UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
THE MATRICULATION CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
ITALIAN
MAY 2007
EXAMINERS’ REPORT
MATRICULATION AND SECONDARY EDUCATION CERTIFICATE
EXAMINATIONS BOARD
IM Examiners’ Report – May 2007
IM ITALIAN
MAY 2007 SESSION
EXAMINERS’ REPORT
Table 1: Distribution of Grades May 2007
Grade
A
B
C
D
E
F
Abs
Total
N
17
45
90
39
35
31
3
260
6.54
17.31
34.62
15.0
13.56
11.92
1.1
100
% of Total
Distribution of Grades May 2006
Grade
A
B
C
D
E
F
Abs
Total
N
21
55
110
42
49
37
2
316
% of Total
6.6
17.4
34.8
13.3
15.5
11.7
0.6
100
MAY 2006
Total Number of candidates 316
Passes (grades A-E)
277
Passes (grades A-C)
186
100%
87.6%
58.8%
MAY 2007
260 100%
226 86.92%
152 58.46%
The most striking fact, unfortunately, is that from May 2006 to May 2007 the number of
candidates dropped from 316 to 260. Losing 56 candidates in one year is not a healthy
sign for the subject’s future. Teachers must ask why did this happen, and what could be
done to stop the slide.
The results obtained by the candidates in the May 2007 session were almost identical to
those obtained in 2006. The percentage of passes (86.92) can be considered
satisfactory but there was not only no improvement on last year’s overall performance,
but rather a slight decline (despite the fact that the passmark was lowered by a couple of
points). The examiners expect more grades A and B from post O Level students, who
ought to be more motivated and certainly enjoy favourable learning conditions at the
Junior College and Sixth Forms. The impression is that students do not do their utmost
in preparing for the Intermediate Exams.
As to the more technical aspects, the same remarks offered for the teachers’
consideration in last year’s report are still valid. Consequently this time the report will
focus on the individual parts of the exam.
The essay is without any doubt the most important exercise, because it reveals the
student’s real competence. However, it seems that not enough importance is given to it:
perhaps the candidates rely on the availability of marks in the other parts of the exam.
The essays were very superficial and showed no attempt at an honest expression of
personal thoughts or hints at the candidate’s own experiences. They seem to be under
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IM Examiners’ Report – May 2007
the illusion that one writes as one speaks. This seems to be due to the fact that some
teachers do not actively teach their students how to write, compose a text, arrange ideas
and seek the right words and phrases. Input seems to be very weak, if at all existent,
and the candidates do not seem to be reading an occasional novel or newspapers and
magazines. After all this exam should reflect post-O Level maturity and linguistic
competence.
The examiners observed that very rarely did the candidates’ work shows signs of
revision and correction of errors, giving the impression that the candidates do not bother
to reread their work. They should learn how to make the best use possible of the time
available, rather than rushing through the paper. Exposure to the language seems to be
limited to trite talk shows (like Striscia and L’Isola dei famosi). Teachers should
recommend more serious programmes (which do not have to be dull and pedantic) like
Costume e società, Atlantide and Voyager, which are more in line with the students’
mental age, culture and career aspirations. Strategies on the lines of the Malta Writing
Programme devised by Mr Sandro Spiteri for FES should help considerably. The
average score out of 20 was 11.31.
The aural summary too revealed glaring cases of very poor Italian and complete lack of
cohesion. Punctuation and vocabulary were on the whole poor. After a two-year course,
one would expect more skill in writing summaries. Many students just reproduced
chunks of the text they heard, added spelling errors and wrote statements where logical
flow was lacking. It is clear that students need to be trained in time management and in
the proper choice of the key areas of the text heard. The average score out of 10 was
5.58. Ability to extract the answer to certain inferential questions was also evident in the
written comprehension. The average score out of 20 was 10.85, which is very low
considering that traditionally this was an exercise where candidates scored high points.
In the literature section, none of the candidates chose to reply to questions on the Biagi
and Tamaro texts. All the replies were to questions set on Andrea Camilleri’s Il ladro di
merendine, and they were fairly evenly distributed between question 5 and question 6.
The majority of the candidates knew the content of the novel reasonably well, but the
same cannot be said for their grasp of the Italian language. Since the main criterion of
the exam is one’s knowledge of the Italian language, proving that one has read and
understood the text but expressing it in bad Italian is not acceptable. This is why a
number of candidates failed to get a pass mark: poor expression and careless spelling
and punctuation. There were also candidates who neither knew the set text nor the
language. The average score out of a maximum 30 was 15.38 points.
The following table shows the performance in the various parts of the examination.
It is evident that results hover just above the half-way mark, which proves that students
are mainly interested in obtaining just a passmark, rather than learning the language
well. The averages for the oral, the comprehension and the essay are surprisingly close,
and disprove the impression that passive skills, like the comprehension, are easier. This
fact shows that students do not even read newspapers and magazines.
Exercise
Oral
Aural
Comprehension
Essay
Literature
Average of Totals
Average
14.08
5.58
10.85
11.31
15.38
57.20
Maximum
20
10
20
20
30
100
Minimum
10
5
10
10
15
50 (passmark 42)
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IM Examiners’ Report – May 2007
The September resit was taken by 22 candidates (either to obtain a pass or to better
their grade). On the whole, however, either because of the lack of time or due to lack of
ambition, no one obtained grade A or B and only 2 obtained grade C, whereas 6 got
grade D and 8 obtained grade E. Six candidates failed again. Students who only study
one subject during the summer months should do better than that if their preparation
were to be more intense.
Chairman
Board of Examiners
October 2007
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