Commentary on Higher French Question Paper 2 (Writing)

Commentary on Higher French Question Paper 2 (Writing) Candidate 1 The candidate was awarded 4 marks The candidate does address the topic but the content is quite limited and the ideas expressed are quite repetitive. The language used is basic and there are many errors in gender and spelling. The writing does not start off particularly well. In the opening sentence, the incorrect form of the verb is used and the adjectival agreement is omitted -"... les langues est trés important" This sets the tone for the remainder of the writing. In line 3, "passionée" is misspelled and the article is omitted in "Français" and "Anglais" which are written with capital letters. The candidate does try to write more complex sentences but often unsuccessfully with errors in spelling and evidence of mother tongue interference. (E.g. In line 6, "Je l'espére aller au universitie à continuer mes études" and in paragraph 2, "Travailler à l'étranger aider tu ameliorer très compténces linguistiques." The verbs used tend to be basic but generally accurate and quite repetitive (E.g. On page 1, paragraph 2 "je voudrais faire un stage..."; on page 2, line 1"on peut bavarder avec les gens..." in line 4, "on peut aussi découvrir..." and in the last sentence on page 2, "on peut faire un stage...") However, on two occasions the candidate uses the wrong tense of the verb. (On page 1, paragraph 2, the imperfect tense rather than the conditional tense is used a in "c'était une expérience inoubliable" and in the last sentence the imperfect instead of the future tense is used. There is also evidence of serious dictionary misuse at the bottom of page 1 at the beginning of paragraph 3, when the candidate uses the noun "apprentissage" instead of the verb "apprendre" and this error is repeated again in the last paragraph on page 2 "... Il y a beaucoup des avantages de apprentissage une langue l'étranger" On occasion, words are omitted which makes the meaning of some sentences a bit unclear. (E.g. At the bottom of page 1 "Apprentissage une langue l'étranger est trés primordal pour plupart des élèves" Overall, there is more incorrect than correct and the frequent omission of words, wrong use of tenses and repetitive nature of the content detracts from the overall quality of the writing which is awarded 4/10. 1

Candidate 2 The candidate was awarded 8 marks The candidate does address the topic but the writing is not particularly well structured. The language used is mainly accurate and the writing is competent, but pedestrian. The candidate tends to stick to language which he/she knows to be correct and while there are attempts at writing complex sentences, the language used is quite basic and often contains of errors of spelling, gender and grammar.on occasion, words are also omitted. (E.g. in lines 3-5, Je voudrais faire mon stage à Sénégal parce que c est un pays très pauvre. and in lines 9-12 Quant à moi, langues sont très importante parce que dans le monde du travail il y a beaucoup de langues ) The language is quite repetitive at times, particularly in the second half of page1 where the candidate writes il y a beaucoup de langue étrangères et langues vivantes, donc je pense que les langues sont très important However, the candidate does use a wide range of tenses accurately throughout the writing. The present tense, imperfect, future and conditional are all used correctly. In line 4, there is good use of the conditional tense Je pourrais enseigner anglais et aider les gens and towards the bottom of page 1, j aimerais bien aller à l étranger The present tense is used accurately throughout the writing and is often used correctly with the infinitive (E.g. On page 2, line 1 Je veux aller au Senegal; and in lines 4-5 on j aime faire de nouvelles connaissences ) Overall, the writing is competent despite the inaccuracies in spelling, gender and grammar, and is therefore awarded 8/10. Candidate 3 The candidate was awarded 6 marks The candidate has addressed the topic adequately but the language used tends to be quite basic and repetitive. On the first page, "on peux" is spelled incorrectly, but consistently, on four separate occasions ( in line 4, "on peux voyager"; in line 9, "on peux améliorer"; in line11, "on peux parle"; and in line 16, "si on ne peux pas parle"). This mistake is repeated three times more on pages 2 and 3 (page 2, line 13, "on peux fait beaucoup de nouveux amis" and in line15 "on peux devenir plus indépendente" There are numerous mistakes in gender, accents, spelling and adjectival agreement throughout the writing. 2

