TASC EAL/D Level 3 case studies
TASC EAL/D Level 3 · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The TASC EAL/D Level 3 credential is designed for candidates who are completing a secondary-equivalent qualification while still developing English as an additional language or dialect. It recognises that reading, writing, listening and speaking in academic English are themselves assessable skills, not just a medium for demonstrating content knowledge. The TASC EAL/D Level 3 case studies are 8 cases and about 3,357 words.
1The Seed Packet Instructions
A community garden coordinator hands you a translated seed packet and a one-page council notice. The seed packet says: 'Sow seeds 1 cm deep.
397 words, about 2 min2Two Accounts of the Same Strike
You read two short texts about a 1912 mill strike. Text A is a letter from the mill owner: 'The disturbance was instigated by a handful of outside agitators.
452 words, about 2 min3Choosing the Right Word in a Science Report
A student drafts a sentence for a science report: 'The heat made the liquid go up faster and the tube got really hot, so the reaction was bigger.' Her teacher marks three problems: informal vocabulary, an imprecise comparison, and a cause-effect link that is asserted rather than shown. The student's revision reads: 'The increased temperature caused the liquid to evaporate more quickly.
399 words, about 2 min4Summarising a Source Without Copying It
You must write a 200-word response to a source text about urban trees. The source says: 'Street trees lower surface temperatures by up to 5°C in summer, reduce stormwater runoff by intercepting rainfall, and improve air quality by trapping particulates.
413 words, about 2 min5Following Spoken Instructions in a Lab
A teacher gives spoken instructions for a practical task: 'Right, everyone - before you touch anything, put your goggles on. Then take one beaker from the front bench, not two.
465 words, about 2 min6Repairing a Run-On Sentence in a Lab Report
A student writes this sentence in a lab report: 'The solution turned cloudy after we added the acid it stayed cloudy for ten minutes then it cleared which showed that the reaction had finished.' A peer reviewer marks it as a run-on and says the fix is 'just add some commas'. The student also uses 'which' to refer to the whole preceding event, and the teacher has previously warned the class about vague pronoun reference.
382 words, about 2 min7Reading a Graph Caption in a Science Report
A science report includes this caption: 'Figure 3: Mean plant height (cm) after four weeks, by light exposure. Bars show the mean of 20 plants per group; error bars show the range.
455 words, about 2 min8Evaluating a Primary Source in a History Task
A history task asks: 'How reliable is this source for learning about working conditions in a 19th-century factory?' The source is an 1842 government report containing testimony from a factory inspector: 'I have visited forty mills in this district. In thirty of them I observed children under ten working more than twelve hours a day.
394 words, about 2 min