UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
THE MATRICULATION CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
ENGLISH
MAY 2007
EXAMINERS’ REPORT
MATRICULATION AND SECONDARY EDUCATION CERTIFICATE
EXAMINATIONS BOARD
IM Examiners’ Report – May 2007
IM ENGLISH
MAY 2007 SESSION
EXAMINERS’ REPORT
INTRODUCTION
Overall the general standard of English among candidates taking the Intermediate Examination
in 2007 was rather disappointing. It is evident that most candidates simply do not read enough.
Students need to be constantly shown that their language skills, and their maturity in whatever
discipline they are following, requires reading, and that this activity should take up a substantial
part of every student’s life.
When taking into consideration the students’ use of language, several questions arise. The first
question is whether students are working hard enough to improve their written skills in English
after obtaining their SEC O-Level English Language. The second question is whether they are
being given enough writing practice in both grammar and essay writing skills. Another question
is whether students are receiving the appropriate feedback regarding their writing skills before
sitting the exam. These questions arise especially after encountering numerous serious and
unacceptable errors at this level.
The number of students taking Intermediate English in May 2007 rose again this year to a total
of 1493. The table below is a breakdown of the grades obtained.
Table 1: Distribution of Grades May 2007
Grade
N of
Grades
% of Total
A
B
C
D
E
F
Abs
Total
94
142
351
282
246
355
22
1492
6.3
9.5
23.5
18.9
16.5
23.8
1.5
100
The number of students obtaining Grades A – C was 587 (39.3%), and those obtaining
Grades A – E was 1115 (74.7%). There were 355 Fails (23.8%)
Section A: Language
Essay: average marked obtained was 17.8 out of 30
Candidates were required to write approximately 400 words on one of six given topics.
Overall, the standard of writing was rather weak, both in language use and in essay technique.
Very few essays were virtually free of errors of syntax and spelling. Considering the weakest
essays, it is indeed difficult to understand how these candidates obtained a pass in their SEC
O-Level English Language. It is also a matter of concern that after two years of English at
Intermediate level, such language skills remain weak.
The most popular choice of essay, chosen by 57.7% of candidates, was essay (c), which was
entitled “Illegal Immigrants”. The popularity of this essay title is probably due to the fact that
this is an issue which most people are aware of, and most candidates attempting this question
focused on the current situation in Malta. There were a number of thoughtfully written, well
organised essays which showed an awareness of illegal immigration from an international
perspective, citing valid reasons for this phenomenon, such as genocide, environmental
disasters, and civil war. Some of the best essays written were among these. However, there
were many others who simply focused on the local scene, and gave accounts which were
rather immature and lacking in serious thought. In addition, organisation of essay content was
rather poor, with candidates simply jotting down ideas as they come. Many candidates
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confused the words ‘immigrate’ and ‘emigrate’. A number of candidates misspelled the words
‘illegal’ and ‘immigrants’, even though these words were in the rubric.
The second most popular choice of essay was (b) (16.3%), which requested the candidate to
write a letter to his/her Australian cousin, giving him/her information about sixth form education
in Malta. Candidates were assessed on their knowledge of letter writing conventions besides
language. The first thing of note was that few candidates knew how to use the correct letter
format. Many confused the sender’s and recipient’s addresses, when these were supplied.
Although the salutation used was correct in virtually all cases, the close was a different matter.
A number of candidates used a full close such as “Yours faithfully”, followed by the sender’s full
name (name and surname), which was inappropriate to the task at hand.
The task demanded the use of informal language, especially as the cousins were presumably
of the same age group. Most of the candidates attempting this question used an appropriate
informal style. However, the language used showed that candidates in general lacked
competence in both use of syntax and vocabulary.
What was also lacking was the organisation and presentation of information. In many cases,
candidates assumed that the Australian cousin was familiar with the Maltese educational
system, the nature of secondary and post-secondary schools, O-levels and A-levels. What
resulted was a brief account of a two-year course at sixth form level, with a concluding
sentence hoping that it was enough to convince the cousin to make the move to attend sixth
form in Malta.
