PNJA oral exam picture "description" guidelines - suggestion
on ze piktchoor I ken sii…
mgr Sławomir Uta
29 March 2007
The purpose of the "description" is not telling what is there to be seen within the frames as is the case at the Matura basic level
exam
To the contrary, the WSJO style of "description" is the conscious development of what the function of the graphic stimulus at the
advanced level of the Matura examination is, which exam our students are expected to have passed. The function of several
simple illustrations there is continued here by one complex picture. Students are expected to adopt one or the combination (best
if;) of the following steps:
1
EVALUATE
Initial evaluation of the content – formulating the first impression triggered by the picture and elaborating it
further on. This part will allow students to construct the basis for further presentation from the scratch, through
skilful use of adjectives.
2
OBSERVE
Elements of description – students should be able to select critically relevant details within the picture and
direct the examiners' attention to them. Student should be able to discern the relevant details through the
discovery of one of the principles of composition: contrast, symmetry, diagonal line, perspective. This stage
provides the material necessary to move on to the stage of:
3
THINK and/or CONCLUDE and/or IMAGINE
Attempt at an interpretation of the visual content – the selected details enable the student to speculate
creatively on the meaning of the selected details. In this way the selection of these details will be logically
accounted for. Another option here, for more imaginative ones, is to look further into the picture, as if beyond the
frames and imagine the broader context of the situation, scene or image presented.
4
A S S O C I A T E (the "springboard" section)
Making intelligent connections between particular items – any of the stages above should trigger an
association with, ideally, any of the texts (articles or handbook texts) within the syllabus or any other idea that
comes to the student's mind: relevant personal experience, a book, a film, a piece of music etc. This will allow the
student to present his or her skill of independent thinking and initiative, both so relevant to the "fluency" section
of the students evaluation.
The transitions between particular stages are not clear-cut, students should be free to overlap the elements of the four steps or
to skip them or change their order if necessary. The student's selection of topic, based points 1, 2, 3 and especially 4 will allow
him or her to feel comfortably "home" as the question asked by examiners will not send them off the beaten track (the skilful use
of the four points above will suggest the topic of the exam to the examiners). This element is particularly relevant to the stress
management issue which is one of the main reasons for students' failure, next to their notoriously poor individual preparation.
Originally the function of "picture description" was that of an ice-breaker, to replace the warm-up question used before. This
approach expands the icebreaking function towards encouraging a student's intellectual initiative, with no risk of lowering the
level of exam requirements.
Example:
This is a very dynamic picture… I think the way the birds move is
impressive… I really do like the way they are shown. Even though a
larger part of the picture is dark, the image I think is positive and
joyful. The illustration depicts a couple of enormous birds moving in a
way which looks like dancing. I don't really know where exactly the
birds are, but this looks like the surface of a frozen lake and perhaps a
gloomy forest in the background. The contrast between the black
background and the white snow emphasises the shapes of the animals.
The shape of the white wing and the complicated position of the legs of
both birds remind me of some ballet dancers carefully preparing for
their performance. On the other hand perhaps they may be a part of a
larger group of birds, herons or cranes, I am not sure really, preparing
to fly away. Or maybe they are two males fighting for a female which
cannot be seen here and their combat resembles a dance. Oh, there is one
more thing… I have watched a documentary on the Discovery channel, where they talked about birds' mating dances. Males make
strange movements to attract females. And if the she-bird likes the dance she joins in and the birds become a couple. To my mind, the
birds' dance is similar to human behaviour. As it is described in one text I have read, about blind dates and other ways how people
get together, males try to show off in front of women and attract their attention… here ensues the blah-blah-blah-part
where the student presents what he or she remembers from Cutting Edge Module 10 and some further discussion
is possible.