Study Guide

Field 121: French CST
Presentational Writing

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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. Your final essay must be typed in the on-screen response box presented with the assignment.

Please note that special characters (such as letters with accents or other diacritical marks) cannot be entered using the keyboard, but are available for insertion in the on-screen response box. To access these characters, click on the button that appears in the upper left corner of the screen. Using the mouse, double-click on the character you wish to include in your response, or click on the character and then select  start bold "Insert." end bold The character will be inserted where the cursor is positioned in the response box.

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.

You may use the erasable notebooklet provided to take notes; however, start bold you will be scored only on the response that you type in the response box for the assignment. end bold

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

 start bold 

Selon vous, est-ce que les écoles devraient fournir des tablettes informatiques aux élèves ?

end bold

In response to the question above and using the passage provided, write in French 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 in the newspaper  start italics  La Presse end italics  to complete the assignment that appears on the "Assignment" tab. end bold

Un tiers des étudiants du Québec sondés sur l'usage de l'iPad en classe ont admis pratiquer des jeux durant les heures d'école, et une étonnante proportion de 99 % a dit avoir trouvé l'outil technologique distrayant, laisse entendre une nouvelle enquête menée auprès d'un peu plus de 6000 élèves.

Mais bien que seulement quelques élèves aient dit avoir eu l'impression qu'une tablette informatique les aidait à mieux apprendre, les coauteurs du rapport ont conclu que les écoles devraient investir dans la technologie, toutefois avec prudence.

Les chercheurs ont sondé 6057 élèves, de la sixième année du primaire à la quatrième année du secondaire, et 302 enseignants sur leurs expériences à ce jour dans l'usage de tablettes au quotidien dans les classes.

Le rapport conclut qu'il est valable de fournir des tablettes coûteuses à un grand nombre d'élèves à condition que les enseignants soient bien préparés et formés pour ce virage majeur.

L'étude fait état d'un « potentiel cognitif sans précédent ».  Mais le coauteur Thierry Karsenti, chercheur à l'Université de Montréal, souligne qu'à ce jour, les enseignants n'ont généralement pas été bien préparés pour inclure les tablettes dans leur cours.

Selon l'enquête, 70 % des enseignants sondés n'avaient « jamais ou très rarement » utilisé l'iPad avant que leur usage ne soit instauré dans leurs classes, contre 53,6 % du côté de leurs élèves sondés. [. . .]

Les coauteurs de l'étude ont aussi souligné que les élèves disaient avoir fait peu de lectures sur leur tablette, alors que bon nombre de devoirs étaient encore soumis sur papier plutôt que sous forme électronique.

Lorsque questionnés sur les bénéfices de l'usage de l'iPad en classe, environ la moitié des enseignants ont cité un meilleur accès à l'information, 40 % ont identifié la maniabilité de ces appareils, et environ un tiers a fait état d'une meilleure collaboration en classe.

_______________________

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297 word excerpt from Oliveira, Michael. "Un élève Sur Trois Joue Sur Son IPad En Classe." La Presse. La Presse Canadienne, 11 Dec. 2011. Reprinted with permission of CEDROM – SNi.

Sample Strong Response to Presentational Writing Assignment

 start bold Note: end bold  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 well-organized and coherent essay that effectively communicates clear ideas and develops a logical conclusion. The candidate establishes a clear position on the issue presented in the question and effectively 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 strong engagement with the passage.

The essay is written in the candidate's own words and effectively uses a broad range of vocabulary and academic and idiomatic language, as well as a style and sociocultural conventions that are appropriate for the assignment. Ideas are effectively expressed and connected through the use of a broad 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 anglicisms ("pour conduire sa vie" instead of "pour conduire la vie," "confidance" instead of "confiance," "poster" instead of "afficher," "les impacts" instead of "l'impact"), and a missing pronoun ("comme le sondage indique" instead of "comme le sondage l'indique").

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	The "4" response demonstrates effective presentational writing skills.
3	The "3" response demonstrates generally effective presentational writing skills.
2	The "2" response demonstrates partially effective presentational writing skills.
1	The "1" response demonstrates ineffective presentational writing skills.
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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