Hamburg Abitur English flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Globales Hören

Listening for the main idea or gist of a whole text. In exam tasks you listen for topic, purpose, and overall message before dealing with individual details.

Selektives Hören

Listening for specific information such as names, numbers, dates, or places. You scan the audio for the exact detail a question asks about and ignore surrounding material.

Detailliertes Hören

Listening closely to understand precise statements, attitudes, and relationships between ideas. It is needed for inference items and for justifying true/false decisions.

Justification in listening tasks

A short statement quoting or paraphrasing the passage that proves a true/false verdict. Without textual evidence the item usually earns no credit, even if the verdict is correct.

Distractor by wrong speaker

An answer option that uses wording from the recording but assigns it to a different person than the one asked about. Checking who said what eliminates it.

Self-correction trap

A passage where a speaker first states one figure and later corrects it. The corrected value, not the first one, is the answer to the item.

Note-completion word limit

The maximum number of words allowed per gap. Articles and prepositions count, so exceeding the limit can make an otherwise correct answer invalid.

Hedging and certainty

Markers such as 'perhaps', 'I suppose', or 'it seems' signal that a statement is not confirmed. Such wording usually makes a true/false claim about a fact false.

Skimming

Reading quickly for overall meaning, topic, and text type. It supports global comprehension tasks such as choosing a headline or matching a text to a summary.

Scanning

Reading quickly to locate one specific piece of information, for example a year, a price, or a name, without reading every sentence in order.

Topic sentence

The sentence that states a paragraph's main point, usually near the beginning. It is the key anchor for matching headings to paragraphs.

Operator in a task

The instruction verb (state, explain, analyse, compare, evaluate) that defines the required thinking operation and therefore the shape of a full-mark answer.

Line reference requirement

A demand to cite the line numbers supporting an answer. A correct paraphrase without the reference loses marks in detail-oriented reading items.

Outside knowledge trap

A multiple-choice option that is true in the real world but not stated in the text. Only textual evidence counts, so such options are wrong.

Tone versus mood

Tone is the writer's attitude towards the subject, shown through word choice; mood is the feeling created in the reader. Attitude questions ask about tone.

Irony signals

Clues such as exaggeration, understatement, or a clash between wording and content. Noticing them prevents literal misreading of an attitude question.

Paraphrase versus copy

A paraphrase restates meaning in your own words and syntax; copying whole sentences from the source is not paraphrase and is penalised in summary tasks.

Sprachmittlung recipient

The addressee defined by the scenario, such as an exchange student or a host family. Their needs and language decide what is included and how it is phrased.

Mediation is not translation

Mediation conveys the relevant content of a source for a new reader. It selects and reformulates rather than reproducing every sentence word for word.

Situational framing sentence

An opening sentence that states who is writing to whom and why. It establishes the communicative context that mediation tasks require.

Cultural term gloss

A brief explanation of a source-culture term with no direct equivalent, such as a school type or public institution, instead of a misleading literal translation.

Register in mediation

The level of formality suited to the addressee and text type. An email to a peer is informal; a letter to an official body stays formal.

Unit and format conversion

Adapting conventions for the target reader, for example converting a 24-hour clock time to am/pm or naming the currency alongside an amount.

Omission rule in mediation

Information irrelevant to the addressee's stated purpose may be left out, but required points must all appear; invented content counts as an error.

Content before style

In mediation marking, conveying all required information accurately matters more than elegant phrasing. A plain but complete text outscores a fluent but incomplete one.

Analysis paragraph pattern

Claim, textual evidence with line number, then interpretation of effect on the reader. This three-step structure is the standard unit of literary analysis.

Integrated quotation

A short quotation woven into your own sentence grammar, followed by commentary. Long uncommented block quotations earn no analysis credit.

Thesis statement

The central claim of an argumentative essay, stated in the introduction. Every body paragraph supports it, and the conclusion restates it without new points.

Counter-argument and rebuttal

Acknowledging the strongest opposing view and then refuting it with evidence. It demonstrates balanced argumentation and is expected in comment tasks.

Re-creative writing task

Writing from a figure's perspective, such as a diary entry or letter. It is graded on consistency with the figure's voice, situation, and register.

Formal connectives

Linking words such as nevertheless, consequently, whereas, and moreover. They signal logical relations and raise the register of an essay.

German-influenced syntax

Errors such as verb-final subordinate clauses or using 'also' to mean 'therefore'. Avoiding them protects the language band in writing assessment.