USE OF ENGLISH

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USE OF ENGLISH

• ADVANCED SUPPLEMENTARY LEVEL

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AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

• To equip you for tertiary education and/or
  employment
• To understand and use English as might be
  required in tertiary education and/or future
  employment.

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AIMS AND OBJECTIVES (2)

• It will test your ability to
• understand, interpret and use spoken English
  (Listening and Speaking)
• write clear, concise and grammatical English
  (Writing)
• demonstrate both global and detailed
  understanding of a variety of written texts
  (Reading)
• integrate reading, writing and study skills
  (Practical Skills for work and study).

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THE EXAMINATION

• There are FIVE sections. All must be
  attempted.

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Section A Listening

• Purpose To understand, organise and interpret
  spoken English as used by educated and fluent
  speakers of English as an international language
• Formality Semi-formal English
• Content Appropriate to study and work purposes
• Form of presentation Dialogue and monologue

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Section A Listening (2)

• Marking Objective marking
• Formats Matrices, graphs and sets of notes or
  headings, pictures and multiplechoice items,
  etc.
• Examining time 1 hour
• Weighting 18

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Section B Writing

• Purpose To write extended English discourse
• Types of writing Expository writing
• Functions of writing Persuasion, argument,
  reporting, development of hypotheses,
  organisation of information
• Text types Articles, essays, letters (formal,
  semi-formal, informal)

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Section B Writing (2)

• Marking Double impression marking Language (50)
  Content (50)
• Topic choices 4
• Length of writing 500 words
• Examining time 1 hr 15 mins
• Weighting 18

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Section C Reading and Language Systems

• There are two parts in this section
• Part 1 Reading and
• Part 2 Language Systems
• Examining Time 1 hr 30 mins
• Weighting 18

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Section C Part 1 - Reading

• Purpose To achieve an in-depth understanding
  of an expository text.
• Skills to be tested
• To identify central ideas, the purposes and
  assumptions of the writer,
• to differentiate between what is more or less
  important and relevant,
• to recognise the limiting effects of
  qualifications and exceptions,
• to relate cause to effect and evidence to
  conclusions,
• to interpret words or phrases based on the
  context of the passage.
• Item type All multiple-choice questions
• Examining time 20 minutes
• Weighting 6

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Section C Part 2 Language Systems

• Purpose The extent to which the systems of the
  English language have been internalised
• Components to be tested
• the lexicon,
• the morphology,
• the syntactic relationships within and among
  phrases and clauses, and
• the structural relationships among sentences
  within paragraphs and in discourse
• Item types Objective but not necessarily
  multiple-choice.
• Examining time 70 minutes
• Weighting 12

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Section D Oral English

• Purpose To give an oral presentation and take
  part in a small-group discussion
• There are two parts in this section
• Part 1 Oral Presentation
• To present a brief spoken account of a short
  written text lasting from 1½ to 2 minutes.
• The four texts will be related to the same topic.
  
• Part 2 Discussion in a group of four
• To take part in a 10minute discussion on a topic
  related to the texts in Part One.
• The discussion will simulate a study-related or
  work-related situation where it is assumed there
  is a problem to be solved or a task to be
  addressed.

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Section D Oral

• Skills to be tested
• expressing factual information, describing,
  explaining, confirming, presenting plans, etc.
• expressing personal feelings and judgements,
  presenting arguments, agreeing and disagreeing,
  giving opinions, persuading, etc.
• seeking understanding and clarification through
  questioning and discussion,
• using appropriate interaction skills,
• pronouncing English clearly and intelligibly,
  with the appropriate use of the intonation
  system.

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Section E Practical Skills for Work and Study

• Purpose To test practical communication through
  simulated work and study situations.
• Tasks
• locating and processing information,
• identifying and solving communication problems,
  and
• carrying out communication tasks.
• Language modes Reading and writing
• Item types Objective items, at least one
  extended writing task

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Section E Practical Skills for Work and Study
(2)

• Test Materials
• In the form of a booklet.
• Related to a particular theme
• Contain a variety of styles
• Items set to test your ability to
• To process information,
• to compare and contrast information from a
  variety of sources,
• to integrate and categorise information, and
• to use this information in dealing with a variety
  of communication tasks and problems.

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Section E Practical Skills for Work and Study
(3)

• Skills to be tested
• Study skills
• Reasoning skills
• Reading skills
• Writing skills

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Section E Study Skills Reasoning Skills

• To demonstrate the ability to organise
  information and to determine what information is
  important or relevant. The candidate may be
  required to
• differentiate between fact and opinion,
• provide evidence for a particular conclusion,
• draw conclusions from given evidence,
• categorise and classify information,
• determine cause or effect,
• define terms,
• formulate hypotheses for investigation, and
• determine the nature of communication problems to
  be solved.

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Section E Reading Skills

• To match the reading technique to the task
• rapid scanning to locate information,
• skimming so that the gist of a passage is
  understood, and
• reading for detailed information.
• To identify
• the purposes, feelings and attitudes of the
  writer,
• the assumptions made by the writer, and
• inferences or predictions which might be made on
  the basis of what is written.

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Section E Writing Skills

• Writing tasks will be fully contexualised
• Types of writing will include
• reports,
• minutes of meetings,
• memoranda, and
• formal letters on a variety of topics.
• With a focus on task completion