Briefing Session for the

2020 HKDSE English

Language

November 2020

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Attendance in 2020

Day school candidates: 43,728

Whole group: 48,092

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HKDSE English Language candidates 2012-2020

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0

10000

20000

30000

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50000

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2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Day School

Whole Group

General performance in 2018-2020

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U 1 2 3 4 5 5* 5**

2018 8.1 12.7 25.4 27 17.8 5.4 2.7 0.9

2019 8 13 25.2 26.3 17.8 5.8 2.7 1

2020 7.2 12.5 25.3 25.4 19.4 6.2 3 1

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Perc

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2018 2019 2020

Paper 1

Reading

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Contents

• Statistical Information

• Candidates Performance

• General Comments and Recommendations

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Number of Candidates Taking Optional Parts (2020)

Part Number Sat

Popularity (%)

1A 48 025 Compulsory

1B1 20 496 42.7

1B2 27 529 57.3

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Paper 1: Reading Statistics (2020)

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Paper 1 84 47.9 22.21A 42 53.6 24.7

1B1 42 51.6 21.11B2 42 51.8 18.6

Paper 1 Statistics (Whole Group) 2020

Mean:47.9%

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1A Text (2020)

Texts No. of items

One text on the theme of restoration project of Tai Kwun

42

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Part 1A Statistics (2020)

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Full Mark

Mean Score (%)

S.D. (%)

Part A

42

53.6 24.7Candidates

taking B136.2 18.2

Candidates taking B2

66.5 20.6

How B1 Candidates Performed in 1A (2020)

Mean: 36.2%

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How B2 Candidates Performed in 1A (2020)

Mean: 66.5%

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Mark Distribution (1A-Whole Group) 2020

Mean: 53.6%

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Part 1B1: Reading Passages

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Reading Passage

Two texts on the theme of kite flying 42

• A how-to guide about kite-flying 23

• An article about kite-flying in Hong Kong

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Part 1B1 Statistics (2020)

Full MarkMean Score

(%)S.D.(%)

42 51.7 21.1

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Part 1B1 Score Distribution (2020)

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Mean: 51.6%

Part 1B2: Reading Passages

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Reading Passage

“The letters I can never forget” 42

Article by Graham Norton 18

Letter exchanges between Norton and his readers

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Part 1B2 Statistics (2020)

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Full Mark Mean Score (%)

S.D.(%)

42 51.4 18.6

Part 1B2 Score Distribution (2020)

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Mean: 51.7%

General Performance (1)

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Candidates scored well on items which tested• simple factual understanding of the text• simple inferencing • genre identification

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General Performance (2)

Candidates struggled when attempting: • single-word summary gap-fills• items testing holistic understanding of the

text • items requiring reference to information

from several places in the paragraph / text

• Read instructions carefully

• Avoid excess copying

• Pay attention to the form and spelling of words needed in gap-fill questions, & the grammar of questions, especially for one-word or short-answer questions where more information is conveyed

• Understanding the core message of the text as a whole

Recommendations to Candidates (1)

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• Candidates should decide before entering the exam whether to take B1 or B2

• It is unwise to base this decision on a quick glance at the texts or a superficial viewing of the items on the day of the exam

Recommendations to Candidates (2)

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Paper 2

Writing

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Summary Statistics

Mark distribution of Paper 2

No.sat: 47,864

Mean: 54.4%

SD: 18.7%

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Part A Part B

Mean 56.5% 53.0%

Standard Deviation 18.3% 19.9%

Paper 2 – Writing

Summary statistics

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Paper 2 – Writing

Part A

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Paper 2 Part A – Compulsory Question

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Paper 2 Part A – Chief Examiner’s Report

CONTENT

• A straightforward task which allowed candidates to draw on their everyday dining experiences

• The majority of candidates were able to include interesting ideas about the restaurant’s food, decor and service

• Very few scripts were off topic

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LANGUAGE

• Candidates were able to use a range of tenses for

different purposes, and use the first person and an

individual voice to express their personal thoughts

and feelings

• Specific terms and vocabulary related to food and

cooking were also used to make the writing

livelier, and show familiarity with the topic

Paper 2 Part A – Recommendations

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COHERENCE

• Most candidates made a good attempt to cover both the positive and negative sides of the restaurant

• Stronger candidates were able to use a range of connectives to show contrast and reservation

Paper 2 Part A – Recommendations

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Part B

Paper 2 – Writing

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Paper 2 – Writing

Part B: Popularity of questionsBelow is a table that shows the popularity of each question in percentages, with most popular questions at the top of the table.

