Japanese Beginners 2018 HSC exam pack

Students should:

• respond directly to the question and demonstrate the capacity to extend their answers, manipulating language effectively across a range of topics
• remember that there will be unexpected questions. Students who memorise responses on particular topics and recite them, regardless of the actual questions being asked or the flow of the conversation, will disadvantage themselves
• avoid errors with tense, dates, family members and particles
• use complete sentences.

In better responses, students were able to:

• manipulate language effectively and accurately
• respond to the questions directly and elaborate their response using relevant and appropriate information
• use conjunctions such as ‘soshite, demo, dakara, sore kara’ to link ideas
• use a wide range of vocabulary and sentence structures
• use tense correctly
• give clear, confident and fluent responses, with effective pronunciation and intonation.

Areas for students to improve include:

• ensure an understanding of question words, such as ‘dare, itsu, doushite, dochira, doko, dou yatte, donna’
• avoid confusing: ‘imasu/arimasu, ikimasu/kimasu, otousan/otootosan, chuugaku/chuugoku, eigo/eiga, Nihongo/nihon’
• ensure an understanding of plain and ‘masu’ form; ‘te’ form; ‘tari’ form; joining of adjectives; conjugation of negative adjectives; nominalising of the verb; ‘tai’ form; using to ‘omou’ with ‘na’ adjectives and nouns.

Listening

Students should:

• provide more details when answering and/or relevant information
• ensure they are answering the question, not just translating what they hear
• ensure they comprehend simple key words
• improve their listening skills for proper nouns
• distinguish between numbers in Japanese regarding ages and time
• understand past plain verb form use with 'koto' when talking about past experience
• not translate words that are in common use in English, such as 'ninja' and 'cosplay'.

In better responses, students were able to:

• answer the question directly with the appropriate amount of detail, rather than simply translate every detail heard in the text
• demonstrate a thorough knowledge of vocabulary
• demonstrate an understanding that they were going to meet at the Sushi restaurant for dinner at 6pm rather than making a story around sushi (Q1)
• understand that the speakers were making plans/arrangements to meet up together rather than just giving a list of activities they had done/doing on the weekend (Q3)
• complete the table aligning the correct subject with the correct day and period, demonstrating understanding that there was a Japanese examination as well as a Japanese speaking exam (Q6)
• identify that 'tari tari' is used to list multiple actions
• clearly identify similarities and differences
• interpret/infer meaning, not just translate the text (Q9).

Areas for students to improve include:

• developing knowledge of a wide range of vocabulary, in particular, a knowledge of verbs in their plain form to support comprehension of the more complex texts  
• identifying numbers, for example age, times, and amounts of time
• using dot points or columns, when the question requires
• understanding past tense verbs
• identifying similarities and differences.

Reading

Students should:

• ensure they have read the question properly, for example what, when and should ensure their answer directly answers the question
• ensure a thorough knowledge of basic vocabulary, for example months of the year
• read for detail when required, not just a general idea  
• ensure they have a thorough understanding of kanji
• take note of the spaces for writing their answers which should be used as a guide for the expected length
• understand that ’summarise’ requires a concise response of the main ideas, not a detailed translation of the text
• read and highlight key words in the question to assist in giving an accurate response with all relevant details included
• look for embedded questions, that is a question within a question.

In better responses, students were able to:

• use relevant information in the text in order to answer the question effectively
• understand all detail in order to make direct comparisons (Q13c)
• find related information in all three texts (Q13b)
• recognise importance of language features such as '~masen ka, ~mashou, ~te kudasai', in persuading the reader to adopt a healthy diet (Q14a)
• demonstrate an excellent understanding of the advice given by drawing conclusions and summarising the main ideas as opposed to a word for word translation (Q14b)
• clearly link evidence from the text with the identified personality trait (Q15b)
• provide concise and relevant details to answer the question as opposed to giving a recount (Q15b).

Areas for students to improve include:

• ensuring a better understanding of:
• 'katakana'
• verb conjugations/tenses
• plain form
• improving awareness of language features, for example persuasive language, inviting
• using the examination time more efficiently
• learning the difference between common boys’ and girls’ names to avoid confusion.

Writing 

Part A

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify the correct context, audience and purpose
• communicate highly relevant ideas, for example describing the part-time job, with a high degree of grammatical accuracy  
• use a wide range of vocabulary, language structures and kanji  
• use appropriate conventions of the text type
• provide a well-structured concise response in 100 ji (Q16)
• use tenses and polite form consistently (Q16)
• use the plain form consistently
• use the correct verb 'hikkosu' for ’move’ (Q17)
• clearly state what they enjoy/ like/dislike about the new city, rather than just provide a description
• justify their opinions with additional details
• use appropriate conventions of the text type, for example ' ~ e, ~ yori' and a culturally appropriate ending, for example ‘waiting for a reply’.

Areas for students to improve include:

• demonstrating awareness of the context, purpose and audience of the task
• using polite or plain form consistently
• avoiding relying on phrases from the dictionary
• using ' hiragana, katakana and kanji' correctly
• using particles correctly
• avoiding including irrelevant ideas
• using a range of linguistic structures and features accurately in their response.

Part B

Students should:

• read the question carefully to ensure that their response addresses the correct context, purpose and audience
• read the questions in both Japanese and English to ensure that they have a holistic understanding of what is required in their response
• plan their writing before they begin to ensure cohesiveness
• include only relevant ideas in their responses
• write within the specified character limit.

In better responses, students were able to:

• write consistently in plain form
• include the conventions of the diary text type (date, day and weather)
• use a wide range of language structures
• use past tense of verbs, adjectives and nouns consistently
• develop creative and interesting ideas
• write a well-structured response which answered the question directly.

Areas for students to improve include:

• developing a thorough understanding of how to use the plain form, including with structures such as form + 'to omou', verb stem + 'nagara', past plain form +' ato de'
• including only relevant information in their responses
• linking adjectives correctly
• ensuring that the response is written in the correct text type
• using a wider and more sophisticated range of language in their responses.