Mauritius Examinations Syndicate

CPE 2012

Subject Report English

April 2013

ENGLISH

General Comments

Performance in the English paper was in line with that of the previous years, with a

slight increase in the pass rate compared to 2011. The great majority of candidates

have acquired the elementary reading and writing skills required at this level.

Mastery of basic vocabulary was also evident in most scripts. For the less able

candidates, however, the same problematic areas that have been highlighted in

previous reports remain. The aspects of grammar which continue to pose problems

for those candidates are subject-verb agreement (* The boys is...), using correct

tenses and verb forms (*She had gave her a book...), the use of coordinating

conjunctions (although, despite, in spite of) and the use of modal auxiliaries and

irregular verb forms.

In reading comprehension, as was noted in previous reports, most candidates coped

comfortably with questions requiring the direct retrieval of information from the text.

They had more difficulty with questions that required them to show an overall

understanding of the text (such as in finding an appropriate title for the passage), to

make logical inferences from the information given, and when a question asked for

the understanding of a less common vocabulary item.

In writing, producing simple, grammatically and syntactically correct sentences was

within the grasp of most candidates. The usual difficulties of French/Creole idiom

persisted (as in *I take my breakfast instead of I have my breakfast) for some

candidates. In longer pieces of prose, less able candidates had difficulty in

maintaining the coherence of tenses and in developing their ideas fully. Writing in

complex sentence structures was also the hallmark of only the best scripts. Spelling

was generally sound, although it was not uncommon to see confusion about its/it’s

and there/their.

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Specific Comments

Section A

Section A tests the Essential Learning Competencies in grammar, vocabulary,

reading comprehension and writing. It makes up 60% of the English paper and the

competencies assessed in this section are vital to be proficient in English. As such,

they are expected to be acquired by the vast majority of candidates.

Question 1 (Miscellaneous Grammar and Vocabulary Items)

Question 1 assesses a variety of grammatical elements and basic vocabulary

through multiple choice questions. It was noticeable this year that the basic tenses

(simple present, simple past), tag questions, prepositions and pronouns were tackled

very well by the majority of candidates. Nevertheless, there are two areas of

difficulty, often highlighted in the past, which continue to be problematic – the use of

coordinating conjunctions and the use of the do-support. It would be fruitful if more

attention could be given to these areas of English grammar.

The following items were best done:

Item 1 Everyday I go to school with my friend.

Item 2 It is very hot these days, isn’t it?

Item 4 I went to the shop to buy a kilo of rice.

Item 10 The man who caught the thief was rewarded.

Item 17 It rained a lot during the week. Now, all our reservoirs are full.

The following items were found to be challenging to a significant number of

candidates:

Item 6 The boys continued playing outside although it was raining.

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The use of coordination conjunctions such as despite, in spite of and

although continues to be problematic to a significant number of

candidates. Unless was a popular distractor here, despite the fact that

the sentence with unless does not make sense.

Item 11 Jane was reading a book when the lights went off.

The past continuous tense was required here. A noticeable number of

candidates chose is reading, having failed to realise that the sentence

was in the past tense. This highlights the importance of reading the

stem carefully and paying attention to all the grammatical clues

contained therein.

Item 14 Please give me some more juice. I am still thirsty.

This item was poorly done by an important number of candidates, who

seemed unfamiliar with this structure in English.

Item 16 What did you have for dinner yesterday?

The use of structures with the do-support continues to be found difficult

by many candidates. Had was a particularly common wrong answer,

with candidates only paying attention to the tense and not to the verb

form required.

Item 19 As Tom is always late, his teacher scolded him.

This vocabulary item proved to be challenging to a number of

candidates. Some chose the word praised instead, demonstrating that

they were not familiar with these slightly less common lexical items.

Question 2A (Basic Reading Comprehension)

Question 2 A assesses basic reading comprehension. Candidates are expected to

show that they can read and understand short pieces of informative text and the

questions require them to retrieve explicitly stated information. This year, the text set

was a poster (as has often been the case in the past) containing information about a

pet show and calling for interested parties to register. The context was within the

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experience of candidates and there were hardly any cases of candidates failing to

understand the poster.