Que. Topic Popularity

(%)2 Instagrammers taking photos of public housing

estates

22%

3 Stationery shops and their survival 22%

6 Effectiveness of food warning labels 20%

4 Work transfer to Shanghai hotel 13%

5 Dragon Boat Racing as an Olympic sport 8%

9 Blog about Chinese Opera 6%

7 Up-and-coming pop singer 5%

8 First Chapter of a story 4%

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Paper 2 – Writing

Part B: QuestionsBelow is a table that shows the mean percentages of each question.

Que. Topic Mean

(%)

6 Effectiveness of food warning labels 59%

7 Up-and-coming pop singer 57%

3 Stationery shops and their survival 56%

8 First Chapter of a story 56%

2 Instagrammers taking photos of public housing estates 53%

5 Dragon Boat Racing as an Olympic sport 49%

4 Work transfer to a hotel in Shanghai 47%

9 Blog about Chinese Opera 41%

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• Most candidates were able to:

- describe and give a range of relevant and appropriate explanations for the phenomenon

- show an understanding of the viewpoints of residents

• Some neglected to comment on the residents’ perspectives or focused too much on the popularity of Instagram rather than photos of Hong Kong Housing Estates

Paper 2 Part B – Examiner’s Report

Q2

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Q3

Paper 2 Part B – Examiner’s Report

• Most candidates were able to identify obvious reasons in the general decline of stationery shops

• Some candidates did not discuss whether these shops could or would survive

• Both news report or report form were accepted so long as the writing addressed the task requirements

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• Stronger candidates were able to give convincing and relevant professional reasons for wanting to transfer

• However, quite a number of candidates struggled with producing relevant and persuasive arguments for wanting to transfer and persuading the manager of the benefits

Paper 2 Part B – Examiner’s Report

Q4

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• It was important to write about dragon-boat racing and to engage with the criteria given

• Stronger candidates wrote persuasively using facts and stayed on point

• Some candidates discussed alternative criteria or proposed other sports to be included in the Olympics, such as e-sports, which was not relevant

Paper 2 Part B – Examiner’s Report

Q5

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• Stronger candidates had little difficulty making convincing arguments, drawing parallels to other existing policies such as nutritional labelling and the inclusion of shocking images on cigarette packaging which proved effective

• The weaker candidates struggled to make convincing arguments, repeating similar ideas

Paper 2 Part B – Examiner’s Report

Q6

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• Candidates overall showed a lot of creativity, e.g. biographical details, and when describing the inspiration behind her music/meanings of her songs

• Most showed an awareness of the audience being readers of a music magazine with an interest in and familiarity with pop music

Paper 2 Part B – Examiner’s Report

Q7

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• Candidates were required to write the opening chapter of a story, not a complete narrative

• Stronger candidates had very creative ideas and demonstrated an ability to engage the reader

• Weaker candidates struggled with understanding aspects of the context provided in the question, impacting on relevance of the content

Paper 2 Part B – Examiner’s Report

Q8

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• Strong candidates were able to describe what they saw and experienced at the opera, using vivid and emotive language

• Weaker candidates struggled to structure their blog, including other information about their travels

• Opera vocabulary was not needed to scorewell in language

Paper 2 Part B – Examiner’s Report

Q9

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LANGUAGE

• Candidates need to balance demonstrating what they know with making their writing appropriate to the required text type

• Writing simple sentences accurately might be enough in some tasks but might be too limited for others requiring more linguistic flexibility