Candidates who wrote well-written letters, and were subsequently awarded high marks,
demonstrated a knowledge of good letter presentation and writing, organisation of information,
besides good use of syntax and expression. In addition, they were also sensitive to the fact
that their cousin may not be familiar with the local sixth form experience, and adapted their
material accordingly.
The third most popular essay question was (a), chosen by 9.2% of candidates. The ending
sentence “we made it on a wing and a prayer” triggered many narratives which focused on
plane crashes, boats capsizing, and running away from creatures inspired by fantasy and
science fiction novels. Many incidents which triggered such crises lacked credibility, in
particular those focusing on plane crashes, and were lame excuses for a weak narrative essay.
Indeed, many essays were below standard, both in language use as well as in narrative
technique. A common pitfall was to focus mostly on what happened before trouble struck, and
then a paragraph or two to justify a miraculous outcome. Another common approach was to
focus on the exterior events, that is ‘telling’ the reader what was happening rather than
‘showing’ through describing emotion or other more sophisticated, indirect means. In general,
plot was handled clumsily, and then the final sentence would be simply added to the final
paragraph.
There were a handful of exceptional essays, which showed that some candidates had an
awareness of narrative technique, some starting in media res. Worthy of note is that some
well-written essays were set in World War I and World War II. The manner in which candidates
handled syntax and vocabulary, and the details given were a clear indication that these
candidates were definitely well-read.
Language essay (d), a task in which the candidate had to write a formal letter addressed to the
local council, was chosen by 6.4% of candidates. Overall, candidates who tackled this question
paid attention to the rubric, understood the task, bringing to the attention of the recipient the
near-accident, and how such incidents could be avoided in future. A few candidates
misunderstood the question and wrote about an accident that occurred, rather than a nearaccident. Candidates who demonstrated skill in the use of formal language, choice of
appropriate tone, organisation of content and formal letter conventions were awarded high
marks.
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Language essay (e) was attempted by 6% of candidates. Some wrote it in article format, whilst
a few attempted to write it as a report, with subheadings. Most candidates presented both
advantages and disadvantages to renting out the school gym, however, it was the manner in
which the information was presented which was somewhat lacking.
The least popular essay was (f), which only a mere 3% of candidates attempted. All candidates
attempting this question wrote it in dialogue form, clearly indicating participants in the dialogue.
Some candidates presented a very good dialogue, which demonstrated familiarity with
computers and customer care service; these candidates used language appropriately, that is
changing style of language and tone when switching from one speaker to the other. In this
case, the customer care representative/technician/manager was customer-oriented in attitude
and used rather formal language, while the customer employed a more informal style.
However, other candidates presented essays which were below standard; some essays were
well below the expected word count, and others were very dry and simplistic in both language
use and approach. These did not score high marks.
Use of Language
Of note were the spelling errors which the examiners came across. Below are a few examples:
•
•
•
Illegal immigrants are does people who…
‘is everything plucked” (instead of ‘plugged’)
would prefere to higher an illegal immigrant ….
accomodate, suspission, alot, racisim, racerist, raisists, immigrants, infirior, buisness, thankfull,
hatefull, oppurtonity, heared, delberitly, payed, strick controls, privelage, privellages,
medification, necessaties, unforgettible, ratial discrimination, evining, stypend, diplomaticly,
amoungst, evry contry, egsample, accute, infront, ingeneral, ebolishment, predjudices
Further errors observed were the following:
collage (instead of ‘college’)
barley (instead of ‘barely’)
hearth (instead of ‘heart’)
sertin (as in ‘certain’)
wheather/weather (instead of whether)
foren (instead of ‘foreign’)
patients (instead of ‘patience’)
abrabte (instead of ‘abrupt’)
terithory (instead of ‘territory’)
exited (instead of excited)
Debry (instead of ‘debris’)
manangites (instead of ‘meningitis’)
Blaim (instead of ‘blame’)
treates (instead of ‘treatise’)
athrosities (instead of ‘atrocities’)
medices (instead of ‘medicines’)
raise (instead of ‘race’)
mite (instead of ‘might’)
colluniulism (instead of colonialism)
appeled (instead of ‘appealed’)
Also noted was confusion in the use of the following: ‘lose/loose’, ‘affect/effect’, ‘quiet/quite’,
‘flea/flee’, ‘their/there’, ‘threat/treat’.