In line 1, "les langues sont important", in line 4, ou is written without the accent in "n'importe ou". In lines 7, 10 and 15, there is no agreement on "autre" - "avec d'autre nationalités" and "d'autre pays". This continues throughout the rest of the writing. (E.g. On page 2, line 4 "c'est un bonne occassion d'améliorer mon Français") The candidate also omits prepositions and uses the wrong verb construction at times. (E.g. In the opening sentence "à" is missed out in the phrase "c'est plus facile de trouver un bon boulot l'étranger" and at the bottom of page 1, the candidate has written "c'est plus difficile à parler de les gens avec different cultures ou parle un d'autre langue" However, the candidate does attempt to write complex sentences although they are not always accurate (E.g at the top of page 2, "Tout d'abord je pense que après avoir quitté le collège j'aimerais voyager à l'étranger...") and there is good use of phrases which help structure the writing - "quant à moi", "il me semble que", "evidement" (although spelling is incorrect), "tout d'abord" and "également" Overall, there is the impression that the candidate can handle basic verbs despite errors which are repeated throughout. The number of spelling errors and lack of adjectival agreement detracts from the writing and for that reason, the mark awarded is 6/10 Candidate 4 The candidate was awarded 10 marks The candidate has addressed the topic in a balanced way. The language used is very accurate. There are a few inaccuracies but these do not detract from the overall impression that this is a competent, well-thought out piece of writing. The writing starts off very well. The candidate uses a range of tenses in the opening paragraph. The present, perfect and imperfect tenses are all used correctly (E.g. "J'ai visité la France trois fois"; "j'habitais en Espagne quand j'étais plus jeune". There is good use of the "depuis" construction in "j'étudie le français depuis six ans"). Additional information is given at the bottom of page 2 about the advantages of learning a foreign language. There is good use of the infinitive and the preceding direct object in the sentence "apprendre un autre langue nous aidé à mieux comprendre notre propre langue" There are some nice constructions in the second part of the essay. (E.g. J'espère aller..."; "J'ai l'intention de faire un stage" and " je voudrais travailler à l'étranger pour améliorer...") However, there are a few inaccuracies in spelling and grammar. On page 1, "de" is used instead of "du" in "le monde de travail" (line 3) and the accent is omitted from "etudier" in line 13. In line 15, the wrong tense is used after "si" in "si j'aurais réussi à tous mes examens". 3

On page 2 line 3, the candidate uses "de le" instead of "du" in "ma connaissance de le français" and omits the accent from "détesté" in line 4. Despite these inaccuracies, the candidate uses a wide range of verbs and verb constructions with some complex sentences. The writing flows well and therefore the mark awarded is 10/10. Candidate 5 The candidate was awarded 6 marks The candidate addresses the topic fully in a balanced way and the writing is well structured. The verbs are generally correct, but tend to be quite basic and the candidate relies heavily on set expressions. (E.g. "Je dois dire que" is used twice in paragraph1 - " je dois dire que les languages sont importantes" in line 4, and "je dois dire que l'année dernière je suis allée en France..." in paragraph 2 line 6. Similar expressions are used in paragraph 1 on page 2, "je dois admettre que..." and at the start on the last paragraph on page 2, " je dirais que..." On page 2, "je voudrais" is used on three separate occasions in the first paragraph (In lines1/2, " je voudrais faire un stage à l'étranger"; in line 4, "je voudrais travailler en Espagne" and in line 7 " je voudrais travailler avec les gens espagnol"). This construction is used again in the last paragraph on page 2, "je voudrais étudier l'espagnol et le français" The candidate also uses a number of adjectives but these tend to be used after "c'est" or "c'était" (E.g. On page 1, paragraph 2, "c'est très amusant et très utile" and again at the end of the same paragraph " c'était fantastique") There are lots of errors in spelling and adjectival agreement. (E.g. on page 2, paragraph 1 "la vie de Espagne me interesant beaucoup..." and at the end of that paragraph, the candidate omits the "s" on "espagnol" in the sentence "je voudrais travailler avec les gens espagnol") There are attempts to write complex sentences but these are often incorrect with words omitted. (E.g. In paragraph 1 on page 1, the candidate writes " Il y a de beaucoup avantage de apprendre une langue vivante" There is lots of Spanish interference throughout the piece of writing. (E.g. On page 1, paragraph 2 "on peut travailler en un pais" and "l'anglais est indispensable mais no est suffisant" and in the last paragraph on page 2 "es" is used instead of "est" in "je trouve que apprendre une autre langue es trés amusant" and"je voudrais étudier... en l'université". Overall, the language used is basic and although most of the verbs are correct, the frequent errors in spelling and the Spanish interference detract from the essay and therefore, the writing is awarded 6/10. 4

