All assessments for Units 1 and 2 are school-based. The determination of an S or N for each of Units 1 and 2 is a separate consideration from the assessment of levels of achievement.
Procedures for assessment of levels of achievement in Units 1 and 2 are a matter for schools to decide. Schools have flexibility in deciding how many and which assessment tasks they use for each outcome, provided that these decisions are in accordance with VCE Chinese Language, Culture and Society Study Design and VCE Assessment Principles.
Teachers should note the cognitive demand of the command terms in the outcome statements to determine the type of teaching and learning activities and evidence of student understanding that will be needed for students to demonstrate satisfactory completion of each outcome.
Outcome 1
Discuss, in English, the influence of one or more of the three major Chinese philosophies on an aspect of the Chinese-speaking world, making reference to text(s) studied.
Step 1: Define the parameters of the outcome
The VCE Chinese Language, Culture and Society Study Design 2023–2027 provides details of the key knowledge and skills related to Unit 3 Outcome 1 and the area of study. Read the outcome and key knowledge and skills for Unit 3 Area of Study 1. Read the outcome and the task statements carefully and consider what evidence should be gathered to demonstrate student learning. It should be noted that it is not essential for each key knowledge and skill to be individually identifiable in the task; nor should the task focus on too narrow a range of key knowledge and skills.
Assessment tasks should be a part of the regular teaching and learning program and should not add unduly to student workload. It is recommended that assessment tasks be completed in class under supervision within a limited timeframe. The overall assessment program for the unit should include a variety of assessment task formats and include provision for authentication of student work.
Please note, it is expected that students will use the English language for the teaching and learning activities and the assessment tasks in the Culture and Society in Chinese-speaking communities strand.
Schools may determine the conditions for this task. Students should be advised of the timeline and conditions under which the task is to be completed.
The study design identifies the task that must be used to assess this outcome. Teachers should be familiar with the essential requirements of each task.
This task may be completed under teacher supervision in 80 minutes of class time. Students may use dictionaries.
Step 2: Determine teaching and learning activities
Unpack the performance descriptors as they provide an indication of qualities and characteristics that you are looking for in a student response.
The teaching and learning activities for this outcome will be determined by the Unit 3 prescribed texts. A response for this outcome would need to demonstrate the student’s comprehension and knowledge of the Unit 3 prescribed texts, and an ability to construct a detailed written interpretation of one or more of the three major Chinese philosophies, supported by textual evidence and including appropriate explanation of key values from Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism. The analysis and evaluation of the key values represented in the prescribed texts should be supported by sufficient evidence. Rather than making sweeping assumptions or broad statements about Chinese social and cultural contexts, responses should make effective use of the information and ideas from the texts studied in order to justify arguments.
In order to prepare students for this particular example assessment task, the following scaffolding sequence of teaching and learning activities is suggested:
- Synthesise the three Chinese philosophies and identify their respective approaches to the social lives of Chinese speakers.
- Discuss relevant aspects of Confucianism that influence how Chinese people are identified by their positions in society rather than by their individual personalities, and how social behaviour is managed by the maintenance of ideas such as ‘face’. For example, you are firstly your mother’s daughter, your grandmother’s granddaughter, rather than yourself.
- Apply understanding of these philosophical concepts to the illustrative examples depicted in the film The Farewell. Discuss the motivations for the family to promote their reputation, and how this may be linked to the fake wedding.
- Analyse the example of the fake wedding and develop explanations about how it could be explained by aspects of Chinese philosophies. Collect evidence and draw conclusions about whether it can be understood as an authentic demonstration that a collective public image of a family (wedding) is more important than the truth of individual emotions (whether the young couple are truly in love).
- Apply knowledge and understanding about Confucianism to develop points of view and arguments about the wedding. Consider how travelling overseas and gathering around Nai Nai for a made-up event shows that obligations are prioritised over personal fulfillment for particular family members.
Step 3: Design the assessment task
The requirements of the task will be determined by the Unit 3 prescribed texts. Considering the key knowledge and key skills required for this outcome, the following is an example of an assessment task based on the film The Farewell. However, to fulfill the task requirements, students will need to use their knowledge gained from all of the prescribed texts for Unit 3 when responding to the question.