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Occasionally, a misspelled word would change the whole meaning of the sentence:
•
It might seem not only dangerous letting these people out onto the streets, but
even the jeans that they carry might be harmful.
•
The fact that immigrants are getting Maltese women pregneant means that we are
finally mixing our jeans with outsiders and loosing our homogeneity.
Grammatical errors were all too common, including the use of incorrect tenses, inappropriate
prepositions, as well as bad sentence structures:
• Being part of our society, they are pretending to be threaten as they are Maltese
citizens.
• Some peple do not move from that country, they staied with out visa and they will be
illegal immigrants.
• For example, if a different type of religion see a woman who doesn’t dress up like his
own country, some turn up to be perverts and some would become paranoids.
• Obviously this is not enough. Countries from where persons escape in this way to
make system where prosperity and peace holds. Money is one of the petrol boats.
• The immigrants are not satisfied with their rulers because their rulers or gorilla fighters
do not need them any better lifestyle.
• So money which could be spent on something more useful not spent to feed these
person…
• If you make yourself disliking the subject
• You have your 3 intermediates which will be a support to teach you more on vaster
areas.
• The most immigrants who feel endangered…
• Some of the most problems….
• Or to be hospital to a certain limit…
• One of the most countries in Europe….
• Attend to a seminar…
• This subject went into detail
• The illegal immigrants is one of the most subject that arise discussions in the whole
world.
• Illegal immigrants do not have the money to buy basic needs, to keep themselves
clean, therefore these would lack sanity.
• They are trying to avoid the illegal immigrants pass
• … We couldn’t see nothing…no one knew nothing…
• As a last thing to say, hope that I receive the letter of which it says that you are coming
to Malta…
• Africa a poor continent found in the South of Europe has struck the immigration of
these poor families which are coming on a boat to the European countries, hoping to
find a better life.
• I think they are abit close from when school ends.
• It is a current problem that has not been found its conclusion yet….
Mother tongue influence, that is, students tending to think in Maltese, and then translating into
English, is a serious concern. This could be a single word, a phrase or a whole sentence.
Numerous examples are provided below.
Words ‘translated’ from Maltese: trafficants, trafficate, interpretate, applicating, publicitising,
opposement, proves (provi)
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IM Examiners’ Report – May 2007
Phrases translated from Maltese:
• The minister of outer things of France…
• You can go very well in the exams….
• Female immigrants which are doing the prostitute in areas near…..
• Because not everything in is favour of them…
• Event the curch is making her task to help out….
• They must not be provided with all the comodities …
• put immigrants in black light
• The accidents would be evitated
• Does not have enough lighting or any traffic sign to dirigate the traffic…
• Use resources more better
• This negative situation continues to go more bad
• …not right to give fire to Jesuits’ cars…
• …from where are you?
• Pass from all six subjects
Sentence structure also suffers because of this. For instance,
• When an immigrant rides on a bus, and he’s black, not everyone likes that he sitts near
him…
• …therefore they have to stay for the rules that we give them….
In addition, candidates at times would use the wrong word and change the whole meaning of
the sentence:
• Their aim would be to reach an affluent and more developed country which is
abandoned in its resources….
• To distinct people from one another
• The main road is a habitate place
• Try to overcome the board to go to the USA
Comprehension and Summary: average mark obtained was 10.67 out of 20.
It is very disheartening to realise that after thirteen years of formal schooling some students are
still incapable of answering a reading comprehension test adequately. There were many who
simply underestimated the importance of this exercise and did not dedicate enough time to it.
Others tried hard but struggled either with the understanding of the text itself, or else, with the
interpretation of the text – their level of linguistic expression was often ill equipped to cope with
the information required of them by the questions.
Question 1 What is “pester power” and how is it used as a marketing strategy?
The great majority of students failed to answer the second part of this question, limiting
themselves only to describing what pester power is and assuming that this was enough.
