Register and Task Achievement in a Formal Hotel Email
CSEC Paper 3 practice: students must write an email of 120-150 words to the manager of a hotel in Spanish, complaining about a recent stay and including four bullet points: (1) dates and room number, (2) a problem with the air conditioning, (3) a request for a partial refund, (4) a question about compensation. Ken's draft is 185 words. He writes '¡Hola! ¿Qué tal, señor?' and uses 'tú' forms ('puedes', 'tu hotel'). He describes the dates and room correctly, explains that the air conditioning made noise all night, asks for a refund, but never asks about compensation. He adds an invented complaint about the food. His grammar is mostly accurate, with a few errors in prepositions. The marking scheme allocates 10 marks for content/task, 10 for language, and 5 for organisation. The teacher must decide what to prioritise in feedback and whether to penalise the extra complaint or the missing bullet more heavily.
1. Which two features of Ken's response should the teacher address first, and why? Use the mark allocation to justify your order.
Read the worked answer
Address the missing bullet and the register first. The missing bullet is a content/task failure worth up to 10 marks: the task explicitly requires a question about compensation, and Ken omits it. That is not a style preference; it is an unmet requirement. Register is the second priority because it affects both language and organisation: '¡Hola! ¿Qué tal?' and 'tú' forms are inappropriate for a formal complaint to a hotel manager, and repeated informal address can lower the language mark even when grammar is accurate. The invented food complaint is less urgent: it is extra content, but it does not prevent Ken from meeting the four required points if he adds the missing one. Over-length matters, but cutting 35 words is easier than repairing tone and task coverage. The teacher should give Ken a checklist of the four bullets before correcting prepositions.
2. Rewrite Ken's opening and closing in appropriate formal register for a hotel manager. Explain the changes.
Read the worked answer
A suitable opening is: 'Estimado señor/Estimada señora: Me dirijo a usted para expresar mi insatisfacción con mi estancia en su hotel.' A suitable closing is: 'Le agradecería una respuesta a la mayor brevedad. En espera de su respuesta, le saluda atentamente, Ken.' The changes are deliberate: 'Estimado/a' establishes distance and respect; 'Me dirijo a usted' signals a formal purpose; 'su hotel' uses the possessive that matches 'usted'; 'Le agradecería' is a polite request form rather than a demand; 'le saluda atentamente' is a conventional formal close. The original '¿Qué tal?' is conversational and invites a social reply, which is wrong for a complaint. The teacher should point out that formality here is not about adding long words but about consistent address forms and a clear purpose statement.
3. Should Ken cut the food complaint to make room for the missing bullet? Give a reasoned recommendation.
Read the worked answer
Yes, cut or drastically reduce the food complaint. Ken is 35 words over the 150-word limit and has omitted a required bullet. The food complaint is not required by the task, and adding unrequested complaints can make the email look unfocused or even less credible. The space is better used for a direct question about compensation, for example: 'Además, quisiera saber si el hotel ofrece alguna compensación por las molestias.' If Ken wants to keep the food point, he should compress it to one clause only if it supports the main complaint and if he can still include all four bullets within the limit. The teacher's feedback should model this trade-off: task coverage first, word limit second, extra content last. This is exactly the kind of prioritisation the marking scheme rewards.