Appendix 3

Analysis of Pre- and Post-assessment Data

  1. Part 1 Question 1

Read the story about JOHN carefully. Retell the story with dialogue between JOHN and his friend, TOM.You may use the example to retell the paragraph, OR, start it in any way you like.

Assessment
Criteria / Pre-Programme Assessment / Post-Programme Assessment
Originality / Most of the answers lied in Level 2, which touched on the theme but lacked development of ideas. One or two students attempted to draw on their experience to enrich the dialogue/play script which nonetheless seemed irrelevant to the theme. / Eight out of 20 students managed to score Level 3 with their story capturing the central theme with relevant and sensible ideas, drawn from their knowledge to enrich their scripts.
Plot / Most of the students attained Level 2 in terms of plot. They were capable of retelling the scene with a basic, brief introduction and conclusion. A few attempted to add naturalness to the scene with short, simple sentences. / About half of the students (11 out of 20) scored Level 3 with the script organised with a clear introduction and complete conclusion plus smooth transition.
Expression / The majority heavily relied on the words and phrases of the text given. Not much variety of word choice or exquisite vocabulary was seen. / Eight out of 20 were able to use some natural, accurate and original expressions to write the script.
Language / The students tended to copy from the text given. Thus, not many serious errors were found in the answers. / While the majority copied from the text given, six studentsattaining Level 3showed a generally good grasp of writing conventions with some use of original language instead of pure copying from the story provided.
Format / Most of the students except one to two were well aware of the basic format of the play script, e.g. putting the actor’s name at the beginning of the lines, followed by a colon and the speech. A few added one or more words in brackets, indicating their primary knowledge of stage directions. / All the students were well aware of the basic format of the play script, e.g. putting the actor’s name at the beginning of the lines, followed by a colon and the speech. Among them, 17 out of 20 were able to include stage directions for feelings, gestures and movement of events.
  1. Part 1 Question 2

Read the act below. Underline the words that describe how the people look, feel, and talk.

Pre-Programme Assessment / Post-Programme Assessment
The students generally accomplished well. / All accomplished this task well.But six students left this question totally blank. (Post-assessment follow-up: Teachers could have talked to these six students to see whether they had missed the part or they spent too much time accomplishing the other writing parts in the assessment.)
  1. Part 1 Question 3

This is the beginning of a comic strip of “Once Upon a Fairy Tale.”Draw and continue the comic to recreate the scene you read on P.4. Add some speech bubbles and an ending to it. If you need some more paper, ask the teacher.

Pre-Programme Assessment / Post-Programme Assessment
Almost all of the students succeeded in retelling the given scene of the play “Once upon a Fairy Tale” but none was able to continue it and create an ending with innovative, outstanding ideas. Most of the speech bubbles lacked original expressions. Quite a lot of drawings, however, were brilliant in a way that demonstrated students’ good grasp of the stage directions. / Jackie and Belle succeeded in creating a logical story from the given scene with their own endings, with good attempts in using original expressions. Others were retelling the story with bubbles copied from the dialogues. Drawings showed their understanding of the plot and actors’ feelings and some movements.
  1. Part 1 Question 4

Read the sentences. Choose the correct words and write them on the lines.

The results indicated that the students’ knowledge of the play structure had significantly increased.