Others confused the two parts of the question and said that pester power is actually a
marketing strategy itself. Some went as far as blatantly mis-reproducing the spelling of the
term proving that even copying directly from the text can be too taxing ex: “pester powder” and
“pestor power”.
Question 2 How has the Internet contributed to the expansion in advertising directed
towards children, according to the author?
This was generally well explained, although some candidates still misunderstood the question
completely, for example, “the majority of websites did not require any parental approval before
supplying information.”
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IM Examiners’ Report – May 2007
Question 3
Give the meaning of the underlined words and phrases:
The main problem with this question was that while there was a considerably large number of
candidates who simply did not know the meaning of the selected words, an even greater
number were held back by their sheer inability to express themselves coherently.
Subtle
This caused confusion, -“subtle is referring to an
alternative. In this case the subtle for children is their
dad.”
“subtle is a persuation that one highly take notice to. It
isn’t a thing that passes without no notice. One is to
look at it and would be not sure what decision is to
take.”
Stunted
This was often mistaken for “stunned” and “shunted
(aside)” Often only part of the meaning was given and
even then it was coloured by Maltesisms such as
“emarginze”.
Surreptitiously
Some meanings were completely off the mark, “seeing
without intervening, without catching any eye of the
children. It is like doing one’s own business.”
Controversy
This was generally well explained or at least the
concept was shown to have been understood. Until of
course, one comes across a convoluted and
incomprehensible meaning like the following:
“controversy is the contrary of, when something is
done which is opposite the normal.”
Preys
Many wrote about animals rather than focusing on the
word’s idiomatic meaning of “taking advantage of” (in
this case, children’s immaturity), others simply wrote
the meaning in Maltese in brackets – “(tapprofitta)”.
Question 4 (summary)
In not more than 50 words shows how researchers set out
to learn children’s tastes and interests.
The summaries were riddled with errors ranging from basic spelling and grammatical mistakes
which are normally addressed in the primary school, to syntactic errors and misinterpretation.
Listing the main points was one of the main problems identified. Many candidates did not feel
confident enough to paraphrase the relevant material succinctly. Another problem was
negative transfer to English from Maltese and, in some instances, Italian:
“without being noticed” was rendered as: “without giving in sight” or “without giving in the
eye” (mingħajr ma jagħtu fil-għajn);
“whilst otherwise occupied” was rendered as: “alienated” (aljenati);
“are easily influenced” was rendered as: “influence themselves easily” (jinfluwenzaw ruħhom
malajr);
“attracted” was rendered as: “affectioned” (affezionato);
“they cannot stand” was rendered as: “they cannot support” (ma jistgħux jissaportu);
“foundations/cornerstones of market(ing) business” was rendered as: “pedaments of
marketing business” (pedamenti)
“preferences” was rendered as: “preferations” (preferenzi)
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IM Examiners’ Report – May 2007
Sentence concord, subject-verb agreement, prepositions and relative and demonstrative
pronouns were often butchered by the candidates. Plurals were used as possessives and viceversa, direct and reported speech were confused and, as a consequence, so were modal
verbs. Correct use of idiom was infrequent. Basic homophones like: where – were, there –
their, and effect – affect, advice – advise were also often confused.
Spelling was also an issue with such errors as:
certain –
slumber parties eavesdrop infants -
“surtain”
“stumble parties”
“ease drop”
“infints”
Section B: Literature
The standard of the literature essays was very often mediocre and not at all close to an
intermediate level. It is evident students do not study the texts well enough. Many students
were unable to even understand their literary texts let alone analyse them. Candidates did not
display even basic critical know-how and were unable to structure cogent and concise essays
which would prove that, at the very least, they are able to read a story or poem and understand
it.
The majority of essays did not include valid quotation, many featured inaccurate quotations and
the proper punctuation was often left out. Candidates often showed poor knowledge of
paragraph structure, lines were skipped randomly and paragraphs were rarely denoted with an
indentation. Titles often lacked capital letters and numbers in word form were at times replaced
with their numerical form, for example ’21 stories’. A number of candidates did not adhere to
the word limit and while some essays were too short, others spread up to eight or nine sides of
the booklet.
