Doing Delta Module One Some Exam Tips Part Four

In Part Four of our series on the Cambridge ESOL Delta Module One exam, we look at the requirements of Task Five on Paper One of the written exam. If youve missed the other articles in this series, youll find links at the end, plus a link to a quiz where you can find out if youve really understood what you should be doing in Paper One. 

This article is written by Sue Swift, who has been involved with Cambridge ESOL Diploma schemes  for over 35 years, both as a tutor and assessor. She currently runs  courses for all three modules of the Delta. Whether youre starting from scratch, have done a course before but need a short intensive booster before taking or retaking the exam, or are mainly self-preparing but need a bit of help, click here to see what we have to offer you. 

Paper One, Task Five asks you to analyse the written or spoken production  of a learner, and to identify three key strengths and three key weaknesses in his/her performance. You are then ask to choose one of the weaknesses and to explain why you would choose to prioritise it in your teaching. There are 27 marks for this and a recommended time of 25 minutes.

This question can, I think, tell you an awful lot about yourself as a teacher. Some people have no difficulty seeing the strengths, but struggle to see the weaknesses. Others (and Im afraid Im one of them) home in on the weaknesses immediately, but have to look really hard to identify the strengths. Its the teaching equivalent of seeing the glass half full or half empty, and can serve as a good reminder that when teaching we need  to pay attention to both sides : to emphasise the positive but also to be aware of our students problems in order to be able to provide the support and help they need - or vice versa if youre like me.


Anyway, back to the exam. The analysis of the strengths and weaknesses is not a completely free choice. Four or five categories categories will be specified, such as :


Task achievement 
Organisation and cohesion
Style and genre
Range and accuracy of lexis
Accuracy of grammar
Complexity of grammar
Spelling and punctuation (if its a written passage)
Pronunciation - sounds, stress, connected speech, (if its a spoken text)
etc


If its a spoken text, certain words will be written in phonemic script, so that you can analyse the pronunciation.

It is essential that all the strengths and weaknesses you identify "fit" one of the categories which are specified. Its not enough, however, to identify a general category as a strength or weakness - you also need to identify  specific features within that category. For example:

Weakness : Pronunciation - sounds
/θ/ is consistently pronounced as /s/ - eg : /sʌndə/

Weakness : Spelling
Consistent mispelling of words containing in vowel + y before  a suffix : eg He plaies tennis.

Strength : Range and accuracy of lexis

Good range of phrasal and prepositional verbs including "non-transparent" items : eg, He takes after his father.

Strength : Organisation

The text is divided into paragraphs, each with a clear topic, and the topic of each paragraph leads naturally into the next. Eg Para 1 = her immediate family - describes her mother and father. Para 2 = her extended family - follows the description of her father by moving on to describe his brothers and sisters

Notice the use of the word "consistent" in the some of the answers. You are asked to identify key strengths and weaknesses - ie the ones that have a significant impact on the text or the learners ability to use English. If there is only one example of a feature, it cant be said to be "key" - it might be just a slip. Look for recurrent features.

Because your focus is on the specific items, you may find more than one item for each category, and there may be both strengths and weaknesses in the same category. Above weve identified the pronunciation of a specific sound as a pronunciation weakness, but might also include ...

Strength : Pronunciation - connected speech : consistent use of weak form pronunciation, using the schwa - eg, we went for /fə/ lunch

There are three marks for each strength and weakness identified : one for the specification and one for providing an example from the text. The twelve marks are then weighted up to seventeen. Additionally, you can get 4 extra marks by including a comment on two of the strengths or weaknesses to show how that feature impacts on the effectiveness of the communication. For example : 


Strength : Range and accuracy of lexis
Good range of adjectives describing the personality of her relatives : She is the most extrovert person in our family. This makes the text  more interesting for the reader, providing a mental picture of the people being described and making them seem more real. 


