In-Service Teacher Training
Assessment in IGCSE English as a Second
Language 0510
Session 3: Mark schemes and Examiners
Reports
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Welcome
• Introductions
• Background
• Aim of training
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Session 3 looks at:
Resources
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Mark schemes as a resource
Principal Examiners’ Reports
Recommended books
Other resources
Learners and their needs
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Using mark schemes as a resource
Mark schemes:
• Give the allocation of marks
• Indicate the range of acceptable answers
• Give examples of unacceptable answers
• Give an indication of what Examiners are looking
for in an answer
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Mark schemes and Principal Examiners’
Reports:
• Both give information about each part of each
question
• Should be used side by side to analyse students’
answers to questions
• Provide information which can be passed on to
students
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Principal Examiners’ Reports
After each examination session the Principal Examiner:
• Writes a full and detailed report for each component
• Comments on strengths and weaknesses of the
candidates
• Aims to provide advice to help teachers improve their
own teaching and their students’ performance
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Some areas covered in Principal
Examiners’ Reports
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Tiering - how effective it was
Completion of the examinations
Very detailed comments on specific questions
Acceptable and unacceptable answers
The rubric - how well was it followed?
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Principal Examiners’ Reports: Extracts
on the Reading/Writing papers
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‘Candidates must be reminded that this is a
summary exercise which requires them to keep
within a restricted word length.’
‘Many wrote at some length about what happened
before and during the operation rather than
afterwards.’
‘Many failed to follow the “between 12 and 20
words” instruction.’
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Principal Examiners’ Reports: Extracts
on the Reading and Writing papers
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‘Many centres are teaching their candidates to
use idioms. This is indeed a good way to inject
interest and some style into the writing.’
‘Weaker candidates listed the prompts and
described them without really developing their
own views or ideas about the project.’
There was generally appropriate paragraphing…’
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Principal Examiners’ Reports: Extracts on
the Listening papers
• ‘In accordance with the “listening for
understanding” ethos of the component, phonetic
attempts at an answer were rewarded unless
they created a different word with a different
meaning.’
• ‘It is always a good strategy to attempt an
answer, particularly if it makes contextual sense.’
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Principal Examiners’ Reports: Extracts on
the Listening papers
• ‘It is worth noting that where a candidate has rewritten the answer, it should always be made
clear which answer is the candidate’s final
version.’
• ‘Mr. Rasheed’s telephone number caused some
problems with number sequence reversal and
often the distractor number was given instead of
the correct 3247.’
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Principal Examiners’ Reports: Extracts on
the Speaking component
• ‘The very best discussions are those during
which Examiners create a relaxed atmosphere,
allowing candidates to speak easily and at good
length.’
• ‘Moderators would like to hear
discussion/conversation from the outset – there
is no need for an introductory or extended
speech by the candidate about the topic.’
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Principal Examiners’ Reports: Extracts on
the Speaking component
• ‘The prompts are not intended to be prescriptive,
but are suggested as springboards for further
discussion.’
• ‘Leniency was still noted in applying the fluency
criterion – examiners need to be sure that
candidates have contributed significantly to the
conversation before awarding 9 or 10.’
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Books/Texts
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CIE maintains a Resource list of endorsed and
other recommended textbooks on CIE Online.
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Visit your qualifications page at www.cie.org.uk
for further information.
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Other resources and support material
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CIE Publications CD-ROMs containing
syllabuses, past papers, mark schemes and
examiner reports
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A CD of a range of Listening material has been
produced. Activities and structured lessons have
been written to support this
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Online training. Teachers can follow a 6-week
course of online training in IGCSE E2L
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The Internet – some useful websites
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www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish
[BBC World Service]
www.learnenglish.org.uk/welcome/english.html
[British Council]
www.englishspace.org
[English Space]
www.selfaccess.com
[Self Access]
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CIE Teacher Support site
Access to this site allows you to download:
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Schemes of Work
Question papers and mark schemes for all
exam sessions since 2002
Syllabuses
Principal Examiners’ Reports
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CIE Teacher Support site
You can also:
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Access a number of other useful resources
Engage with a subject specific FAQ area
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The learners: time for reflection
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How might learning on this course be different to a
regular E2L programme?
What level do you think your E2L students need to
be at when starting the IGCSE course? And to do
well?
Can you anticipate some questions that might be
asked by your learners?
How will you introduce your learners to the
background knowledge they will need to acquire?
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Your teaching
To finish:
• Are you happy with the teaching resources that
you have? What will you need to obtain?
• Does your teaching style suit this IGCSE course?
What IS your teaching style?
• Are you confident about constructing some of
your own teaching schemes and lessons?
• Are there any final thoughts or issues that you
would like to raise with your colleagues now?
Closing comments