Performance on this question was encouraging, with the great majority of candidates

showing that they have mastered the basic reading skills in English. Previous reports

repeatedly highlighted the fact that in this question examiners are looking for

accuracy (even if that meant a short phrase or a one-word answer) and it would be

useful to remind Educators that indiscriminate lifting in this question is not given

much credit. Excess information and wholesale copying of sentences is to be

discouraged and candidates trained to answer only what they have been asked.

The following item posed difficulty to some candidates this year:

Item 3 At what time will the event start?

Some candidates wrongly gave 13 00 to 16 00 as an answer.

This illustrates the point made about the necessity for accurate

answers. Credit could not be given here as the answer given did

not answer the question asked but gave excess information

instead.

Question 2B (Extended Reading Comprehension)

Question 2B also assesses reading comprehension skills, but goes beyond the

simple retrieval of explicit information and tests simple inferences, overall

understanding of the text and knowledge of less common vocabulary items. This

year, the passage set was about an old, abandoned house in the middle of a sugar

estate which the villagers thought was haunted. In general, candidates had little

difficulty engaging with the text, but the higher order questions (overall

understanding of the text, knowledge of lexical items and following chronology)

continue to be challenging for some. The open-ended question, where candidates

are required to write out an answer, is also an area where improvement is warranted.

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The following items were found difficult by a significant number of candidates

Item 2 When he was alive, the estate owner’s garden ______________

Some candidates were not able to follow the order of events and

did not realise that while the estate owner was alive, the garden

was well maintained. It was only after his demise that the

house and the garden fell into a state of decrepitude.

Item 4 They were convinced that the place was haunted.

This item tested knowledge of the lexical item convinced, and an

important number of candidates were unable to give the

synonym sure as the answer. Candidates need to be trained in

an important reading skill – relying on contextual clues to make

an educated guess about the meaning of an unfamiliar word. It

always happens in reading that readers come across unfamiliar

words, but there are clues in the context to help make out the

possible meaning of that word and these clues should be relied

upon.

Item 9 An appropriate title for this passage could be _______________

To be able to answer this question, an overall understanding of

the text was required. The logical choice was ‘A mysterious old

house’ as the passage dealt essentially with that aspect and the

other options could not be acceptable titles.

Question 3 (Sentence writing)

Over the years, performance in the sentence writing task has improved gradually.

Most candidates can write simple, syntactically and grammatically correct sentences

in English. For less able candidates, difficulties with grammar still persist (subject-

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verb agreement in particular) and the influence of French/Creole syntax often leads

to faulty idiom.

Educators are reminded of the following:

1. Verbs will be given in the infinitive form. Candidates are free to conjugate the

verb in any tense they deem appropriate.

2. Nouns can be used both in the singular and plural forms.

3. All the given words must be used to write a sentence. Omitting any of the

given words will be penalised.

4. The given words must be used within the same sentence. Using the words in

different sentences will be penalised.

5. The word class of a given word cannot be changed. Nouns, verbs, adjectives

and adverbs must be used as such. For example, slowly cannot be changed

into slow.

Item 2 breakfast – morning

Candidates performed well on this task and most had little difficulty in coming

up with sentences like I have my breakfast every morning or I eat my

breakfast in the morning. A common idiomatic error was the use of structures

like *I take my breakfast every morning, probably due to the influence of the

French structure prendre son petit déjeuner.

Item 3 car – accident – rain

This item was generally well done, with typical correct sentences being When

it rains cars often have accidents or The car had an accident because of the

rain. The influence of French/Creole syntax was visible in certain structures

like *The car made an accident. It was also noticeable that some candidates

struggled to use the structure to meet with an accident and often wrongly

wrote sentences like *The car met an accident instead.

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Item 4 ill – hospital

The challenge for candidates was to link the two ideas of being ill and going to

hospital and that meant knowing how to use coordinating conjunction or

relative clauses. Sentences like When I am ill I go to hospital or I am going to

the hospital because I am ill were perfectly acceptable. Less able candidates

struggled to combine both ideas within the same sentence, and often came up

with answers like *I am ill. I am going to the hospital. This infringes the rubric

of writing one sentence with the given words and credit cannot be given in

these cases.