Strength : Communicative success

Use of circumlocution when she does not know a lexical item : I wanted to buy - erm,  those things you wear on your eyes when you go swimming... erm, glasses for swimming.

This eases the difficulty of the communication for the listener - there are no embarassing silences and meaning is always clear. The strategy encourages the listener to provide the word, thus promoting collaborative interaction. It also makes the speaker seem a confident and effective communicator.

In the second part of the task, you are asked to give three reasons why one of the weaknesses which you identified would be a priority for attention on the course. There are six marks available here, two per reason. One marks is given for identifying the reason, and the second for explaining it in more detail. In answering this section, there are various things you can take into consideration :

• the learner’s level : for example, is the weakness something that a learner of the level specified would normally be expected to know? If so, the area may not be explicitly included in the textbook being used, and if the teacher does not build it into the course, the learner will never have the chance to focus on it. This may lead to repetition of the incorrect form (or whatever) until it becomes fossilised.  Or is the learner at a low level and the weakness a failure to use circumlocution strategies, resulting in frequent hesitation and blocking.  In this case, developing this coping strategy would have high surrender value - it will be a while  before they truly have all the lexis they need at their disposal (if ever) and the ability to circulocute will improve the effectiveness of their spoken communication in general.
• the learner’s future needs :  is this item something the learner might need in the future, outside the classroom. Is there an exam that might require it? Will it be necessary for a job or study purposes? For example, if the use of adjectives (or rather the lack of them) had been a weakness in the learners writing, focus on them could be useful to prepare for an exam such as FCE in which they might have to write a short story. If the learner was a salesman who had difficulty pronouncing numbers, work on this area would improve his presentations and negotiations.
• transfer to other skills or genres :  the weakness may be one would result in improvement in other skills. For example, if the problem lay in the use of irregular past simple verbs, improving the area would improve the learners ability in all four skills, and facilitate their performance in a wide variety of genres - from phatic  conversation to anecdote telling to (hopefully never necessary) interrogation by the police. 
• reasons specific to the learner’s context : eg is the learner in a monolingual course? If so, and  if the weakness is a problem of L1 interference, then focusing on it is likely to benefit the whole class. Is the learner studying in Britain and living with a host family? In this case, if the problem is over-reliance on Latinate vocabulary, then a focus on lexical items such as phrasal verbs will help them understand the English they hear around them every day. 
• reasons specific to the communicative purpose/success of the text : was the text transactional, and did they fail to clarify, and confirm information by repeating and summarising it? Presuming they will need to participate in the same type of discourse in future, work on this area will assure greater success the next time.
• the effect on the reader/listening : are they using imperatives where request forms are needed? This may mean they sound aggressive and rude, and result in offending their interlocutors.Work on requesting would resolve the problem
• the problem is easy to rectify : is the problem over-reliance on one exponent of a functional area, making the learner seem repetive and boring (eg if they use "why dont you" in continuation in a  task involving making suggestions)? Teaching and practising a few other exponents could be done relatively quickly in comparison to the pay-off that it would have. It would also be motivating, as the learner would see a large improvement in his/her ability to communicate in relation to the time and effort involved.

And that brings us to the end of Paper One. In the next article well be moving on to paper two task 1 - the "testing question".

And in the meantime, if youd like to check that youve really understood the requirements of this paper, try this quiz : So you think you know about Paper One? Youll need to register on the site, but its free and there are no strings attached.

Missed some of the other articles in this series? Youll find links to all of them here - just scroll down the page. But if youre preparing for the Delta Module One, dont forget that youll find a lot more information about all the tasks in the exam, with sample questions and answers, plus advice for tackling the questions in the Handbook for Tutors and Candidates and the annual exam reports published by Cambridge ESOL. Click on the link to download them.


And if youre  taking the exam this December and need some last minute exam preparation, join us in Milan for an intensive weekend seminar on November 22-23. Numbers are limited to six to make sure you get as much as possible from the programme, but there are still a couple of places left. Full details here.

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