Assessment criteria (Listening, Reading, Speaking, Writing) flashcards

Topic 4: Assessment criteria (Listening, Reading, Speaking, Writing)

What are the four MYP Language Acquisition criteria?

A: Listening. B: Reading. C: Speaking. D: Writing. Equally weighted; each has eight achievement levels in four bands, plus level 0, so 0–8 each and 0–32 in class. There is no SL/HL split.

What does criterion A (Listening) assess?

Interpreting and constructing meaning from spoken multimodal text, including how images and other spatial aspects work with the speech to convey ideas, values and attitudes.

Explicit versus implicit information, and what is a distractor?

Explicit: stated directly. Implicit: suggested, so you infer it from evidence. A distractor sounds like an answer but is not the right one, such as an old time that a speaker then corrects.

How should you approach a listening task?

Before: read every question, underline key words and predict answer types. First listen: gist and explicit facts, mark doubts with "?". Second listen: check doubts, listen for corrections, note tone and what the visuals add.

What does criterion B (Reading) assess?

Constructing meaning from written, spatial and visual aspects of texts, and how they work with the words to convey ideas, values and attitudes.

Visual aspects versus spatial aspects of a text

Visual: photos, drawings, icons, charts, logos, colour. Spatial: where things sit on the page — position, size, boxes, columns, grouping and white space.

What does criterion C (Speaking) assess?

Interacting in the target language on topics of personal, local and global interest and significance, supported by spoken, written and visual texts.

Fluency, accuracy, range and intelligibility in speaking

Fluency: smooth flow with natural pauses. Accuracy: control of grammar, vocabulary and word order. Range: variety of vocabulary and structures. Intelligibility: how easily a listener understands you.

What does criterion D (Writing) assess?

Using language suited to audience and purpose (formal and informal, social and academic registers), and applying understanding of language, form, mode and medium to express ideas.

Cohesion versus coherence in writing

Cohesion: language that links sentences and paragraphs (connectives, reference words). Coherence: whether the ideas make sense in a logical order. A text can use many connectives and still be incoherent.

How do you decode a writing prompt?

PATS: purpose, audience, text type, stimulus. Choose the register from the audience, mine the stimulus for 3–4 ideas (including what the image adds), plan one job per paragraph, then check verbs, agreement, spelling and register.