Study Guide

Field 129: Spanish CST
Presentational Writing

Review the character selector tutorial video and the special character palette available for the Spanish CST:

Directions for Presentational Writing Assignment

For the Presentational Writing section of the test, you will write an essay in the target language in response to an assignment.

Read the assignment carefully before you begin to write. Think about how you will organize your essay. You should use your time to plan, write, review, and edit your essay. Your final essay must be typed in the on-screen response box presented with the assignment.

Please note that special characters (such as letters with accents or other diacritical marks) cannot be entered using the keyboard, but are available for insertion in the on-screen response box. To access these characters, click on the button that appears in the upper left corner of the screen. Using the mouse, double-click on the character you wish to include in your response, or click on the character and then select "Insert." The character will be inserted where the cursor is positioned in the response box.

Your response will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

• APPROPRIATENESS: The extent to which the response is an essay written in the candidate's own words, demonstrates engagement with the provided passage, establishes a position on the issue presented in the question, and uses language, style, and sociocultural conventions appropriate for the assignment (task, context, and specified audience)
• SUPPORT: The extent to which the response supports the established position with information (appropriately cited details, quotations, and paraphrases) from the provided passage and the candidate's own ideas or examples
• ORGANIZATION: The extent to which the response is a well-organized and coherent essay that communicates clear ideas, develops a logical conclusion, and uses cohesive devices to connect sentences
• GRAMMAR: The extent to which the response uses a range of appropriate grammatical constructions, time frames, sentence structures, and mechanics (i.e., spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and diacritical marks)
• VOCABULARY: The extent to which the response uses a range of appropriate vocabulary and academic and idiomatic language

Your response will be evaluated on the criteria above, not on the position you take. Your response must be written in your own words. With the exception of appropriately identified quotations and paraphrases from the passage, your writing must be your own.

You may use the erasable notebooklet provided to take notes; however, you will be scored only on the response that you type in the response box for the assignment.

Select the Next button to continue.

Sample Presentational Writing Assignment

Competency 0003
Presentational Writing

Use the passage that appears on the "Passage" tab to complete the assignment below.

¿Hay que comprarle un celular a un hijo?

In response to the question above and using the passage provided, write in Spanish a well-organized and coherent essay for an audience of educated adults. In your essay, you must:

• state your position on the issue presented in the question;
• support your position by:
• citing relevant details from the passage, and
• providing your own relevant ideas or examples; and
• develop a conclusion that follows from and supports the ideas presented in your essay.

Your response must be written in your own words. With the exception of appropriately identified quotations and paraphrases from the passage, your writing must be your own.

Use the passage below from an article published in the newspaper Crónica to complete the assignment that appears on the "Assignment" tab.

La telefonía celular pasó a ser uno de los bienes más deseados de los argentinos. Se ubica en el tercer lugar detrás de la casa propia y del auto. Y hay una pregunta que en estas épocas se hacen los padres: ¿A qué edad hay que comprarle el celular a un hijo? Es toda una discusión familiar.

Mientras crece esta disyuntiva, una consultora asegura que un tercio de los adolescentes de entre 13 y 17 años ya tiene uno y este año serán el objetivo principal de las operadoras. Y como referencia significativa agrega que la mitad de los teléfonos que se vendieron en Argentina en 2013 fueron smartphones (inteligentes), aparatos con capacidad multimedia y acceso a Internet, lo que da cuenta de un mercado que avanza entre los distintos usuarios. Y los abonos crecen por encima de la opción a tenerlos con tarjeta.

Por lo tanto vivimos un tiempo en el cual para los adolescentes el celular tiene un valor y un significado muy importante en sus vidas. ¿Está bien? ¿Está mal? Es difícil de responder. Son datos de la realidad, imposibles de soslayar.

Hoy en día el wifi se ha transformado en una obsesión y tener el celular sin batería puede poner de malhumor a más de uno. En los aeropuertos más importantes del mundo hay terminales para que la gente pueda cargarlos. Vivimos el tiempo del celular, cada vez con más aplicaciones, que tienen gran utilidad, pero que en muchos genera una adicción. Y ese, tal vez, sea su lado más negativo.

_______________________

Fioravanti, Ricardo. (2014, May 6). El celular, divino tesoro. Crónica. Retrieved from http://www.cronica.com.ar/article/details/6359/el-celular-divino-tesoro. Reprinted with permission of the author.

Sample Strong Response to Presentational Writing Assignment

Note: The sample strong response for the presentational writing assignment is an example of a response that a candidate might write. While the sample response demonstrates effective presentational writing skills, it could contain typical errors that candidates may produce in composing an essay in the target language. Please see the rationale following the response (coming soon) for more details.

Rationale for Sample Strong Response to Presentational Writing Assignment

The response is a well-organized and coherent essay that effectively communicates clear ideas and develops a logical conclusion. The candidate establishes a clear position on the issue presented in the question and effectively supports the established position with relevant information from the passage, as well as his or her own relevant ideas and examples. Overall, the response demonstrates a strong engagement with the passage.

The essay is written in the candidate's own words and effectively uses a broad range of vocabulary and academic and idiomatic language, as well as a style and sociocultural conventions that are appropriate for the assignment. Ideas are effectively expressed and connected through the use of a broad range of appropriate grammatical constructions, time frames, sentence structures, mechanics, and cohesive devices. Errors are minor and do not interfere with comprehensibility. Examples of such errors include anglicisms ("portables" instead of "portátiles", "en tomar esta decisión" instead of "de tomar esta decisión"), agreement errors ("cuando sabe" instead of "cuando saben", "permiten" instead of "permite", "pirateen" instead of "piratee"), incorrect choice of conjunction ("no sólo consultar artículos, pero también descargar vídeos" instead of "no sólo consultar artículos, sino también descargar vídeos"), and overgeneralization (use of subjunctive instead of indicative: "mientras que hable por celular" instead of "mientras que habla por celular").

Performance Characteristics for Presentational Writing Assignment

The following characteristics guide the scoring of responses to the Presentational Writing assignment.

APPROPRIATENESS	The extent to which the response is an essay written in the candidate's own words, demonstrates engagement with the provided passage, establishes a position on the issue presented in the question, and uses language, style, and sociocultural conventions appropriate for the assignment (task, context, and specified audience)
SUPPORT	The extent to which the response supports the established position with information (appropriately cited details, quotations, and paraphrases) from the provided passage and the candidate's own ideas or examples
ORGANIZATION	The extent to which the response is a well-organized and coherent essay that communicates clear ideas, develops a logical conclusion, and uses cohesive devices to connect sentences
GRAMMAR	The extent to which the response uses a range of appropriate grammatical constructions, time frames, sentence structures, and mechanics (i.e., spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and diacritical marks)
VOCABULARY	The extent to which the response uses a range of appropriate vocabulary and academic and idiomatic language

Score Scale for Presentational Writing Assignment

A score will be assigned to the response to the Presentational Writing assignment according to the following score scale.

Score Point	Score Point Description
4	The "4" response demonstrates effective presentational writing skills.
3	The "3" response demonstrates generally effective presentational writing skills.
2	The "2" response demonstrates partially effective presentational writing skills.
1	The "1" response demonstrates ineffective presentational writing skills.
U	The response is unscorable because it is merely a repetition of the assignment, not related to the assignment, not primarily in the target language, or not of sufficient length to score.
B	There is no response to the assignment.

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