There were, however, a number of scripts that were thorough and extremely well-written. These
students displayed a level of knowledge and accuracy that is admirable. Evidently they are avid
readers who had no problem understanding their assigned texts and focusing their discussion
and analysis on the specific question assigned.
Many essays showed:
•
Poor spelling, lax punctuation, faulty construction of sentences and no sense of
audience. Candidates tended to rely on phonetic spelling and the title of the book was
often written without inverted commas.
•
Very little evidence on scripts of planning prior to writing the essay. [Perhaps planning
was written out on exam paper and taken home?] Candidates should be encouraged
to produce a short plan of what the essay answer will tackle. This way there is less of
a chance that the answer will veer off into a summary of the story. In some answers it
is very obvious that candidates ran out of things to say and simply relied on summary.
This is unacceptable at any level, let alone at Intermediate.
•
Candidates must learn how to structure essay answers with an appropriate
introduction, body, and conclusion that is relevant to what the question asks. Often,
introductions are regurgitated from memory regardless of what the question asks. A
well-planned structure will keep the candidate’s answer focused.
•
Candidates must learn to highlight the key words in the question and to ensure they are
sticking to what is asked in their answers. In some answers it was obvious that the
candidate could have fared a lot better with a little bit more attention to what the
question asked.
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IM Examiners’ Report – May 2007
•
Candidates must learn to be more mature and confident in their observations; there is
still a tendency to explain the obvious to the examiner as if the examiner is not familiar
with the text. Therefore a lot of energy is put into ‘waffle’ and summary, and too little
into focused observation.
•
Some candidates attempted to get away with ‘analysis’ that is generic, superficial and
betrays a lack of familiarity with the text. At times whole answers failed to refer to any
episode in the text but were very general and vague.
•
Candidates are expected to illustrate their work with short quotations in appropriate
circumstances. Some candidates ‘forced’ quotations into their answers, not always in
context; some good answers lacked a simple quote or two that could have enhanced
their overall effect.
•
Candidates, at times, do not give a clear indication of the question they have chosen to
answer.
Greene – average mark obtained was 10.1 out of 20.
Question a: With reference to three stories in this collection discuss the different ways
in which children react to situations which they find frightening or threatening.
In the case of Greene, a vast majority of candidates chose question ‘a’. Unfortunately, because
this question asked students to refer to three stories, many found that by merely narrating or
summarising the story, they were able to provide an answer of suitable length without any real
comparison or discussion of the question.
Amongst other failings, candidates did not focus on the question. Rather than considering the
child’s point of view, the child’s feelings, or the author’s use of stream of consciousness
technique, many students focused on the coming of age or transition moments between
childhood and adulthood. Most introductions and conclusions did not present or wrap up
arguments or discussions, but merely repeated the question or veered off into general
information about the author. This also showed that many replies were just the recitation of
notes that had been studied by heart and churned out irrespective of the question’s focus.
Often candidates also failed to choose the best stories in discussing the question asked. For
example, when ‘The Destructors’ was discussed, only rarely was it analysed from a point of
view relevant to the question. At times, the stories chosen were not valid for the question being
asked, and thus the answer was out of point.
Question b: Discuss the problems, material and moral, which Lever faces in the story ‘A
Chance for Mr Lever’.
In question 1b, candidates mostly referred to a few of the plentiful moral and material problems
Mr Lever faced. A handful of essays delved deeply into all the issues, showing the candidates’
critical know-how and thorough knowledge of text. Occasionally the meaning of moral problems
was misunderstood and left out completely. The best scripts, however, seemed to be the ones
that dealt with this question.
Question C: Context question
In question 1c comparisons were often weak and the relation of the passage to the plot or
action of the story ended up being merely a summary. In some cases, candidates failed to refer
to the gobbet at all and just spoke about the story in general. Some did not understand the
nature of the fraud itself which proved superficial knowledge of the text.
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Amongst the most common grammatical errors were:
The misuse of personal pronouns e.g. “Peter and Francis which are in fact brothers”
The use of random capital letters especially the use of capital ‘R’ or ‘E’ throughout e.g.
