Units 3 and 4: Text Analysis, Argument and Examination Technique
What this domain assesses
Units 3 and 4 move from competence to interpretation and argument. Coursework and the external examination require you to understand written and spoken texts (articles, interviews, stories, announcements), identify purpose, audience, tone and register, summarise and compare viewpoints, and produce your own persuasive and informative writing plus a detailed study response. You also analyse language features: word choice, rhetorical questions, repetition, emotive vocabulary, formal versus colloquial register (ạ, dạ, thưa versus slang), and the use of idioms (thành ngữ) and proverbs (tục ngữ).
Traps that appear in questions
- Answering in English. Unless the rubric says otherwise, responses are in Vietnamese; an English answer earns little even if correct.
- Retelling instead of analysing. "The writer says Tết is important" is summary. "The writer repeats gia đình three times to position the reader emotionally" is analysis.
- Ignoring the audience instruction. A letter to a grandparent and a blog post for teenagers need different pronouns, particles and register; markers penalise mixing them.
- Missing the second part of a two-part question (e.g. "state the view and explain how it is conveyed").
- Overlooking tone in listening texts. Intonation and particles (nhé, đấy, chứ) signal attitude; a flat transcript reading misses irony or hesitation.
- Thin detailed study. You must be able to discuss a chosen text's themes, characters and language with specific evidence, not generalities.
Worked example
Prompt: explain how the writer persuades readers to value grandparents. Approach: (1) name the technique - direct address using chúng ta; (2) quote briefly; (3) explain the effect - it includes the reader in a shared moral duty; (4) link to purpose - to encourage family contact. Rule of thumb: technique + evidence + effect + purpose, four moves per analytical sentence.
Examination strategy
Plan for two minutes, allocate time by mark value, and leave time to check tone marks and pronoun consistency - careless diacritics cost marks in an otherwise strong answer.