Study Guide

Field 120: Cantonese CST
Presentational Writing

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Review the hand-draw tutorial video and scanning instructions . These scanning instructions, which include a sample response sheet from a Mathematics test, will be made available during your test.

For your reference, a sample response sheet from a Cantonese test is provided on this website to show you what your response may look like.

Directions for Presentational Writing Assignment

For the Presentational Writing section of the test, you will write an essay in the  start bold target language end bold  in response to an assignment.

Read the assignment carefully before you begin to write. Think about how you will organize your essay. You should use your time to plan, write, review, and edit your essay. You may use the erasable notebooklet to make notes, write an outline, or otherwise prepare your response.  start bold However, your final response to the assignment must be written on the response sheets and scanned using the scanner provided at your workstation.

Instructions for scanning your Response Sheets are available by clicking the "Scanning Help" button at the top of the screen. end bold 

Your response will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

•  start bold APPROPRIATENESS: end bold  The extent to which the response is an essay written in the candidate's own words, demonstrates engagement with the provided passage, establishes a position on the issue presented in the question, and uses language, style, and sociocultural conventions appropriate for the assignment (task, context, and specified audience)
•  start bold SUPPORT: end bold  The extent to which the response supports the established position with information (appropriately cited details, quotations, and paraphrases) from the provided passage and the candidate's own ideas or examples
•  start bold ORGANIZATION: end bold  The extent to which the response is a well-organized and coherent essay that communicates clear ideas, develops a logical conclusion, and uses cohesive devices to connect sentences
•  start bold GRAMMAR: end bold  The extent to which the response uses a range of appropriate grammatical constructions, time frames, sentence structures, and mechanics (i.e., spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and diacritical marks)
•  start bold VOCABULARY: end bold  The extent to which the response uses a range of appropriate vocabulary and academic and idiomatic language

Your response will be evaluated on the criteria above, not on the position you take. Your response must be written in your own words. With the exception of appropriately identified quotations and paraphrases from the passage, your writing must be your own.

Any time spent responding to the assignment, including scanning the response sheet(s), is part of your testing time. Monitor your time carefully. When your testing time expires, a pop-up message will appear on-screen indicating the conclusion of your test session. Only response sheets that are scanned before you end your test or before time has expired will be scored. Any response sheet that is not scanned before testing ends will NOT be scored.

Select the  start bold Next end bold  button to continue.

Sample Presentational Writing Assignment

Competency 0003 
Presentational Writing

start bold Use the passage that appears on the "Passage" tab to complete the assignment below. end bold

????,?????????????
????,?????????????

In response to the question above and using the passage provided, write in Chinese (simplified or traditional characters) a well-organized and coherent essay for an audience of educated adults. In your essay, you must:

• state your position on the issue presented in the question;
• support your position by:
  • citing relevant details from the passage, and
  • providing your own relevant ideas or examples; and
• develop a conclusion that follows from and supports the ideas presented in your essay.

Your response must be written in your own words. With the exception of appropriately identified quotations and paraphrases from the passage, your writing must be your own.

 start bold Use the passage below from an article published on the Web site «????» to complete the assignment that appears on the "Assignment" tab. end bold 

[Simplified]

????????

??????? (DSE¹ footnote 1 ) ???,????????????????,???????????,?????????????????????????130????????????DSE????????,??????????,???????????????????,????????,????????

?????????????(Esther)??,????????????,?????????,??????????????????,????????????????????????????????,????????,?????????,???????????????

[Traditional]

????????

??????? (DSE¹ footnote 1 ) ???,????????????????,???????????,?????????????????????????130????????????DSE????????,??????????,???????????????????,????????,????????

?????????????(Esther)??,????????????,?????????,??????????????????,????????????????????????????????,????????,?????????,???????????????

_______________________

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¹ footnote 1 DSE: Diploma of Secondary Education

_______________________

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Excerpt from the Yahoo Hong Kong New article entitled "????????" Reprinted with permission from Yahoo. 2015 Yahoo. YAHOO! and the YAHOO! logo are trademarks of Yahoo.

Sample Strong Response to Presentational Writing Assignment

Note: The sample strong response for the presentational writing assignment is an example of a response that a candidate might write. While the sample response demonstrates effective presentational writing skills, it could contain typical errors that candidates may produce in composing an essay in the target language. Please see the rationale following the response for more details.

Rationale for Sample Strong Response to Presentational Writing Assignment

The response is a largely coherent essay that communicates clear ideas and develops a conclusion. The candidate establishes a clear position on the issue presented in the question and largely supports the established position with relevant information from the passage, as well as his or her own relevant ideas and examples. Overall, the response demonstrates a good level of engagement with the passage.

The essay is largely written in the candidate's own words and uses a range of vocabulary and idiomatic language, as well as a style and sociocultural conventions appropriate for the assignment. Ideas are expressed and connected through the use of a range of appropriate grammatical constructions, time frames, sentence structures, mechanics, and cohesive devices. Errors are minor and do not interfere with comprehensibility. Examples of such errors include the incorrect use of the "de" particle in the first paragraph. The particle ? was used, which should be used before a noun, instead of the appropriate particle ?, which should have been used before the verb ?? (to apply). In the third paragraph, there is a character error in the idiomatic expression ???? / or  ????, which, in the context of the response, should be ????? / or  ?????. The expression should mean "one skill you excel in" or "one skill you are good at." The character ? (branch) was used instead of the characters ?? (skill).

Performance Characteristics for Presentational Writing Assignment

The following characteristics guide the scoring of responses to the Presentational Writing assignment.

APPROPRIATENESS	The extent to which the response is an essay written in the candidate's own words, demonstrates engagement with the provided passage, establishes a position on the issue presented in the question, and uses language, style, and sociocultural conventions appropriate for the assignment (task, context, and specified audience)
SUPPORT	The extent to which the response supports the established position with information (appropriately cited details, quotations, and paraphrases) from the provided passage and the candidate's own ideas or examples
ORGANIZATION	The extent to which the response is a well-organized and coherent essay that communicates clear ideas, develops a logical conclusion, and uses cohesive devices to connect sentences
GRAMMAR	The extent to which the response uses a range of appropriate grammatical constructions, time frames, sentence structures, and mechanics (i.e., spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and diacritical marks)
VOCABULARY	The extent to which the response uses a range of appropriate vocabulary and academic and idiomatic language

Score Scale for Presentational Writing Assignment

A score will be assigned to the response to the Presentational Writing assignment according to the following score scale.

Score Point	Score Point Description
4	start bold The "4" response demonstrates effective presentational writing skills. end bold
3	start bold The "3" response demonstrates generally effective presentational writing skills. end bold
2	start bold The "2" response demonstrates partially effective presentational writing skills. end bold
1	start bold The "1" response demonstrates ineffective presentational writing skills. end bold
U	The response is unscorable because it is merely a repetition of the assignment, not related to the assignment, not primarily in the target language, or not of sufficient length to score.
B	There is no response to the assignment.

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