‘naRRate’. This could also be due to faulty handwriting.
The use of new vocabulary out of its context e.g.
o ‘The Hint of an Explanation’ is another story in the collection that entails how
the boy who later became a priest was threatened by Blacker.’
o ‘Innocence is like a dump leper.’
o ‘This story is important because it outlays the twist.’
o ‘She wanted everything spike and span.’
o ‘Bridges show the transpasing from childhood to adulthood.’
o ‘…plugs up his courage…’
Literal translations from Maltese to English e.g. ‘The story opens…’
The use of slang e.g. ‘wanna’, ‘kids’, ‘guy’, ‘gonna’
Steinbeck – average mark obtained was 11.5 out of 20.
Question A: How did George and Lennie come to be travelling together and how did the
relationship between them develop?
This was by far the most popular question attempted. The incident in the early stages of their
relationship, when George tells Lennie to jump into the Salinas River and then saves his life,
i.e. the incident that helped George change his ways, was left out by many and not given the
importance it deserves. Some answers tended to be too one-sided, focusing on what Lennie
got out of the relationship, but with little reference to the benefits enjoyed by George, or to how
the relationship develops once they are on the ranch. Only a handful of candidates were sharp
enough to include the fact that George leaves Lennie alone when he goes into Soledad as a
sign of ‘development’ in the relationship that can also be construed as a sign of bad judgement
on George’s part. On the whole candidates tended to go for the stock formula in their answers
- Aunt Clara’s promise, parent-child relationship, warding off loneliness, dream farm, mercy
killing etc. The temptation to summarise whole tracts from the book, for example Lennie’s death
at the hands of George, was strong and many gave in to it. Many students steered away from
discussing how the relationship between Lennie and George developed, but focused on
encounters with other characters for example the meeting between Lennie and Curley’s wife or
focused on George and Candy. Others tended to give far too much importance to a physical
description of the characters.
Question B: ‘She’s gonna make a mess. theys gonna be a bad mess about her. She’s jail
bait all set on the trigger.’ Discuss this assessment of Curley’s wife.
This was the least popular choice. Some candidates tended to present a stock
characterisation of Curley’s wife with no regard for what the question asked in terms of the
preceding quotation. There were a handful of excellent answers from candidates who
chose this question and rose to the challenge it offered to blend their opinion with good
knowledge of the text.
Question C: Context question
This was the second most popular answer. The successful candidates made constant
reference to the question and kept it in focus at all times. Some candidates did not plan
their answers adequately and as a result glossed over the significance of the passage as
requested in the question, and went directly to discussing themes, plot, characterisation.
Some answers tended to be too superficial, treating themes in a very general way. Also,
answers included far too much quotation from the set passage. Candidates, in general,
showed a lack of training in how to approach this type of question. Very few candidates
picked up the nuances of characterisation and how this passage significantly marks a
change, albeit a momentary one, in the characters and their confidence to face the world in
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the events that directly follow it. One would expect more depth as a matter of course at this
level of literary analysis. More evidence, on the candidates’ part, of the structure of the
novel and the importance of climax and anti-climax is needed. Many candidates referred to
Steinbeck’s foreshadowing technique but rarely discussed it as an enhancement to plot.
Again, candidates tended to keep to a superficial level when discussing the author’s
techniques.
Question 3: Miller- average mark obtained was 10.9
Only about 11% of the students answered a question on Drama. Some of these showed a good
grasp of drama as a form of literature, a keen understanding of the characters and their
development, an appreciation of the author’s treatment of the themes in this play. Many others,
however, failed to focus on what the question was demanding of them, were superficial in their
analysis of the parts played by the main characters, and in their discussion of the themes
brought out by the writer. While some showed a good grasp of language skills, others made
many errors in grammar, syntax, and in vocabulary.
Question 4: Poetry - average mark obtained was 11.2
2% of the candidates tackled the poetry. Most answered 4a and did a good job comparing the
theme of love in a variety of poems which were well chosen for this question. However, more
attention should be given to the poet’s style and to the imagery used to discuss the theme of
love.
Chairperson
Board of Examiners
September 2007
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