Why 24 Out of 40 Chose 'Work': Moderating an Inference Item
You are moderating Section B of the Reading paper, a 220-word B1 article in which a Brazilian student describes learning Maltese. The relevant sentence is: 'Missieri Malti, imma qatt ma tkellem miegħi bil-Malti; issa li ġejt hawn, ħassejt li kelli nikseb il-lingwa tal-familja.' Item 7 asks 'Għaliex iddeċieda jitgħallem il-Malti?' The options are: (a) għax kellu bżonnha x-xogħol, (b) biex jifhem il-lingwa tal-familja tiegħu, (c) għax ried jistudja hawn, (d) għax ħbiebu jitkellmu bil-Malti. The key is (b). Of 40 scripts, 24 chose (a), 11 chose (b), 3 chose (d), and 2 left it blank. Section B allows a glossary only for words marked with an asterisk; 'nikseb' and 'tal-familja' are not asterisked, and the syllabus word list contains 'familja' but not the phrase 'kelli nikseb'. The paper allots 25 minutes to five items.
1. Decide whether Item 7 is a valid B1 inference item or an item that depends on vocabulary outside the syllabus. Recommend keep, revise or delete, with reasoning.
Read the worked answer
Recommendation: keep the construct and the key, revise the stem and gloss one phrase.
- Is it inference? Yes. The text never says 'I learn Maltese because of my family'; it gives two facts - the father is Maltese, and the father never used Maltese with him - and the candidate must link them to the decision. That is exactly the B1 skill of linking stated facts.
- Is it vocabulary-dependent? Partly. 'Familja' is on the list and 'Missieri Malti' anchors the family idea, so the key is reachable. But 'kelli nikseb' is idiomatic ('I had to acquire') and is not glossed; that phrase sits directly beside the key idea and may be what pushed 24 candidates to fall back on the world-knowledge script 'people learn languages for work'.
- Why (a) is so attractive. It is plausible in real life and requires no reading of this text. That is not proof the item is broken; it may be proof it discriminates well if strong candidates chose (b). Check the point-biserial before deciding.
- Revision. Change the stem to 'Skont it-test, għaliex iddeċieda jitgħallem il-Malti?' - this forces text reference - and asterisk 'kelli nikseb' with the gloss 'kelli nitgħallem'. Do not change the key.
- Delete only if the discrimination index is near zero, meaning the item separates nobody.
2. Two candidates answer in their own words: one writes 'għax ried jitgħallem il-lingwa tal-familja', the other writes 'biex ikun jaf x'jgħidu qrabatu'. Award or not? Justify.
Read the worked answer
Both should be awarded, with the second accepted as a valid paraphrase only if 'qrabatu' is read as covering the father.
- Candidate 1 reproduces the key meaning with a different verb ('ried jitgħallem' for 'kelli nikseb'). The core proposition - family language - is intact. No hesitation: award.
- Candidate 2 substitutes 'qrabatu' (his relatives) for 'familja'. The passage only mentions the father, so this is a small over-generalisation; but at B1 a candidate who has understood that the motivation is family communication has demonstrated the inference. Award and record the variant.
- Principle for the mark scheme. Reading items of this type should list acceptable paraphrases rather than one wording. Otherwise the item drifts into testing production accuracy inside a comprehension paper.
- Where to draw the line. A response that only says 'għax ried jitgħallem' with no family content does not show the link and should not be awarded.
- Practical step. Add both wordings to the scheme before marking begins, so markers do not improvise differently.
3. Item 8 asks for the meaning of the idiom 'bla ma ninduna'; the key is 'mingħajr ma ndunajt'. A candidate writes 'għax ma kienx jaf'. Rule on this and say what it tells you about the item.
Read the worked answer
Do not award: the answer loses the key element of simultaneity.
- 'Bla ma ninduna' means 'without my noticing / without realising' - the action happened while the person was unaware, at the same moment. 'Għax ma kienx jaf' means 'because he did not know', which is a state, not an unnoticed event.
- The confusion is understandable: both answers involve lack of awareness. But the passage uses the phrase to explain how the character ended up in the wrong town, and that causal sequence only works with the 'without noticing' meaning.
- What this reveals. The item tests an idiom that is not decomposable for a B1 reader and is not glossed. If the surrounding context does not make the meaning recoverable, the item is testing vocabulary recall, not reading.
- Action. Either replace the phrase with transparent language, or keep it and asterisk it with a short gloss. If it stays unglossed, the context must contain a clear consequence ('...u spiċċajt Ħal Balzan minflok il-Belt') that makes 'without noticing' the only coherent reading.
- Marking note. Accept 'mingħajr ma ndunajt' and close paraphrases such as 'u ma ndunax'; reject 'għax ma kienx jaf' and 'suddenly'.