Item 5 lorry – slowly – hill

This item proved to be challenging to an important number of candidates.

The biggest weakness shown was the use of expressions which are not

acceptable in English, such as *The lorry is driving up the hill slowly or *The

lorry is running up the hill slowly, instead of The lorry is going/moving up the

hill slowly.

Item 6 flour – egg – cake

This was generally well done, with most candidates managing to write

meaningful sentences with the given words. A specific difficulty encountered

here was using the right grammatical form of the word egg. It was not

uncommon to see sentences like *Mother uses flour and egg to make a cake

instead of Mother uses flour and eggs to make a cake or Mother uses flour

and an egg to make a cake. Another common difficulty was seen in

sentences like *We use the flour and eggs to make a cake. The flour would

only be acceptable if one is referring to a specific type of flour, or a flour which

has already been mentioned before, but not in a sentence of a general nature.

This is presumably another example of French/Creole syntactic interference.

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Section BSection B, making up 40% of the overall marks of the paper, assesses higher

order skills in reading comprehension, writing and grammar.

Question 4 (Tenses and Word formation)This question assesses knowledge of tenses in context, as well as knowledge

of morphological processes in English. It was pleasing to note this year that

fewer candidates mechanically added –ed to the given words and that there

was a real effort to engage with the given text. Nevertheless, this question

continues to be a challenge for an important number of candidates, with

particular difficulty regarding the present and past perfect tenses (both

knowing when to use them and which form the verb should take) and irregular

verb forms.

4.1 Indeed, she always has a book in her hands.

The simple present tense was required here. A number of candidates chose

the simple past tense had, failing to see that an event or action that takes

place habitually was being described.

4.2 Her love for books started when her aunt gave her...

Most candidates realised that the simple past tense was required here but

some had difficulty coming up with the right form of the irregular verb to give

(which is gave) and offered *gived as an answer.

4.3 From that time, she has always asked for books...

This was generally well done. Candidates were helped by the fact that the

tense was already indicated by the use of has and only had to come up with

the correct verb form.

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4.4 ...there was a lot of excitement/excitation among the pupils.

This item tested knowledge of the transformation of the verb to excite into a

noun. Two answers were acceptable here, excitement and excitation. This

item was found to be difficult by many candidates who gave excited or

exciting as answers.

4.5 Tania borrowed/borrows a book every day.

Two possible tenses were possible here and the majority of candidates

scored well on this item.

4.6 She would sit down comfortably on the sofa...

This was also well done on the whole, although a noticeable number of

candidates struggled with the spelling of comfortably, often writing it as

*comfortablely.

4.7 Her favourite books were adventure stories.

This item was done well by an important number of candidates who managed

to transform the verb to favour into the adjective favourite.

4.8 By the end of the year she had read all the books...

This was one of the worse done items on the entire paper, confirming that the

use of the past perfect tense continues to be problematic, even among the

most able candidates. Some candidates used the present perfect has read,

failing to stick to the coherence of the text while others used was reading,

which was not logical in the context given.

4.9 Tania’s parents are very proud of her.

Transforming the noun pride into the adjective proud was found challenging

by many candidates. Answers like *prideful and *pridesome were common.10

4.10 At school her teacher is very happy with her performance.

This item was well done on the whole, with candidates finding the simple

present tense without much difficulty.

Question 5 (Cloze Text)

The Cloze Text is a higher order reading task, with candidates expected to

show both productive and receptive language skills. It requires candidates to

rely on the context to make educated guesses about what word might be

missing or would be most appropriate to fill the gap. This question, however,

continues to be found challenging by an important number of candidates,

showing that progress on higher reading skills is still warranted.

Item 1 I was much younger than them

In this item, knowledge of the common English structure

‘comparative followed by than’ was being assessed and this

was, on the whole, fairly done. Common wrong answers were

younger to them and younger among them, although these did

not fit in the structure of the given sentence.

Item 2 An old man used to walk by a/his field...

A number of options was possible here and a variety of

responses were seen. A popular wrong answer was walk by

that/the field but these were not acceptable as the field was

being mentioned for the first time.