Note that the question relates to the significance and the role of Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism in shaping Chinese cultural identity.
The task should be unambiguous and all instructions should be clear.
Example assessment task:
Write an essay about the importance of the fake wedding to the Wang family in The Farewell. Refer to the key values of one or more of the three Chinese philosophies, Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism. Support your response with information from texts studied.
Timing of the task:
Teachers must decide the most appropriate time to set this task. This decision is the result of several considerations, including:
- the estimated time it will take for students to study the prescribed texts in this unit covering all the key knowledge and key skills
- the likely length of time required for students to complete the task
- the classroom environment the assessment task will be completed in
- whether the assessment task will be completed under open-book or closed-book conditions
- any additional resources required by students
- when tasks are being conducted in other subjects and the workload implications for students
Where there are multiple classes in need of cross-marking, a common School-assessed Coursework schedule is advisable.
Duration of task:
This sample task is designed to be completed in class under teacher supervision in an 80-minute lesson.
Materials:
Student responses will be written on the assessment task sheet and submitted at the end of the session.
Step 4: Marking the task
Allocation of marks:
This task is worth 20 marks towards the total of 50 marks allocated to School-assessed Coursework for Unit 3.
The marking scheme used to assess a student’s level of performance should reflect the relevant aspects of the performance descriptors and be explained to the students before they begin the task.
Authentication
VCE Chinese Language Culture and Society examination papers can also provide inspiration for teachers when developing SAC tasks. It is important to always modify the examination questions for internal assessment tasks to maintain the integrity of the assessment task and to provide fair and equitable conditions for students.
Most work for the assessment of unit outcomes and School-assessed Coursework will be completed in class; however, this does not preclude normal teacher expectations for students to complete research and learning activities that contribute to gaining key knowledge and skills outside of class time.
A task for the assessment of unit outcomes may require preliminary preparation and activities associated with the task. The amount of work to be completed as homework is decided by the study teacher, taking into account the nature, scope and purpose of the task.
Teachers are not required to formally sight drafts or to record their completion of drafts unless it is for authentication purposes. Drafting can remain a part of a teaching and learning strategy, and students may do preliminary drafting; however, drafts are not to be submitted to the teacher for the purpose of getting feedback on an incomplete task that will contribute to the total School-assessed Coursework score. Teachers must not mark or provide comments on any draft submitted for School-assessed Coursework.
Outcome 3
Use a written text and a visual text about a selected subtopic to produce an extended personal or imaginative response in written Chinese.
Step 1: Define the parameters of the outcome
The VCE Chinese Language, Culture and Society Study Design 2023–2027 provides details of the key knowledge and skills related to Unit 4 Outcome 3 and the area of study. In order to plan and conduct an assessment for this outcome it is necessary to be familiar with the key knowledge and skills. It should be noted that it is not essential for each key aspect of knowledge and skill to be individually identifiable in the task, nor should the task focus on too narrow a range of key knowledge and skills.
Assessment tasks should be a part of the regular teaching and learning program and should not add unduly to student workload. It is recommended that assessment tasks be completed in class under supervision within a limited timeframe. The overall assessment program for the unit should include a variety of assessment task formats and include provision for authentication of student work.
Please note, it is expected that students will respond in the Chinese language for the assessment tasks in the Chinese Language strand in Units 2, 3 and 4. There is only one outcome for the Chinese Language strand that requires students to produce responses in both English and in Chinese, and it is Unit 1 Outcome 2.
Schools may determine the conditions for this task. Students should be advised of the timeline and conditions under which the task is to be completed.
The study design identifies the task that must be used to assess this outcome. Teachers should be familiar with the essential requirements of each task.
This task may be completed under teacher supervision in 80 minutes of class time. Students may use dictionaries.
Step 2: Determine teaching and learning activities
Unpack the performance descriptors as they provide an indication of the qualities and characteristics that you are looking for in a student response.
Students are required to read a written text, and view a visual text about a selected subtopic, and use the ideas, information and concepts found in these texts to produce an extended written response. The question posed will require students to produce a letter, a story or a blog post of approximately 150-characters. The question will specify either personal or imaginative writing.
