HONG KONG EXAMINATIONS AND ASSESSMENT AUTHORITY 2007 HKCE English Language Examination Criteria and Standards for the SBA Component HKedCity Seminar, 10 December, 2005 Christina Lee, Senior Subject Officer (English)

SUMMARY OF SBA REQUIREMENTS RequirementsS4S5Total Number and type of texts to be read Minimum of two texts, from two categories Remaining two texts, remaining categories Four texts, one from each category (print fiction, print non- fiction, non-print fiction, non-print non- fiction); two must be from HKEAA list Number and timing of assessment tasks to be undertaken Minimum of two interactive tasks to be undertaken anytime during S4, must be on different texts Minimum of one interactive task, one individual presentation to be undertaken anytime during S5, must be on different texts Four tasks on four texts, one from each category Number, % and timing of marks to be reported One mark, best mark out of the two tasks, 5% of total English mark, reported at end of S4 Best mark for the interaction and best mark for the presentation, 10% of total English mark, reported at end of S5 15% of total English mark

MANDATORY ASSESSMENT CONDITIONS (1) Type of assessment task and type of text must be familiar to students Specific background knowledge and non-language skills not assessed Assessment must be conducted by the English subject teacher, with fellow students as audience Individual presentation tasks must allow students to produce a performance of at least 2-3 minutes Group interaction tasks must provide students with multiple opportunities to demonstrate interaction skills and make a balanced contribution

MANDATORY ASSESSMENT CONDITIONS (2) Students must not read aloud or take notes during the assessment but brief notes on a note card are allowed for individual presentations Students can be given more than 2 assessments a year, but are not allowed to repeat the same assessment task or engage in extensive rehearsal The teacher-assessor may interact with individual students during an assessment to ask questions to clarify and/or extend the student’s ideas and to probe the range and depth of their oral language skills

RECORD-KEEPING Three kinds of records need to be kept: Assessment record (signed by students and teachers) Class record (signed by SBA coordinator and principal) Audio or video recordings of a range of sample oral assessments not submitted to HKEAA for teaching and learning as well as for professional sharing and standardisation as many as possible video preferred, audio acceptable need not be professional quality

CALENDAR OF SBA EVENTS 2005/06 MonthEvent January to April 2006 Professional development courses for all S4 teachers February to May 2006Teachers to conduct planned assessments March 2006 Letter to schools to inform principals of the date and method of submission of S4 SBA marks May 2006 Group and School Coordinators to conduct intra-school meetings for standardisation and inter-school meetings for professional sharing End of June 2006 Schools to submit S4 SBA marks to HKEAA for review July to August 2006S4 SBA marks reviewed and analysed by HKEAA

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA Four domains of assessment: 1. Pronunciation & Delivery phonology & intonation, voice projection & fluency 2. Communicative Strategies body language, timing, (IP) asking/responding to questions 3. Vocabulary & Language Patterns vocabulary, language patterns, & self-correction /reformulation 4. Ideas & Organisation expressing information and ideas, elaboration on appropriate aspects of topic, organisation, (GI) questioning & responding to questions

DEVELOPMENT OF ASSESSMENT CRITERIA HKU SBA project team commissioned by HKEAA Based on speaking descriptors and draft assessment guidelines for 2007 oral exam Pilot study conducted in 23 schools with students of different abilities Over 500 samples of performance collected Criteria matched against real samples and adapted

SETTING THE STANDARDS Validation sessions involving about 30 teachers teaching in schools of different bandings Scores agreed upon for various samples Training CDRs developed Examples with commentaries to illustrate task types and how scores are assigned Anchor sets with commentaries to illustrate standards Anchor sets serve as ‘rulers’ with which to measure all students

TRAINING CDRS CDRs available in mid December 2005 For use by teachers only for training and standardisation Permission only given for training purpose, not for general audience Must not be shown to students as models Misleading as examples of how students should handle assessment tasks

INTERNAL STANDARDISATION View training CDRs as a group Discuss and score Anchor Sets with reference to assessment criteria Review and score school performance samples and standardise marks School SBA coordinator to conduct at least one formal intra-school standardisation meeting in May 2006 Ensure accurate rank ordering within school

STANDARDISATION ACROSS SCHOOLS Group Coordinator to conduct inter-school meeting end of May 2006 View samples of performance from different schools for professional sharing May adjust marks within school if necessary before submission of S4 marks to HKEAA by end of June 2006 Statistical moderation of SBA marks based on 2007 CE English Language exam results

SBA SUPPORT MATERIALS List of recommended texts, text selection guidelines, and notes on copyright and end-user agreement FAQs SBA Handbook Introductory DVD and booklet Training CDRs HKEAA website: HKU website on SBA: HKedCity SBA platform:

SBA TRAINING For SBA coordinators: Implementation issues – early July (3 hours) Assessment criteria and standards – late September (3 hours) For all S4 teachers: Assessment criteria and standards – November (3 hours) PD course on SBA – January to April 2006 (12 hours)

Thank you. Questions?