• It is a good idea for candidates to read different text types and to become familiar with what is appropriate for particular purposes and audiences

Paper 2 Part B – Recommendations

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COHERENCE

• Coherence can be achieved in different ways depending on the text type

• Candidates are usually quite good at connecting ideas explicitly in persuasive or argumentative essays

• In some text types (e.g. blog, letter) too much logical development might actually detract from effective organisation

• Familiarity with different text types is key to raising awareness of how these texts are organised effectively

Paper 2 Part B – Recommendations

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Paper 3

Listening and

Integrated Skills

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Paper 3: No. Candidates Part B (%)

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70.0

80.0

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

3B1

3B2

Paper 3: Mean Scores

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Full Mark Mean Score (%) S.D. (%)

Part A 52 62.1 23.9

Part B1 53 40.7 25.6

Part B2 53 48.3 20.3

Part 3A score distribution for all candidates

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Paper 3A results per task

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Mean (%)

Task 1 Adventure holiday 80.2

Task 2 Marine exploration 69.2

Task 3 Arctic exploration 50.6

Task 4 Exploration of a temple 37.8

Part 3A score distribution for 3B1 candidates

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Part 3A score distribution for 3B2 candidates

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Paper 3A: Recommendations

Candidates should:• Spend the preparation time familiarising themselves

with the tasks to predict the likely development of a text

• Read the prompts and stems carefully to predict the required form of the answer, i.e. whether it should be a single noun, noun phrase or a clause

• Be prepared to compose answers in their own words rather than relying on repeating the words they hear

• Take the time to check whether their answers make sense within the context of the situation

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Paper 3B: Integrated Skills

• Situation

You are Nico Lin. You work for Star Pod, an organisation that promotes space exploration and runs adventure camps for children. You are an assistant to the director of Star Pod, Ms Ellen Ochoa. Ms Ochoa has asked you to do some tasks.

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Paper 3: Mean Scores

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Full Mark Mean Score (%) S.D. (%)

Part A 52 62.1 23.9

Part B1 53 40.7 25.6

Part B2 53 48.3 20.3

Paper 3B1: Integrated Skills

Three tasks:

– Task 5: Instruction Video Script

– Task 6: Reply email dealing with complaint

– Task 7: FAQ for parents

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Paper 3B1: Task Mean Scores

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Part B1 (easy section)

Task Full Mark Mean SD

5 18 37.8 27.4

6 18 46.6 30.9

7 17 37.6 25.9

Part 3B1 score distribution

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Paper 3: Mean Scores

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Full Mark Mean Score (%) S.D. (%)

Part A 52 62.1 23.9

Part B1 53 40.7 25.6

Part B2 53 48.3 20.3

Paper 3B2: Integrated Skills

Three Tasks:

• Task 8: Introductory Video Script

• Task 9: Incident Report

• Task 10: Email reply to request to use facilities

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Paper 3B2: Integrated Skills

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Part B2 (difficult section)

Task Full Mark Mean SD

8 18 53.9 22.2

9 18 52.8 21.2

10 17 37.8 25.5

Part 3B2 score distribution

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Paper 3B: Recommendations

Candidates should:• Find opportunities to practise identifying the relevance of

longer segments both in spoken and written discourse• Expose themselves to a variety of written and spoken

English to assist them in identifying relevant information • Familiarise themselves with a range of genres • Challenge themselves to write in different styles and tones,

and for a more varied audience • Practise looking across several texts, synthesising and

summarising the key points for the task, and reproducing these in a tone and register appropriate for the purported reader

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Paper 3B: Reminder from theAssessment Guidelines

•All of the following may vary from year to year:

– The nature of the listening task– The number of tasks– The length of the tasks– The points allocation per task– The total points allocation for Part B– The aspects of performance tested– Etc.

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Publications

• 2020 DSE English Language Question Papers

• 2020 DSE English Language Samples of Candidates’ Performance for all papers and all levels on HKEAA website http://www.hkeaa.edu.hk/en/

• Published in November 2020

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http://www.hkeaa.edu.hk/en/