ENGLISH PRIMARY BENCHMARK 2012

COMPONENTS AND WEIGHTINGS SPEAKING – carrying 20% of the global mark (prepared by the Benchmark board and administered by teachers) LISTENING – carrying 20% of the global mark (recorded on CD) READING – carrying 30% of the global mark WRITING – carrying 30% of the global mark

PLANNING AND DESIGNING PHASE Great care was taken so that: no gender and/or racial bias and promotional material will be present in any of the pictures and the audio and written texts. The choice of themes in the pictures for the speaking component and in the other components was suitable in as far as they addressed the interests of the age- group.

The length of both audio and written texts was kept to the stipulated recommendations in the Guidelines to the 2012 End of Primary Benchmark. Great care was taken in producing recordings of good quality for the Listening Component. The readers’ diction and pronunciation were assessed prior to the recordings and it was ensured that they were clear and professional, so that they would not pose any difficulty to candidates.

Throughout the Benchmark papers it was ensured that there was differentiation within the different components and also within the different exercises in the components. The papers catered for the widest possible range of ability within this age-group.

THE SPEAKING COMPONENT Tasks included : the Warmer the Interview Thematic Pictures Single Picture

THE LISTENING COMPONENT The questions in the Listening Component were suitable for the age-group. Candidates, who understood spoken language, followed aural instructions accurately and had mastered listening comprehension skills, did well.

LISTENING TASKS 1 AND 2 Task 1: Candidates had to listen to and understand three different announcements made by the head teacher during morning assembly. They then had to answer multiple-choice questions by underlining the correct word or phrase in the brackets.

Task 2: The second text was a monologue where an adult remembers and reminisces about his childhood. Candidates had to match visuals to make connections, answer Multiple choice questions and indicate whether a statement was true, false or state whether no information was given.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES Strengths: The majority of candidates could make connections and listen to specific information. Weaknesses: Some candidates stumbled on questions that asked them to infer meaning from context or to decipher a meaning of particular vocabulary items.

THE READING COMPREHENSION COMPONENT The first comprehension was built around a poster. It was considered to be interesting, authentic and suitable for the age-group. The second comprehension, a narrative – was divided into two sections, each with a range of questions set at different levels of difficulty.

The comprehension component assessed different reading comprehension skills through a variety of exercises. The comprehension texts were adapted to render them candidate-friendly with the aim of targeting a wide range of candidates. The questions were clear and the relevant information to answer them was available in the text.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES Strengths: Candidates who understood written language, followed written instructions accurately and had mastered reading comprehension skills, did well. They were able to interact with the texts and answer all or most of the questions correctly. Weaknesses: Vocabulary-related questions and those that required inference proved to be most challenging.

THE WRITING COMPONENT Candidates had to continue a dialogue in the first writing task. In the second writing task candidates were given the opening lines of a story which they had to continue. They also had to provide a suitable title for their story. The writing tasks were considered suitable for the age-group.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES First Writing Task – The Dialogue Strengths: Candidates managed to continue the chosen dialogue coherently, using appropriate informal language and keeping to the point.

Weaknesses: Candidates did not develop the conversation logically and therefore their writing bordered on the irrelevant. Some candidates included texting language in their writing, forgetting that they were writing down a conversation. Candidates ignored the instruction that they had to choose one dialogue and tackled both dialogues.

THE PLAN The planning exercise is considered a valid one. Thinking and planning were rewarded. Candidates who planned in detail generally did well in the second writing task. Candidates used different valid strategies for planning which they found useful in the actual writing of the task.

SECOND WRITING TASK Candidates had to choose from two writing tasks of the same genre – a narrative. They were given the opening lines of a story which they had to continue and which would be published in a children’s magazine.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES Strengths: Candidates continued the story in a really logical and imaginative manner. They used a narrative-descriptive style as was expected. Successful candidates wrote coherent and cohesive paragraphs. They made good use of compound and complex sentences.

Weaknesses: Candidates did not continue the story according to the opening lines and their writing bordered on irrelevance. Misunderstanding the expression ‘felt a shiver go down her back’, in question 2, which was interpreted literally, thus hindering candidates from continuing the story correctly and relevantly.

Irrelevance, limited vocabulary, limited use of linking words and errors in spelling, punctuation and sentence structure. Negative interference of the mother tongue.

RECOMMENDATIONS English should be taught and learnt through meaningful contexts integrating the listening, speaking, reading and writing skills; Students should actively be exposed to the English language, by listening to it, reading it and recycling what they have been exposed to by speaking and writing it meaningfully and purposefully;

The use of Information and Communication Technology should further enhance both receptive and productive skills. Reading in English should involve reading in a purposeful way.

Reading comprehension skills should be developed so that students could cope with whatever genre or text they are faced. Students need to be taught reading skills such as locating specific information or scanning for the general meaning of a text.

Most importantly, students should be trained to deduce and infer meaning from context. Reading activities should be planned to help students of different abilities to deal with skills at text, sentence and word level.

Students should be given ample opportunities to practise the whole writing process, starting from the planning stages, to draft writing, editing and producing and publishing the final product. Writing grammatically and legibly is also important as well as being able to write both long and short texts. Writing appropriately according to the genre and the purpose is a skill which students should be trained in.

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