Item 3 He was well dressed and/but always wore a hat

A coordinating conjunction was required here, with the most

obvious one being and. Candidates who thought that being well

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dressed and wearing a hat did not go hand in hand offered but

as an option and this fitted the context as well.

Item 4 He never stopped to watch the boys playing

Other answers that were acceptable here were tease and

coach, although these were not the most obvious options.

Item 5 He never said/uttered a single word

A verb was required in this gap and this item was generally well

done. A common mistake here was spoke and although

semantically this was acceptable, the structure *to speak a word

is not and therefore no credit could be given to this answer.

Item 6 The moment the boys saw him coming, they would shout/tease

loudly...

This item was found difficult by many candidates. To be able to

answer this, they should have been able to read the next line

and deduce that the boys were shouting.

Item 7 One day, when I was standing near my house...

Other possible answers here included in and even on my house.

A common wrong answer was into.

Item 8 The boys were not there to tease him.

A careful reading of the text indicated that what was needed was

a word indicating where the boys were. Consequently, answers

like allowed and coming, while acceptable at the sentence level,

did not fit in the overall context of the passage and could not be

given credit.

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Item 9 I smiled at him and said...

The most obvious answer was the personal pronoun him and

many candidates scored here. An unexpected, but correct

answer was once as in I smiled at once.

Item 10 To my surprise/astonishment, he came to shake hands....

This item tested candidates’ overall understanding of the text

and those who had understood the gist of the passage had no

trouble in guessing that the boy was surprised. Some

candidates impressed examiners by coming up with the word

bewilderment.

Question 6 (Composition Writing)

The composition writing task is the culmination of the writing skills candidates have

acquired over their six years of primary schooling. It assesses the ability of pupils to

develop a given scenario in a coherent manner, articulate these ideas in grammatical

English, write using a rich and varied vocabulary while still being creative and

imaginative with the storyline.

This year’s topic was more open than usual and called on candidates to show

imagination. It asked them to describe what happened after they accidentally came

across a box which contained a mysterious object. Examiners were pleased with the

range of responses received, ranging from magic pencils that did all the homework

on behalf of the pupil and long lost jewellery that was returned to their rightful owner

to very original idea of the box containing the ghost of Michael Jackson and the latter

becoming the friend of the finder of the box and entertaining him for the rest of his

life!

While there was not much to complain about candidates’ imagination, linguistic

ability was more of a problem. For less able candidates, grammatical issues like the

coherence of tenses, verb forms, use of correct pronouns and finding appropriate

vocabulary were noticeable weaknesses. Some candidates did not do themselves

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justice by writing in simple sentence structures and not making the effort of putting

more complexity in their writing. Educators are reminded that rich and varied

vocabulary and writing in a variety of sentence structures are the hallmark of quality

writing, and they are encouraged to train their pupils in these skills.

A sample of essays, illustrating candidates’ strengths and weaknesses is given

below

Composition 1

This composition has a storyline and there is an attempt at developing the given

scenario. However, language is insecure throughout, with spelling and grammar

both being very problematic (o’clok, pevment, beautyful, taked). The use of direct

speech is wrongly done. A composition of this kind will get some credit for attempting

to write a story but the English is too problematic for it to score highly.

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Last Monday morning at about seven o’clok. I went to school on foot. I walked in the pevment and I saw a beautyful box in the pevment.I opened the box and I saw a object. I taked the object and it is a super ball. It is a beautiful surpris because it is rubber ball. It is very soft and elasticle.I went to school and I give the ball with my school friends. They were so interesting with my ball. They teach my ball and they said it is very soft.

At tree o’clok, I went at home. I give the ball to my mother. My mother said where did you taked this ball? And I said in the road. You must reten the ball in the box. Why? Because the person who was lost the ball was so sad.Torrmorow the person who had lost the ball is in the road. I reten the ball to the person.

Composition 2

In this composition as well, there is an attempt to develop the storyline, but the

English is very poor. Spelling and grammar are both very weak. What is also

noticeable in this composition – and this is a characteristic of weaker candidates

generally – is how sentence separation is problematic. Commas are used instead of

full stops and many sentences are not written coherently. This composition scores

low marks as a result.

