The Written Response and the Dictionary
In a school-assessed written response in Italian, students must write 250-300 words arguing whether social media does more harm than good for teenagers. The task is done in class over two lessons. One student, generally strong, produces 340 words. His teacher notices he has used several complex structures correctly but also inserted a number of English words in brackets, such as 'cyberbullismo (cyberbullying)', and one sentence that reads as a direct translation of an English idiom. He also exceeded the word limit. The criteria reward range and accuracy, but penalise responses that do not address the task within the required length.
1. Identify the competing issues in this response and explain how they should be weighed against each other.
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Three issues compete. First, length: 340 words exceeds the 250-300 range, which typically attracts a penalty because it suggests poor planning and may include irrelevant material. Second, the bracketed English glosses: these suggest the student lacked the Italian term and substituted an explanation, which weakens demonstrated range even though the surrounding structures are strong. Third, the translated idiom: if it is a literal calque, it is likely inaccurate or unnatural, costing accuracy marks. These should be weighed separately rather than averaged. Strong complex structures earn credit for range, but they do not cancel the length penalty or the accuracy loss from the calque. The glosses are the most easily fixed and should be treated as a vocabulary gap, not a stylistic choice.
2. What feedback would most improve this student's next attempt, and why is that feedback higher priority than praising the complex structures?
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Priority feedback should target planning and lexical precision. He should be told to plan to land inside the word range, allocating roughly one paragraph per main point so the argument is complete without padding. He should build a short personal list of topic vocabulary (for example Italian terms for online harassment, privacy, and screen time) so he does not need glosses. He should also be warned that English idioms rarely transfer and that he should use Italian expressions he has actually seen. Praise for complex structures is deserved but low-value as feedback, because he already does this well; it will not raise his mark. Correcting the fixable weaknesses will.