New bac specifications meeting ppt

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The New National Baccalaureate Exam Specifications

-2014-

© Ed-Links-Morocco, November 2014

ا الختبارات المرجعية المتحان األطرللبكالورياالموحد الوطني

-2014-

OVERVIEW

INTRODUCTION ………………………………….….………..……… p : 1

SYLLABUS BREAKDOWN ………………………………….…………p.p:1-2

COMPLETION TIME AND WEIGHTING …………………………. .. p : 2 EXAM SECTIONS AND WEIGHTING ………………………….…… p: 2 SECTIONS, TEST TECHNIQUES AND RUBRICS …………....... p.p : 4-10

* Comprehension Section………………………………………....………... p.p : 4-5 * Language Section…………………………………………………….......... p.p: 5-8 * Writing Section……………………………………………………….……. p.p: 8-10


The Baccalaureate English exam is a summative written test produced by the Moroccan National Centre of Evaluation and Exams and administered at the end of the secondary school education to all eligible candidates for certification purposes. The content of the exam paper is based on the national curriculum and aims at assessing testees’ knowledge and skills in reading, vocabulary, grammar, language functions and writing.

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INTRODUCTION


SYLLABUS BREAKDOWN

STREAMS SYLLABUS AND TEXTBOOKS SYLLABUS COVERAGE

ARTS

HUMANITIES

SCIENCE

TECHNICAL

ORIGINAL

The syllabus specified in the

Guidelines (2007)

The textbook(s) adopted by the

Ministry of Education for the second

year Baccalaureate

All learners must cover

the 10 units + four

supplementary reading

texts which are supplied

in the textbook(s).

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STREAMS WEIGHTING COMPLETION TIME

ARTS 4 3 hours

HUMANITIES 3 3 hours

SCIENCE

TECHNICAL

ORIGINAL

2 2 hours

COMPLETION TIME AND WEIGHTING


Stream Comprehension Language Writing

Arts 15/40 15/40 10/40

Humanities 15/40 15/40 10/40

All science, technical and original streams

15/40 15/40 10/40

EXAM SECTIONS AND WEIGHTING

N.B. There may be partial similarities in exam content between two or more streams. Test papers may share parts of (or whole)

sections.


1.1. Reading Sub-skills

Testees should be able to: Identify main ideas and details;

Identify specific information; Make inferences;

Infer word meaning from the context; Identify referents;

Identify discourse markers and their functions in the text; Distinguish fact from opinion; Identify the author’s attitude; Identify the author’s purpose;

Transfer information from text to chart, diagram or table; Identify the logical order of ideas in the text;

Evaluate ideas expressed in a text ; Draw conclusions from the text.

Extract information


1. READING SECTION

1.2. Text Types and Topics

.

Texts need to be of an appropriate level of difficulty, and should preferably target issues related to the topics and themes

in the syllabus. They should also relate to testees’ interests, age, background knowledge and experience.

Reading texts could be in the form of articles, letters, e-mails, biographies, film/book reviews, reports, advertisements, and may include charts, pictures, maps, diagrams, etc. They can be narrative, informative, descriptive, expository, or argumentative


The comprehension section can include one or more texts.

Stream Total number of words (within a margin of 10%)

Arts 350 – 450

Humanities 300 – 400

All science, technical and original streams

250 - 350

1.3. Length of Text


Three to Six of these techniques must appear in the reading comprehension section to guarantee appropriate coverage of the reading sub-skills.

• Chart filling • Gap filling• Identifying • Information transfer • Listing• Matching • Multiple choice• Ordering• Sentence completion• Summary cloze• True/False with justification• True/False without

justification• Wh-questions

1.4. Test Techniques


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1.5. RubricsRubrics are instructions that inform test-takers on how to perform test

tasks. They also inform them about the scores. Three to six rubrics from the list below must be used to test reading comprehension:

• ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS.

• ARE THESE SENTENCES TRUE OR FALSE?

• ARE THESE SENTENCES TRUE OR FALSE? JUSTIFY.

• ARE THESE SENTENCES TRUE OR FALSE? CORRECT THE FALSE ONES.

• ARE THESE SENTENCES TRUE OR FALSE? TICK THE RIGHT BOX.

• CHOOSE THE BEST TITLE FOR THE PASSAGE.

• COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES WITH INFORMATION FROM THE TEXT.

• FILL IN THE BLANKS WITH WORDS OR EXPRESSIONS FROM THE TEXT.

• FILL IN THE CHART WITH THE RIGHT INFORMATION FROM THE TEXT.

• FIND IN THE TEXT WORDS? PHRASES OR EXPRESSIONS THAT MEAN THE SAME AS.


• FIND IN THE TEXT WORDS, PHRASES OR EXPRESSIONS THAT MEAN THE OPPOSITE OF.

• MATCH EACH IDEA WITH THE CORRESPONDING PARAGRAPH.

• MATCH THE WORD(S) OR EXPRESSION(S) WITH THE RIGHT EXPLANATION(S) ACCORDING TO

THE TEXT.

• PICK OUT FROM THE TEXT A SENTENCE OR A PHRASE WHICH SHOWS THAT:

• PUT THE FOLLOWING IDEAS/ ARGUMENTS/ SENTENCES/ EVENTS ...IN THE CORRECT ORDER

ACCORDING TO THE TEXT.

• TICK (√) THE QUESTIONS THAT THE PASSAGE ANSWERS.

• WHAT DO THE UNDERLINED WORDS IN THE TEXT REFER TO?

• WHAT IS THE WRITER’S OPINION/ ATTITUDE/ PURPOSE ...?


Continued…

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Test specifications provide the official statement about what the test tests and how it tests it. Test writers need guidance on practical matters that will assist

test construction just as need answers to an array of questions.

In groups, go through the questions below and discuss the potential for a margin of maneuver between centralized decisions and

your own implementation.


In groups, skim over the following Language Rubrics and tick to classify them according to the category they fit into and justify your choice.


Discrete-point testing assumes that language knowledge can be divided into a number of bits: elements of grammar, vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation, intonation and stress. These can be tested by pure items (usually multiple-choice recognition tasks).

Integrative testing argues that any realistic language use requires the coordination of many kinds of knowledge in one linguistic event, and so uses items which combine those kinds of bits, like comprehension tasks, dictation, speaking and listening.

Evaluate the following writing item-types against the given criteria

(+ good/- bad/0 neutral )


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In the light of the foregoing evaluation, in groups, discuss which writing item type would fit which stream. Support your choice with ideas/arguments/examples from your own teaching experience.


References

Alderson, J. C 2002 Conceptions of validity and validation. Paper presented at a conference in Bucharest, June 2002.

Angoff, 1988 Validity: An evolving concept. In H. Wainer & H. Braun [Eds.] Test validity [pp. 19-32], Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Bachman, L. F. 1990 Fundamental considerations in language testing. Oxford: O.U.P.

Cumming A. & Berwick R. [Eds.] Validation in Language Testing Multilingual Matters 1996


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