Language assessment scheme will be 'fairer, more helpful'
A new system to grade Form Five graduates' proficiency in English and Chinese is fairer and more helpful to employers and education institutes in setting their standards, the Examinations and Assessment Authority said yesterday.
In the run-up to the release of the Certificate of Education Examination results on Wednesday, the authority said it will run a campaign to help schools, parents and employers familiarise themselves with it.
Under the old 'norm-referencing' system, introduced in the 1970s, students were compared to each other and graded A to F. There were no descriptors for different grades and no samples of student work to illustrate the standards.
The new 'standards-referenced reporting' system will be introduced in this year's HKCEE. There will be five standards with Level 1 being the lowest. The highest-scoring Level 5 candidates will be awarded a 5*.
The previous two English syllabuses - for Chinese-medium and English-medium schools - were combined, meaning that languages proficiency is rated by one standard.