Italian Beginners 2023 HSC exam pack

Conversation

Students should:

• be prepared to communicate about a variety of topics relating to their personal world
• elaborate and provide relevant details to address the questions in a way that engages with the examiner
• use a range of vocabulary, expressions and language structures to respond appropriately to the questions
• provide information, express ideas and comment on their personal world
• be prepared to respond to questions from a different perspective
• be prepared to respond to questions that relate to past, present and future aspects of their personal world
• avoid the repetition of the same vocabulary, phrases and expressions
• manipulate the language to fulfil the requirements of the question
• be prepared to be interrupted by the examiner
• use Italian to ask for repetition and/or clarification of the question.

In better responses, students were able to:

• use a wide range of language accurately and authentically
• provide clear responses to questions with minimal hesitation
• provide relevant answers to unexpected questions rather than giving a rehearsed answer
• respond appropriately with correct pronunciation and intonation, including for English cognates, such as competitizione for example, fai competitizione per la ginnastica?
• use correct tenses in line with the intent of the question
• conjugate and use a variety of verbs across past, present, future tense and conditional forms, for example, faccio, ho fatto, farò, vorrei fare
• elaborate and justify ideas and opinions using authentic and personalised examples relating to past, present and future aspects of their personal world
• provide a variety of adjectives, for example, maleducato, affidabile, avoid repeating bello and gentile
• demonstrate a good understanding of various grammatical points including adjectival endings, and use of modal verbs, for example, indimenticabile, piacevole and the use of volere, potere and dovere
• develop ideas by using connectives, for example però and siccome, adverbs of frequency, for example, sempre, mai, and ancora.

Areas for students to improve include:

• elaborating on topics with relevant information and opinions
• understanding of interrogatives, for example, dove, quando, con chi?
• avoiding the repeating of what the examiner asks
• avoiding frequent pausing and hesitation
• using the verb fare effectively in the present, past and future, for example, Cosa facevi da piccolo?
• understanding basic questions, for example, Cosa fai dopo quest’esame? A chi assomigli? Ti manchera’ la scuola? Ti mancheranno i tuoi amici/ i tuoi professori? Cosa fai nel tuo tempo libero? (libero often confused with libri)
• revising the correct use of pronouns, for example, mia sorella, mio padre, I miei amici.
• avoiding giving one word answers such as 'si' or ‘no', and instead using full sentences with justifications, opinions and/or examples
• using possessives appropriately and applying third person and gender agreement, when talking about family and friends.

Students should:

• read each question carefully
• make notes in the Candidate’s Notes column on the right-hand side of the page
• transcribe their response on to the lines, using the space provided for each question
• use the lines provided as a guide to the length of the response required
• ensure their responses are clear and address all parts of the question
• use their own words and respond in English
• avoid translating text as part of their response.

In better responses, students were able to:

• recognise specific vocabulary and structures such as esame (Q1) solo delle mele (Q2) festeggiato (Q3)
• identify the correct multiple choice (Q2, Q3, Q6a, Q9a)
• make the connection between the emotion and the reasoning and listen for contextual clues and tone of voice (Q5)
• identify differences and agreement between speakers (Q7)
• address all aspects of the question, for example, provide more than one reason for both speakers (Q7)
• identify the action and consequences thoroughly (Q8)
• substantiate their responses with detailed references from the text (Q9b)
• provide in depth detail to demonstrate thorough understanding (Q9b).

Areas for students to improve include:

• being familiar with verb tenses to properly understand time references such as ho festeggiato (Q3)
• differentiation between campagna vs campeggio and campagna vs montagna (Q4, Q7)
• understanding key vocabulary and pronunciation, for example, libero is not libro (Q5), partita is not party (Q6b), costa is not cost (Q4), campeggio is not countryside (Q4), pesci is not fishing (Q7), campagna is not companion (Q7)
• developing an explanation and not just listing information (Q8).

Students should:

• read the whole text(s)
• address all parts of each question
• use the lines, table, chart etcetera allocated for the response
• provide all necessary details to respond to the question fully
• support their responses with evidence from the text where required
• use their own words rather than giving a literal translation
• use their dictionary appropriately to find the correct meaning of the word(s) in context.

In better responses, students were able to:

• look for contextual clues, for example, anche, essenziale, importante, necessary (Q12b)
• identify broad and intuitive notions of concepts and support with evidence from the text. For example, there are two concepts identified in the following sentence, ‘their win was rewardedwith lunch and certificates and a gift’ (Q12)
• infer idiomatic expressions and translate these into English accordingly
• extrapolate embedded information written in Italian to form accurate responses, for example (Q14a) deduced that the meeting time was 15 minutes before8:45 and not 8:45
• make links between two texts provided rather than only relate to one of the two texts (Q13)
• summarise texts into concepts and demonstrate higher order thinking to compose succinct responses rather than translating whole blocks of text without considering the pros and cons and providing judgement accordingly
• compare both texts and reflect and infer comparisons based on the textual evidence (Q13).

Areas for students to improve include:

• making links between information provided and inferring additional meaning and concepts. For example ‘She wanted to earn money to save for the gap year, she intended to take the following year’ rather than ‘She’s going to Europe’ (Q12b)
• looking for accurate meaning of verbs
• providing detail and confirming accuracy through the effective use of dictionaries
• showing a deep understanding of the whole text by including information in English, for example, Capodanno 'New Year’s Eve’ (Q11).

Students should:

• write to the word length required
• address audience, purpose and context required by the question
• apply the conventions of the type of text indicated in the question
• use correct register throughout the response
• use a range of tenses, sentence structures and a variety of vocabulary
• avoid repeating the same expressions throughout the response
• use the dictionary carefully to access vocabulary and expressions that are meaningful in the context of the response
• avoid listing
• edit their work.

In better responses, students were able to:

• address context, purpose and audience, for example, address the students in the message (Q15)
• address the question creatively, for example, provide ideas for the party (Q16)
• attempt a variety of language structures, for example, modal verbs, conditional (Q16)
• use a wide range of vocabulary and expressions (Q17, Q18)
• use the correct text type and include the date for the diary entry (Q17, Q18)
• include the appropriate details (Q15, Q16)
• use a variety of tenses as required, in particular, the past and the imperfect tenses (Q17, Q18)
• address all elements of the question (Q15, Q16)
• demonstrate knowledge of linking words, for example, inoltre, quindi
• express their ideas coherently and creatively (Q17)
• use paragraphs to organise their ideas coherently (Q17, Q18).

Areas for students to improve include:

• using the dictionary effectively to avoid using incorrect vocabulary, for example, mazza for club (Q15), perdere instead of mancare (Q18)
• using correct syntax
• improving the spelling of words, for example, dario instead of diario, trascolato instead of traslocato (Q18)
• using correct verb conjugations and modal verbs (Q16)
• selecting correct tense, for example, future tense (Q16)
• improving the use of agreements
• providing details relevant to the question
• avoiding the use of infinitives in place of conjugated verbs.