Composition 3

This composition is visibly of a higher standard than the other two. The story line is

quite developed and the language is generally secure. This candidate could have

scored better had there been an effort to use complex structures and develop the

story more creatively.

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It was a Monday morning. I was walking home from school, I saw a box in the pavement. I likc the box. I decided to opened it. I found a surprising object inside it was a electrical car. I decided to kept it in my house and I go to school when I returned I didnt saw it and it was nowhere to found. I call my friend and my friend was very surpris. My friend come and I said, “that I have done.” He said, “that the game was your but mine your father has help it their look there your father told him to go and told him and I go to told my father that he was caucting it and My father gave it to my and I am very happy.

It was a Friday morning. I was very happy to go to school as it was the last day of school-week.I was walking happily on the road when all of a sudden, I saw a box on the pavement. I came nearer to see what it was. It was a small and beautiful box. I opened it to see what did it contain. To my great surprise, I found that it was a golden watch. As I am a honest boy, I took it to the nearest police-station. There, a police man told me what happened. I told him the whole story and he asked me my address and took the watch with him.

A few days later, a woman came at my house. She was the owner of the watch. She thanked me and gave me five hundred rupees as reward.

Composition 4

Just like composition 3, this composition is in the middle range. The story is

developed satisfactorily and the language is generally sound. There are a few

grammar and spelling mistakes, but these are not frequent or serious enough to

disrupt the overall flow of the text. Again, more elaboration in the storyline and more

variety in the sentence structures would have earned this candidate higher credit.

Composition 5

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One Friday afternoon when I was coming home from school I saw a beautiful and small box on the road. When I opened the box to my surprised I saw a gold necklace and gold earing. I put the box in my bag and went home. When I arrived at home I told my mother what has happened.

My mother told me “ It is not ours we must returned the box to the people who brought it”. My father also told me the same thing. After two days when my fathe was reading The newspaper he found the advertising in the newspaper. Without losing I gave my father my mobile phone to phone the people. Half an hour later one people came to our house and he took the box and gave me two hundred rupees.

School had just finished. I went back home, whistling a nice tune.

All of a sudden, I caught sight of a box on the pavement. The box looked nice. It had a yellow star on it. I went close to it and opened it. “My name is Robotic! What is yours?” it asked. The robot was very interesting. It asked me what it could do for me. “To whom do you belong to Robotic?” I asked. It was about to answer me when a girl arrived. “It’s mine!” she shouted. She had told me that it was her new toy and that it must have fallen down when she was returning home. Seeing how much I liked it, the girl told me to keep it. I was in the seventh heaven of delight. So we can day that every dog has its day!

This composition is at the higher end of the spectrum. There is evidence of

originality (the idea of a talking robot) and the language used goes beyond being

correct and shows signs of sophistication. Direct speech is used confidently and

there is a variety of sentence structures. The clichéd expressions (seventh heaven

of delight, every dog has its day) are not necessary and would best be avoided,

given that they bring no real value to the writing.

Composition 6

This composition is also in the top bracket. There is clear elaboration of the given

scenario and the ideas flow in a coherent manner. What demarcates this essay from

the rest, however, is the mastery of the language. Complex sentence structures are

used confidently. The candidate moves in and out of the different tenses with

assurance (e.g After having explained what had happened to the police officer, I gave him

the necklace). Direct speech is used to enliven the narrative and the vocabulary is

rich. Overall, this is an impressive piece of work.

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It all happened on a Monday afternoon. I was returning home from school. I was walking happily on the pavement. All of a sudden, my attention was caught by an old box which was on the pavement. Being curious, I opened it. To my great surprise, there was a beautiful golden necklace in it. It was also made of diamonds. Knowing that someone had lost it, I started searching for its owner. I asked the passers-by if they had lost a necklace but they all replied: “No!”

Finally, I went to the police station. After having explained what had happened to the police officer, I gave him the necklace. Just then, an old lady entered. She said to the policeman: “I have lost my necklace!” The man asked her to describe the lost object. She told him that it was golden and was made of diamonds. The policeman showed her the necklace. She was very happy on seeing it. The man told her that I had found it. The old woman thanked me heartily and went away with it. I was proud of myself