When deciding on the topic and subtopic for the teaching and learning associated with this outcome, reference must be made to the table on page 11 of the VCE Chinese Language, Culture and Society Study Design 2023–2027. The subtopic must allow for the development of an appropriate sequence of teaching, learning and assessment of the outcome.
Teachers should plan a sequence of teaching and learning activities that will enable students to develop the relevant knowledge and skills for the outcome. The teaching and learning activities should be designed to develop, maintain and extend student proficiency in all of the language macro skills – listening, speaking, reading, writing and viewing.
Students will access information and extract meaning information from two stimulus texts that are focused on the same subtopic. There will be a written stimulus text and a visual text. These two texts will refer to the same subtopic so they will complement each other. Students will identify main ideas and supporting ideas in the texts. They will extract and interpret the information from the sources, and then develop one single coherent extended written response in either a personal or an imaginative style of writing.
Suitable written stimulus texts for this outcome task could include information extracts, articles, brochures, emails, diary entries, reports, postcards or news items. Suitable visual stimulus texts for this outcome task could include photographs, illustrations, pictures, posters, films or film clips, captioned illustrations or maps. Stimulus materials could be purpose-developed or authentic language texts.
The skills and knowledge required for the successful demonstration of this outcome must relate to the specific subtopic chosen. For example, the vocabulary and language structures should build on previous learning, and should reflect and extend those needed by students to participate in learning activities related to the subtopic.
Activities designed to elicit the students’ understanding and use of the skills and knowledge required for this outcome should include, for example, learning activities that progressively develop their ability to identify the overall meaning and specific detail from the selected texts. As the response required for this assessment task is in Chinese, students will also need to extend their skills in conveying relevant information in Chinese characters. Students will also need to develop their ability to produce an extended response using either an imaginative or a personal style of writing, and to write appropriately for a specific audience, context and purpose.
Step 3: Design the assessment task
The following is one approach to constructing the assessment task for Unit 4 Outcome 3. In this example, the topic to be studied is Future Aspirations and the subtopic is study abroad, which are drawn from the table on page 11 of the VCE Chinese Language, Culture and Society Study Design 2023–2027.
For this example, students will read a brochure advertising a study abroad program at a Chinese university and view an illustration depicting an overseas student’s experience. Students extract information from the two texts and respond to one specific question in Chinese.
Example assessment task:
You have just arrived in China and commenced a study abroad program. Using the information in the brochure and the illustration, write a 100–150-character personal post for your study blog about your experiences on your first day.
In order to prepare for this task, teachers need to provide the stimulus texts – the brochure and the illustration. These two stimulus texts will be about the same subtopic so they should support one another. The teacher develops the task and students should not have seen it previously.
In order to successfully demonstrate the skills and knowledge required for this outcome, the task should allow students to demonstrate knowledge of the ideas and concepts related to the selected subtopic. The task should allow them to access, extract and interpret information from both of the stimulus texts using Chinese and to identify the main points as well as specific details. It should also require students to interpret information from the two stimulus texts that are about the same subtopic so that one coherent response can be developed. It is expected that students will produce one extended Chinese language response which will be 100–150 characters in length. The task will require students to produce a response that demonstrates the characteristics of a blog post, and that uses a personal style of writing.
The task should be unambiguous and all instructions should be clear.
Timing of the task:
The teacher must decide the most appropriate time to set this task and inform the students of this date/time. This decision is the result of several considerations including:
- the estimated time it will take to teach the key knowledge and skills for the outcome
- the likely length of time required for students to complete the task
- when tasks are being conducted in other subjects and the workload implications for students.
Where there are multiple classes in Chinese Language, Culture and Society, a common School-assessed Coursework schedule is advisable.
Duration of task:
This sample task may be completed in class under teacher supervision in an 80-minute lesson.
Materials:
Students may use a monolingual and/or bilingual dictionary in the completion of this task. Their responses will be written on the assessment task sheet and submitted at the end of the session.
Step 4: Marking the task
Allocation of marks:
This task is worth 15 marks towards the total of 50 marks allocated to School-assessed Coursework for Unit 4.
The marking scheme used to assess a student’s level of performance should reflect the relevant aspects of the performance descriptors and be explained to students before they begin the task.