Italian Continuers 2018 HSC exam pack

Conversation

Students should:

• respond to questions in relation to their personal world with relevant information and reflect on and justify opinions by elaborating spontaneously to each question
• be prepared to be interrupted at an appropriate moment by examiners
• answer questions that relate to past, present, future, conditional and hypothetical experiences
• correct themselves if they realise they have made a pronunciation or grammatical mistake
• ask, in Italian, for the question to be repeated, clarified or rephrased if they have not understood the question
• refrain from identifying their school and/or teacher
• refrain from asking the examiner to translate words or questions.

In better responses, students were able to:

• communicate with fluency and authenticity with in-depth responses to a range of questions
• engage effectively across a range of syllabus topics
• respond to both predictable and unpredictable questions with a confident conversational manner
• express ideas clearly and justify opinions consistently
• provide responses that were reflective, not just descriptive
• manipulate language skilfully and accurately, particularly in the third person
• manipulate tenses effectively and spontaneously, and move between the tenses with ease and minimal errors
• use a broad range of sophisticated vocabulary and a variety of complex structures
• use authentic vocabulary and expressions
• demonstrate authentic pronunciation and intonation
• use connectives and provide detail effectively and appropriately
• use idiomatic expressions appropriately and authentically.

Areas for students to improve include:

• avoiding the use of English syntax and anglicisms
• knowing the correct word to use, for example imparare vs insegnare, passare vs spendere
• recognising the tense in which the question is asked and responding accordingly
• having a strong command of vocabulary and grammatical structures in particular with pronouns, articulated prepositions, future and imperfect tenses
• manipulating the grammatical structure of the question
• conjugating correctly in all tenses, the verbs piacere and mancare
• ensuring that essere is not used whentalking about age.

Students should:

• familiarise themselves with a range of vocabulary and expressions which relate to the topics for study in the syllabus
• read the questions carefully to determine the specific requirements for each question
• ensure their response provides all the relevant information to fully answer the question
• make notes in the Candidate’s Notes column and transcribe them into the lines, tables or charts provided under the question.

In better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate understanding of the main ideas as well as specific information in texts
• support their responses with detailed reference to the text
• determine the purpose and the audience of texts
• analyse ideas and information and respond to questions using their own words rather than provide mere translations of segments of text
• complete form according to instructions (Q2)
• make a judgement on how Giorgia is likely to feel based on information in the text rather than their personal opinion (Q4)
• explain using their own words how likely Sabrina was to change her mind (Q6)
• interpret and analyse rather than simply retelling the story or translating the text.

Areas for students to improve include:

• demonstrating a more holistic understanding of texts rather than translating segments of text
• including specific reference to content and language in responses to questions that require it
• read all parts of the question carefully and addressing all the key words of the question in their response
• interpret and analyse rather than simply retelling the story or translating the text
• using dictionary appropriately find the correct meaning of word or words for the context
• proofreading responses so that they make sense and are not contradictory.

Part A

Students should:

• read the texts and the questions carefully and locate the key ideas of each text
• identify the specific requirements of every question
• analyse the information in the text or draw a conclusion rather than give a literal translation
• use the dictionary appropriately to find the correct meaning of the word or words in context.
• use the number of lines and the mark value of each question as an indication of the depth required for each question.

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and articulate the new trend, including both aspects of the trend (Q9a)
• summarise the reasons for the trend  as required by the question (Q9b)
• explain the effectiveness of the statement Veramente una bella storia d’amore using their own words to discuss the reference to foreigners and Robert Mann’s experience (Q9c)
• provide a clear statement identifying all aspects of the topic of Stefano’s blog (Q10a)
• explain, without just translating text, how language used by Stefano reflected his point of view (Q10c)
• provide an explanation of the quote, using their own words (Q10d)
• identify clearly Bruno’s attitude and explain it from Renata’s perspective, using their own words (Q10e).

Areas for students to improve include:

• read the whole text closely
• addressing all the requirement of every question
• avoiding translation of parts of texts and using the translation as the answer
• extrapolating key points and express them as concisely as possible when required to summarise (Q9b)
• use the number of lines as a guide to the length of a response
• structure a cohesive and logical response using own words or paraphrasing to show understanding of quotes from text
• avoiding repeating information used to answer other questions
• using the dictionary appropriately to find the correct meaning of the word or words for the context of the text.

Part B

Students should:

• demonstrate an understanding of the whole text by addressing all cues and not just responding to questions in the text
• respond to all relevant and key points raised in the text, for example, comments made, requests for advise
• use their dictionary effectively to use the correct word(s) or expression(s) for the context
• use a variety of language structures, expressions and authentic vocabulary and not transcribe segments from text into their response
• organise ideas in paragraphs and in a logical, coherent manner
• edit their work in relation to grammar and spelling.

In better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate understanding by addressing information in the whole text
• provide a creative response by giving information of their own and elaborating on ideas
• avoid re-writing text as part of their response
• manipulate language and used a wide variety of tenses and vocabulary
• sequence their ideas logically, using appropriate conventions of the type of text required.

Areas for students to improve include:

• demonstrating understanding of the whole text by responding to information in the text using their own words
• ensuring that their response meets the word length requirement of the question
• revising grammar, for example agreement of possessives; verb tenses and conjugations, for example, of past tenses, present subjunctive, conditional mood, future tense and hypothetical constructions
• learning vocabulary and expressions related to topics in the syllabus
• avoiding incorrect use of false friends, for example elettrizzato and eccitato
• avoiding transliteration, for example giocare lo sport instead of fare lo sport ; avere un buon tempo instead of passare un buon tempo
• identifying tone, for example, paying attention to expression/punctuation/irony using idiomatic expressions appropriately in context. 

Students should:

• ensure they read the question carefully and address all parts of the question in their response
• use appropriate register throughout the response
• commence and conclude the response respecting the conventions of the type of text required by the question
• plan their response to ensure a clear structure and sequence
• support ideas and opinions using a variety of  variety of examples and range of sentence structures
• use a variety of vocabulary and sentence structures to express ideas and information
• proofread and edit their text.

In better responses, students were able to:

• address the audience, purpose and context of the question appropriately
• maintain the correct register throughout the response
• develop their ideas coherently and sequence them appropriately
• manipulate language structures and move across tenses confidently
• successfully link their ideas back to the requirements of the question
• use vocabulary and idiomatic expressions appropriately and effectively.

Areas for students to improve include:

• providing a detailed description of how they spent their time during an unexpectectedly pleasant weekend without the internet rather than just listing activities or places visited (Q12)
• using expressions and sentence structures that address the more formal context of the type of text of a speech
• using voi form consistently to address the audience throughout the response (Q13)
• choosing appropriate vocabulary for the context of the response
• revising past tenses, for example present perfect and imperfect tenses
• editing their written work to ensure clarity of response.