Candidate 6 The candidate was awarded 2 marks The candidate addresses the topic but the language used is almost completely inaccurate throughout and there is little control of language structure. In the opening sentence, the candidate translates word for word from English: "... je pense que c'est très important étudier des langues l'étranger parce que en permettent tu parle avec les gens...". This lack of control of the language structure is evident again towards the bottom of page 1 in line 14 where the candidate writes "il veulent me étudier le français..." The last sentence on page 2 is particularly poorly worded and is unlikely to be understood by a sympathetic native speaker as the candidate translates directly from English and writes"...beaucoup des employeurs pense que c'est un très bon talent avoir" Many of the verbs and verb forms are incorrect throughout the writing and there is little evidence to suggest that the candidate really knows how to conjugate verbs. On page 1, line 14, the third person singular of the verb is used with the third person plural ending - "il veulent...". This error is repeated in line 16, but on this occasion with the first person singular used with the third person plural - " je veulent..." This is repeated on page 2 in lines 4 and 6- "je veulent allée à Paris" and "je veulent allée l'université" There are also numerous errors in the use of pronouns, gender and spelling. (E.g. On page 1, line 6 "normellment"; in line 13 "tout les année"; in line 16 "un année sabbatique" and in line 18 "je pense que je le beaucoup apprendre..." However, some sentences are correct. On page 1, lines 7-10 are mainly accurate. "... Moi et ma famille allons dans le nord de la France. Nous avons l'habitude d'aller en avion..." And on page 2, lines 13-15, the candidate uses learned material correctly although the relevance to the topic is somewhat questionable "je voudrais me promener au bord de la mer et prendre des photos". Overall, there is generally very little correct in this piece of writing and at times the content is not particularly relevant. There is little evidence that the candidate can control the language and there are several sentences which have been translated directly from English. The mark awarded is therefore 2/10. 5

Candidate 7 The candidate was awarded 8 marks The candidate addresses the topic clearly and in a balanced way. The language used is mainly accurate despite errors in spelling and adjectival agreement. The candidate uses a range of tenses accurately and consistently and shows a sound knowledge of the conditional tense. However, there are a couple of serious errors. (E.g. On page 1, line 8 "...les entreprises sont cherchant pour la connaissance de langues étrangères" and in the last paragraph on page 2, the candidate fails to use the infinitive in the sentence "C'est vraiment un avantage d'apprends une langue étrangère..." and "on peut parle avec beaucoup de gens") In spite of these this, other errors tend to be errors of spelling and adjectival agreement. In paragraph 1, in lines 2 and 4 the agreement is missing in "importante". This same mistake is repeated in the opening sentence of the last paragraph on page 2. "En fin de compte, les langues sont très importante et utile..." The writing picks up in paragraph 2 of page 1 and the language used is mainly accurate. The candidate writes complex sentences using the conditional tense well "... j'aimerais faire un stage à l'étranger... Il serait l'occasion..." There are errors but again these tend to be minor errors "pour mon part"; "je pense que il..." and "beaucoup de le..." The remainder of the writing continues in the same vein and prepositions are often omitted. (E.g. On page 2, line 3 "...j'aurais plus expérience et connaissance "). However, the candidate makes very good use of opinion phrases and phrases which help to structure the writing. (E.g. In the opening paragraph on page 1, "de nos jours"; " quant à moi"; "tout d'abord"; "je pense que"; "en plus" and "je trouve que" are all used. In paragraph 2 "pour mon part" is used despite the inaccurate spelling and in paragraph 3 on page 2 "en fin de compte" Overall, despite errors in spelling and grammar, this comes across as a well thought out competent piece of writing. The use of the conditional tense is particularly good and for that reason the mark awarded is 8/10. 6

Candidate 8 The candidate was awarded 4 marks The candidate does address the topic fully but the language used is limited and repetitive with many errors in spelling, gender and adjectival agreement. Many words are also omitted making the meaning of sentences quite unclear at times. The opening sentence looks promising but is soon spoiled by the omission of "c'est" in the second sentence where the candidate writes "je pense que un théme unique" In paragraph 2, the candidate omits the article in "je pense que parler langue est genial" (line 2) and there is no adjectival agreement on important and indispensible. The lack of adjectival agreement is again repeated in paragraph 3, line 4 on peut rencintrer nouveau amis and in the final sentence of the writing C est un experience genial There are several errors showing mother tongue interference. (E.g. At the top of the second page, the candidate writes et est quelque chose je voudrais adore which is again repeated in the conclusion je voudrais adore un stage à l étranger and in the second paragraph on page 2 je suis certain je voudrais un bon temps where the verb is also omitted. It is also unclear exactly what the candidate means in paragraph 2 on page 1, where he/she writes pour poi. The candidates relies heavily on fixed phrases which make the language used throughout the writing limited and repetitive. (E.g. voyager à l étranger is used at the start of paragraph 3 and then again at the start of paragraph 4; faire un stage à l étranger is used on two occasions in paragraph 3 at the bottom of page 1 and then again in paragraph 4 on page 2. It is also used in the conclusion. However, there is some attempt at writing complex sentences and learned materials is well used. (E.g. in paragraph 2 on page 1 Bien que je sois timide, j adore le contact avec le public. ) Overall, there is more incorrect than correct and the make awarded in therefore 4/10. 7