Primary 3 English Language

 A few teachers commented that the answer options were quite wordy.

‘Weak’ students might have difficulty discriminating between correct and incorrect answer options.

 A few teachers suggested that before doing the listening tasks, extra time should be allotted for reading the listening questions.

d) Primary 3 Chinese Speaking Items

 The topics used in the individual story-telling and group interactions were suitable for students at Primary 3 level. However, the speaking assessment was difficult to NCS students in general.

 The quantity of pictorial cues given for story-telling varied among assessment tasks. Some topics in individual story-telling were perceived easier for students to come up with more ideas than the other topics.

 A few teachers stated that ‘group interaction’ items would be difficult for lower primary students. The content of the conversation was mostly superficial. It was suggested that assessing only individual story-telling was already sufficient to reflect students’ speaking ability.

e) Primary 3 Chinese Audio-visual Items

 The topics used were suitable for students at Primary 3 level.

 The level of difficulty for audio-visual items was suitable for students at Primary 3 level. The voice of the video clip was clear.

 The listening tasks, which were related to students’ daily life experiences, and as such, were authentic and interesting. They were found to be suitable for Primary 3 students.

b) Primary 3 English Reading Assessment

 The reading tasks covered a variety of text types within the Primary 3 curriculum and were suitable for students at Primary 3 level. The coverage in the assessment papers was found to be adequate. Students were felt to be confident in doing the assessment.

 The topics in the reading tasks were familiar to Primary 3 students as they were related to students’ daily life experiences. However, the topic of one story (about a dancer) in one sub-paper was less familiar to students.

 Teachers opined that the total assessment time for each reading and writing paper (i.e. 30 minutes) was appropriate. They suggested that 15 minutes be allotted to reading was found to be suitable for students.

Students had enough time to complete the assessment.

 The reading load for each paper was found to be suitable. The reading load of each part of the paper progressively increased from about 50 words to about 130 words. Teachers found this arrangement appropriate.

With the decrease in the number of parts in each paper, teachers found that the students were able to complete the assessment papers with ease.

 The total number of reading items (about 20) in each paper was appropriate for Primary 3 students. Moreover, the total number of reading items (about 5-7) in each part was appropriate for Primary 3 students.

 Teachers also found that it was appropriate to put ‘line numbers’ on the left along the reading text and the options of the multiple choice questions (AB and CD) parallel to each other.

 Teachers considered that items related to book concept should not be removed from the assessment because students were familiar with these items.

c) Primary 3 English Writing Assessment

 The topics of the writing tasks were related to students’ daily life experiences. The word prompts or questions prompts given in the writing tasks were found to be useful and appropriate. The increased number of word prompts in storytelling helped students to write. The pictures in the picture-aided storytelling were clear.

 One teacher raised her concern that the instructions in the picture-aided storytelling (i.e. write the story in about 30 words) might be misleading to students. Some of them might stop writing when they had written 30 words although they had the time and ability to write further.

 It was suggested that the two writing tasks for the first two sub-papers should differ so that the majority of students taking the assessment could be exposed to a wider variety of writing tasks.

d) Primary 3 English Speaking Assessment

 The topics of the speaking papers were familiar to students and some students would find the tasks easy. However, teachers found some students were still nervous during the assessment.

 The topics of the speaking papers were easy for students.

2.3 Views on Primary 3 English Language Item Suitability a) Primary 3 English Listening Items

 The listening items were of appropriate level for Primary 3 students. The listening tasks were suitable for Primary 3 students in terms of difficulty level. Items were straightforward and easy for students.

 The length of the listening papers (17-20 minutes) was appropriate for Primary 3 students.

 The artwork in the listening tasks was clear to students. However, it was felt that an item showing the facial expression of a girl expressing fear might not be clear enough to students.

 The vocabulary used in both the listening tapescripts and the items was familiar to Primary 3 students. The distractors built in the spoken texts were found to be appropriate.

 It was a good arrangement to have the story divided into parts so that it would be easy for students to follow the development of the story.

b) Primary 3 English Reading Items

 The reading tasks were of appropriate level to Primary 3 students. The vocabulary used was easy and the items were straightforward. No

‘tricky items’ were found. Students were attentive when doing the assessments and some students expressed that they enjoyed the reading tasks.

 The reading tasks were authentic and the length of the reading texts was of appropriate length for Primary 3 students.

 The layout of the reading texts was clear and easy to read. The pictures of the items were very clear to the students. It was suggested that the story could be spilt into two parts with relevant questions inserted after each part. This would improve the layout of the story and the relevant reading items,

 The use of past tense in the reading text was a concern of the teachers as they thought it might have impact on the difficulty level of the reading assessments.

 The items set on pronoun references were good. However, it was suggested that the pronoun should be put closer to the subject it referred.