Assessment and reporting in English EAL/D Stage 6

Effective from: 2018 Year 11 and Term 4, 2018 Year 12
Last updated: December 2023

Schools are required to develop an assessment program for each Year 11 and Year 12 course. NESA provides information about the responsibilities of schools in developing assessment programs in course-specific assessment and reporting requirements and in Assessment Certification Examination (ACE).

School-based assessment requirements

Year 11

Schools are required to submit to NESA a grade for each student based on their achievement at the end of the course.

Teachers use professional, on-balance judgement to allocate grades based on the Common Grade Scale for Preliminary courses.

Teachers consider all available assessment information, including formal and informal assessment, to determine the grade that best matches each student’s achievement at the end of the course.

The Year 11 formal school-based assessment program is to reflect the following components, weightings, and requirements.

Requirements:

• 3 assessment tasks
• only one task may be a formal written examination
• one task must be a multimodal presentation enabling students to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills across a range of modes, one which must be listening

The recommended weighting for any individual task is 20% to 40%.

Multimodal presentation

The multimodal presentation is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills across all of the modes. A multimodal presentation includes at least one mode other than reading and writing. One of these must be listening but the task may also include speaking and/or viewing and representing.

No specific weightings have been allocated to the modes to allow flexibility in task design and to meet the needs and interests of students in a range of contexts.

Year 12

NESA requires schools to submit a school-based assessment mark for each Year 12 candidate in a course. Formal school-based assessment tasks are based on course requirements and components and weightings that contribute to the determination of the final mark for a course. The mark submitted by the school provides a summation of each student’s achievement measured at several points throughout the course.

The marks submitted for each course group at a school should reflect the rank order of students, and must be on a scale sufficiently wide to reflect adequately the relative differences in student performances. The actual mark should not be revealed to students as it is subject to moderation and may become confusing for students when they receive their results. Students must be informed that they can obtain their Assessment Rank Order Notice from Students Online after the last HSC examination at their centre and within the period of time for appeals.

The school-based assessment marks submitted to NESA for Year 12 must not include measures that address values and attitudes or reflect student conduct. Schools may decide to report on these separately to students and parents/carers.

The collection of information for the Year 12 school-based assessment mark must not begin before the completion of the Year 11 course.

The components and weightings for Year 12 are mandatory.

The Year 12 formal school-based assessment program is to reflect the following requirements:

• a maximum of four assessment tasks
• the minimum weighting for an individual task is 10%
• the maximum weighting for an individual task is 40%
• only one task may be a formal written examination with a maximum weighting of 30%
• one task must be a multimodal presentation enabling students to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills across a range of modes, one of which must be listening
• one task must focus on the concurrent module, Module D – Focus on Writing with a minimum weighting of 25%.

Formal written examination

This task may assess a broad range of course content and outcomes. Schools may choose to replicate the timing and structure of the HSC examination.

Multimodal presentation

The multimodal presentation is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills across all of the modes. A multimodal presentation includes at least one mode other than reading and writing. One of these must be listening but the task may also include speaking and/or viewing and representing.

No specific weightings have been allocated to the modes to allow flexibility in task design and to meet the needs and interests of students in a range of contexts.

 Focus on Writing

Assessment in this module provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills in writing that have been developed across all of the modules studied. It must give students the opportunity to write in forms not limited to analytical or critical responses to literature.

The submitted task may be assessed in a variety of ways such as on more than one short piece of writing and through a range of modes. A portfolio of work is not a requirement for this task.

HSC examination specifications

The external HSC examination measures student achievement in a range of syllabus outcomes.

The external examination and its marking relate to the syllabus by:  

• providing clear links to syllabus outcomes
• enabling students to demonstrate the levels of achievement outlined in the performance band descriptions
• applying marking guidelines based on criteria that relate to the quality of the response
• aligning performance in the examination each year to the standards established for the course.

Examination questions may require candidates to integrate knowledge, understanding and skills developed through studying the course.

The specifications will apply to the English EAL/D Stage 6 Syllabus commencing with the 2019 HSC examination program. Examination questions may require candidates to integrate knowledge, understanding and skills developed through studying the course.

The examination will consist of two written papers worth 85 marks and a listening paper worth 15 marks.

Paper 1: Module A and Focus on Writing

The time allowed is 1 hour and 30 minutes plus 10 minutes reading time.

The paper will consist of two sections.

Section I: Module A – Texts and Human Experiences (30 marks)

This section consists of two parts.

Part A (15 marks)

There will be three or four questions based on stimulus and/or unseen texts related to Module A.

Questions may contain parts.

Part B (15 marks)

There will be one question based on the candidate’s prescribed text.

This question may include a stimulus.

Section II: Focus on Writing (15 marks)

There will be one question which may contain parts.

The question will require an imaginative, discursive, persuasive or informative response.

This question may include a stimulus and/or an unseen text.

Paper 2: Module B and Module C

The time allowed is 1 hour plus 5 minutes reading time.

The paper will consist of two sections.

Section I: Module B – Language, Identity and Culture (20 marks)

There will be one question.

The question will require a sustained response based on the candidate’s prescribed text.

This question may include a stimulus.

Section II: Module C – Close Study of Texts (20 marks)

There will be one question.

The question will require a sustained response based on the candidate’s prescribed text.

This question may include a stimulus.

Listening Paper (15 marks)

The time allowed is 30 minutes including listening time.

There will be four to six questions.

Questions may require an objective or short-answer response.

Listening material will relate to content explored in Module A and/or Module B.

Questions will assess the ability of candidates to listen with understanding and to respond to a range of verbal cues.

Further information

• Assessment in Stage 6
• Principles of effective assessment
• Assessment in practice
• School-based assessment requirements
• Adjustments to assessment for students with disability
• Life Skills
• Assessment Certification Examination (ACE) website