Level C3 Writing

The students' performance in these tasks suggest that they are working within the range of Level C3 in Writing. The assessing teacher will need to consider a range of student samples in order to determine whether each student is at the beginning of C3, consolidating C3 or at the C3 standard in Writing. At beginning Level C3 students:

• can generally attempt a wide range of different text types appropriate to purpose and audience as independent writers, but will often require extensive opportunities for revision to increase accuracy based on teacher feedback
• almost always use general punctuation conventions correctly, for example,
  upper and lower case, full stops, commas and question marks, and have begun to experiment with more complex marks such as quotation marks, dashes, ellipses, semicolons and colons
• show a growing awareness of social and cultural sensibilities in word choice, for instance plump/fat, man/people) but may still miss many more subtle nuances.

At consolidating Level C3 students:

• show attempts at creating mood and feeling in their written texts, as well as the use of some colloquial or idiomatic language and humour, although this might often not be used accurately
• produce writing that shows an increasing engagement with the writing process and an increasing level of complexity in the use of various strategies to plan and organise texts, for instance, graphic organisers or timelines to draft outlines, and an ability to take responsibility for proofreading and revising their texts independently without this always having to be initiated under teacher guidance
• have become comfortable handwriting or typing their text

• may use strategies associated with literacy in home language(s).

At Level C3 Achievement Standard students:

• through guided activities, write texts based on an extensive range of fictional and factual text types from across the curriculum, showing an awareness of purpose and audience
• consistently use the basic structures of these text types, and demonstrate consistent but not complete control of the English grammar appropriate to them
• demonstrate some control of passive voice, a range of tenses and direct speech
• produce paragraphs with topic sentences and incorporate some cohesive devices to make links and contrasts between and within paragraphs through a range of conjunctions, connectives and pronoun references
• pay some attention to whole-text, sentence and word level issues, including punctuation when planning, writing, reviewing and redrafting their writing
• use a range of strategies when spelling new words, including those learnt for home language(s)
• present their writing appropriately, in print and digital forms.
  

Student information

The student comes from Vietnam and speaks Vietnamese. She has had age equivalent schooling in Vietnam where she also took English classes. She spent 20 weeks in an English language school before attending secondary school. She is in Year 10.

Task

Students have been learning about how coffee is produced with the intention of having them write a text that required the passive voice to be used. They were asked to imagine they had to give a talk to a group of Year 10 students about the production and manufacture of coffee. They were given the start of the script and were asked to finish it. The task was scaffolded with a picture sequencing and vocabulary task and also with supplementary information. This is the student's first draft completed in class.

Text

A Guided Tour to Del Paso Coffee Plantation

Good morning Ms. Gonzalas and students. Welcome to Del Paso Coffee Plantation. I'm Mr. Del Paso and this as you see is my coffee plantation and processing plant. We do everything here at Del Paso. We even have our own roasting plant just behind those buildings over there. But first we should take a look at the plants themselves. Here is the coffee process really begins. 

*This is the starter paragraph given to the student and is not the student’s own writing. 

These are the berries are also be called “cherries” which contains two beans each. They are picked by our farmers and then put into a water channel over there to remove the impurities. After being washed at the first time, the cherries are then fed into a pulping machine. We are going to see what the machine works.

It scours away the fruit flesh and squeezes the beans out and these are the coffee beans. Now we are going to the fermentation tank where the beans are put in for 24 hours to remove the sticky films surround them and the remaining fruit flesh. After the fermentation process, they still surrounded by their husk so we call them parchment coffee. The coffee are then fed into a water canal to be washed the second time before being dried.

In the past we used to spread them on the ground under the sun for drying which took about 2 or 3 weeks. Now we are using this drying machine. It has a huge revolving drum which rotates continually and it just takes 24 hours to dry the beans evenly. When the coffee have been dried, they are covered an attractive golden yellow colour which are called pergmanio coffee.

Pergmino coffee is then fed into a hulling machine over there to remove any remaining outer husk. After being hulled, we place them on a conveyor belt to be sorted by eye for size and grade. This is a process that gives us a special kind of coffee. Here they are, “blue coffee”, their colour is so pretty. Then, we convey the beans to the toasting plant building over there where they are cooked in a way that can bring flavours and aroma. After that, we pack them in backs which weights 60kg each. The “blue coffee” is packed in a smaller back and will be sold with a higher price. Exporting is the last process of my coffee plantation. The coffee are then exported to the wholesales distributers who deliver them to Warehouses and shops, and those places are where you can by them.

I hope you now have quite clear information about the processes to make coffee. If you still doubt about any of the processes, you can come and see me. I’m very glad to help you. 

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

• Use verb forms appropriate to text type (VCEALL728)
• Construct extended sentences using simple relative clauses and a range of common conjunctions (VCEALL727)
  

Overall, this student can also:

• Plan and sequence information for a specified text (VCEALL723)
• Use basic knowledge of grammatical features at the sentence level to argue, persuade, describe, classify, explain or instruct (VCEALL726)
• Write cohesive texts for a range of purposes (VCEALL724).
  

Possible next steps for this student's learning

Student information

The student is in Year 10 and speaks Vietnamese. She has been in Australia for less than a year and is in her first term at an English language school.

Task

Students had read a factual text about a butler. They had to transform the information from the text into a different genre. The task was done in the computer room, and students had one period to complete their text.

Text

Dear Mr N

I am writing this letter about a butler called Mr Tibbs. He is one of the best butlers in the world. He is working for Monsieur Estragon in France. Tibbs is very polite and smart. He is responsible for the house services. Monsieur wanted to make a party and he told the butler to organize it for him He bought the best wine of France to serves Monsieur Estragon's guest. He argued with his butler about the wine, because he told him not to drink the good wine with vinegar in front of all Monsieur's guests. Monsieur Estragon was embarrassed and screamed at him. The Butler brought the bad wine out. He and the chef drank all the good and expensive wine. He knew that no one would realize that, because of the vinegar. After the party the butler and the chef quit their jobs and went away. They took the rest of the good wine and never came back.

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

• Understand how the purpose and audience of a text can influence content and form (VCEALA718)
• Plan and sequence information for a specified text (VCEALL723)
• Use basic knowledge of grammatical features at the sentence level to argue, persuade, describe, classify, explain or instruct (VCEALL726)
• Use verb forms appropriate to text type (VCEALL728)
• Construct extended sentences using simple relative clauses and a range of common conjunctions (VCEALL727)
• Use vocabulary to create nuance, mood and feeling (VCEALL730).