task focusing on Translation - but other points would be different and some would be irrelevant to the other topic. Click on the links to compare the points included in these two topics. Which of the points made on the advantages and disadvantages of using the L1 actually involve translation and which focus on other uses? How have the points from the L1 article which are relevant been adapted to give a direct answer to the questions on translation?
The Suggested Answers
Paper 1/1
Click on the links in the letters A-F to see the correct answers.
Advice regarding this task from the Cambridge document Examination Tips for Candidates and Centres. (See page 7 for the full list if you have access to the document):
- You should only write one answer. If you give alternative terms and one of them is incorrect, you will not get any marks.
Paper 1/2
Click on the links to see a full explanation of each term and make sure you understand the differences between them.
Advice regarding this task from the Cambridge document Examination Tips for Candidates and Centres (See pages 8-9 if you have access):
- A large number [of candidates] give more than one example. Candidates should note that this is not a good exam strategy because Examiners can only mark the first example provided. If the candidate provides two examples, the first one of which is incorrect and the second is correct, the candidate will not receive a mark.
Paper 1/3
1. (2 marks) The feature is valid but the underlined words would be known at a lower level than B2. Compare eg: We could both claim the meal as a business expense and so had told the head waiter that we wanted to split the bill.
2. (2 marks) Again, the feature is valid but remember that Cambridge state that the illustration of discourse organisation must include at least three sections. Compare eg: Logical organisation of the text - eg 1) Arriving, being seated, receiving the menu and ordering the food; 2) The time the food took to arrive and interaction with the staff; 3) The quality of the food; 4) Problems with the bill; 5) Conclusion and negative recommendation.
3. (4 marks) The feature is valid and the example is at B2 level.
Advice regarding this task from the Cambridge document Examination Tips for Candidates and Centres. (You'll find the full list on pages 10-12 if you have access):
- [Candidates should] Provide full [sentence] language examples, not just sentence stems, e.g. "The witness looked nervous" rather than "nervous".
Paper 1/4
Advice regarding this task from the Cambridge document Examination Tips for Candidates and Centres. (See pages 13-15):
- Candidates often lose marks because they do not state what the precise weakness is, e.g. "the student’s use of lexis is inaccurate" rather than "the student’s use of the correct word form is inaccurate ("argue" instead of "argument" for the noun)."
Paper 1/5
a)
- For subject-operator inversion in a variety of grammatical contexts eg in exclamations; after negative/limiting adverbs fronted in the clause; as an alternative to certain if clauses; in interrogatives (including tag questions short form questions) etc. (See here for a full list and examples)
- To carry the negative particle - You shouldn’t do that - including in imperative sentences with BE - Don’t be silly!
- To carry emphatic or contrastive stress, including in
imperative sentences - I do like that dress! / Do be quiet!
- As a substitute for a verb phrase understood from
context - We couldn’t find it anywhere at
first, but finally John did.
- In short form answers and questions, including short
form tags - Are you going to work today? / Yes, I am. Aren’t you?
John didn’t give you the day off, did he?
b) /aɪ sɔː ʤɒn tədeɪ ʤʌst aʊtsaɪd ðə bʊkʃɒp hiː wəz kæʧɪŋ ə bʌs tə ðə juːnɪvɜːsɪtiː əpærəntliː hiːz enrɒld ɒn ə kɔːs ðeə sʌmθɪŋ tə duː wɪð bæŋkɪŋ ənd faɪnæns/
(he
and he’s could also be /hɪ/ and /hɪz/ while and could
also be /ən/ or /n̩/)
c) See here for the answer.
Advice regarding this task from the Cambridge document Examination Tips for Candidates and Centres. (See pages 16-23):
- Phonological analysis is often omitted or inaccurate. In particular, candidates frequently treat the weak form as synonymous with the schwa
- Some candidates do not appear to realise that weak forms within a word, e.g. "given", do not count as a feature of connected speech.
Paper 2/1
- Negative - Level : The content of this test contains structures which, according to the EAQUALS/ British Council Core Inventory are expected to be introduced at B1 level and not mastered until B2 - eg the third conditional structures in questions 3-6 and the reported speech structures in questions 17-20. If the learners have been assessed as "early" B1 in the placement test, they will therefore not yet have met/mastered these structures and will inevitably get them wrong. Effect on the learners: This would be likely to demotivate them both as regards their own competence and also in respect to the course - which they might worry will be too hard.
- Negative - Coverage: This appears to be a progress test focusing on specific items which have been covered in the immediately preceding units of the course - hence the large number of items focusing on the same areas (third conditionals and reported speech as stated above but also functions such as suggestions/recommendations, and offers and refusals). This means that within the 30 questions, only a limited range of language can be tested and the learners' level of competence in many areas will not be apparent. Effect on the learners: Learners will not be able to demonstrate competence in other areas and the T. may include unnecessary items in the course (thus wasting time) or omit others.
- Negative - Number of Distractors: Only three options are given and in some cases (eg question 21) are not convincing as alternatives (Ls will be aware that they have never seen "disunderstand" while "not understand" is an erroneous grammatical pattern that should have been known since A1 level). This means that even if they aren't sure of an answer, they have a 33% chance of being correct. Effect on the learners: this affects the reliability of the results and may mislead the teacher into thinking that some items are known and do not need to be taught when they were actually chosen by chance or logical elimination.
- Positive - Practicality: The test is ready-made, and therefore needs no preparation time. it is easy to administer, and the presence of the marking key, which could be given to the learners after they complete the test, means that they could quickly and easily mark their own or each others' answers and calculate the score, thus saving time for the teacher. Effect on the learners: They would have their results immediately.
Advice regarding this task from the Cambridge document Examination Tips for Candidates and Centres. (See pages 24-27):
- Some candidates do not read the rubric carefully enough and so focus on irrelevant aspects such as the fact that the test does not test listening skills which was not mentioned as being the aim of the ... test.
Paper 2/2
Answers and feedback are provided as you work through the task.
A common mistake regarding this task described in the Cambridge document Examination Tips for Candidates and Centres (see pages 28-32) is:
- [Candidates] describe the purpose/aim of the exercises without saying how it combines with the one/s in part (a). This can be exacerbated if they use the infinitive to introduce their points, e.g. "Vocabulary 2: to pre-teach lexis related to the human body." Instead, they need to use the present simple and mention the exercise that it combined with, e.g. "Vocabulary 2 pre-teaches lexis related to the human body needed for the listening task in Listening 2."
Paper 2/3
See the links in the task.
Advice regarding this task from the Cambridge document Examination Tips for Candidates and Centres. (See pages 33-34):
- [Candidates should] develop the points made, supporting them with rationale based on relevant reference to one or more of the following: specific examples from their own experience; examples from a range of contexts; reference to sources and theories.
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