As part of our series of blogs summarising Research Notes articles relevant to teachers preparing learners for Cambridge exams, here we look at the recent revisions to Key and Preliminary Writing.
Periodic ‘health checks’ of Cambridge English Qualifications (CEQs) are built into our quality assurance system for several reasons. First, we want to ensure the test is fit for purpose and the language skills we are assessing (the test construct) are still relevant to a changing society. Another reason for revision is that we are standardising the format of our exams to create greater uniformity and between them, enable upwards certification for strong performances, and help learners and teachers transition smoothly from one level CEFR to the next. This learning ladder then helps create a positive impact on teaching and learning beyond the test.
One significant change made in this cycle of revisions was to A2 Key Writing, which had had previously been assessed as part of the Reading paper. After consultation with both stakeholders and experts, we have now removed the spelling test which some teachers found difficult to relate to the curriculum and moved the open cloze to the reading section. We have also modified the writing task to assess performance at B1 level, and added a picture story task with appropriate support to allow learners to demonstrate narrative as well as transactional writing. In this way we are able to assess a broader range of writing skills and allow stronger students to demonstrate their ability and create positive washback on test preparation and student motivation.
To know more about the exam review process, changes made to the writing exam and the rationale behind them, read the full Research Notes article