No. One of the purposes of the reading/viewing programme is to encourage extensive reading/viewing. Students are encouraged to approach a text in different ways - for example, read a simplified version of a book, watch a film based on the book and then read the original work; watch a film first with the Chinese subtitles and then without them; read the Chinese translation of a novel before reading it in English - but it will be counted as one text. Students will benefit from this multi-lateral approach. They will learn more and will have more insightful and interesting comments to make in the oral assessment.

It is fine for students to read/view a fiction and a non-fiction text on the same topic as the texts are different subject matter - e.g. one is a story about the Titanic; the other is an account of finding the Titanic, so they can be counted as two texts. In fact, it is possible to design an assessment task related to two texts on the same topic.

Students should be encouraged to begin with texts at an appropriate level of difficulty so they will not be put off by books that they find unmanageable. However, they should progress to more demanding texts as they develop their language skills over the two years. The texts used for assessment purposes should be similar to the recommended ones in terms of length and level of difficulty.

There is no restriction. It is up to the teachers. If teachers are confident that their students can perform well, they may ask students to do a presentation which aims to compare two texts. There is a lot of flexibility in terms of the assessment tasks, but such an assessment activity may be more difficult; so perhaps could be used as an assessment activity later in S5.

Teachers should make sure students have done some work on presentation and interaction skills as part of the teaching programme. They could audio or video-record the students' early attempts and give them some feedback and suggestions on how to improve. However, they should not rehearse the actual assessment task with the students. For instance, if a teacher asks his/her students to compare and contrast two characters from Harry Potter as a pre-assessment activity and then gives them feedback and suggestions for improvement, he/she should not allow the students to do the same task and text (i.e. comparing the same two characters from Harry Potter) for the actual SBA. The teacher could instead ask them to compare two other characters.

It depends on the requirements of the assessment task and how likely it is that their students will cheat. Teachers should do their best to prevent students from presenting memorised materials as their own. If shortening the preparation time helps to prevent cheating, then they can decide to give students the exact assessment question only a few minutes before the actual assessment

However, it should be emphasized that two kinds of preparation are necessary for the SBA:

1. Preparation for the task type, i.e. the teaching and learning activities that help to improve the students' reading and speaking skills
   

2. Preparation for the exact assessment task for the purpose of reporting an SBA mark - this can be more strictly timed to prevent rehearsals and memorisation of speeches/scripts.

Teachers should give students the assessment schedule as much in advance as they like, prepare their students for the text and the task type, and then do the actual assessment, for which some preparation time is allowed so students can make notes on a small note card, organize their ideas, and check the text and their log books if necessary.

Research studies show that students in Hong Kong do not read widely enough, nor read for enjoyment, even in Chinese. When the SBA component was developed, it was thought that it is a good opportunity to encourage students to read more and it is obviously much more difficult to assess an extensive reading programme on an examination. So, it is ideal to have the extensive reading programme as a foundation to the SBA.

If schools have not already established an extensive reading program, they have two jobs to do rather than one. Schools that have already got an extensive reading programme only have to do a little bit of fine-tuning and build in the school-based assessment component. If students have to be introduced to an extensive reading programme for the first time, teachers can use a class reader to model the whole process, teach students how to keep a log book, and show them the kind of questions that they could ask each other about their reading. Teachers can then move from the common experience of a class reader to setting up something like a reading circle where there might be a number of texts available to the class, with a group of students encouraged to read the same text so they can support each other. Teachers can then ask the students to report on how they are going with reading their texts at regular intervals. Every now and then teachers can mix the groups up, putting students in small groups where they have all read a different text - not to assess, but to sustain their motivation, develop their speaking skills and check whether they have done their reading. Alternatively, teachers might ask students to watch a film or choose their own film in groups and then come back to discuss it. For students who are not used to reading extensively, a documentary or film may be a better text to start with, because it may be more accessible and interesting to them.

Students should keep a log book which can serve as evidence that they have done some reading/viewing. Some students will read every single page; others will skim through the book and skip chapters, and they may give up at the end. It is better not to assess students on a book that they did not like, unless they are very passionate about why they did not like it and why they did not finish it. However, the purpose of the assessment is to assess the speaking ability of the student, not whether he/she has read/viewed a text. Teachers can assign other work based on the texts if they like to ensure that their students have done the reading/viewing, although that will not form part of the SBA mark.

The SBA is based on students' oral performance. The reading/viewing and writing are only the means to an end. Therefore, the log books need not be marked. They serve to provide evidence of the students' reading/viewing and as a record of their personal reflections and comments. Teachers should collect the log books and refer to their students' comments on and reactions to the texts when conducting assessments, so that they can ask questions that are relevant to the students' reading/viewing experience. Students can also make use of their log book entries in their discussions with peers or individual presentations.

Such a meeting is essential. Even after teachers in the school have done quite a lot of discussions, they will still need to have a formal, 3-hour standardization meeting. The results of that are very important in ensuring that S4 teachers have rank ordered the students in the school correctly. The school will be taken as a unit for the purpose of statistical moderation to iron out possible differences between schools. Teachers within a school need to iron out differences between classes.

Yes, teachers should give feedback to students on their SBA results and keep the whole process transparent. Students have the right to know where they stand so they can work towards the next level of achievement.

The SBA coordinator should carry out the following duties in consultation with other S4 English teachers:

• review the list of recommended texts
• select suitable texts for students' SBA programme
• select / develop suitable SBA assessment tasks
• plan assessment schedule (i.e. number, timing and sequence of assessment tasks)
• ensure proper understanding of the assessment criteria
• coordinate and standardise the assessment process
• coordinate the reporting of marks to the HKEAA at the end of S4 / S5
• liaise with the HKEAA and the SBA supervisor regarding SBA matters

SBA coordinators also need to attend an inter-school meeting on behalf of their school at the end of the school year.

Definitely not. School SBA coordinators will play a crucial role in the smooth running of the SBA programme and should be experienced teachers with professional qualifications who command the respect and confidence of their peers. They may be panel chairpersons, form coordinators or other English teachers but should be teaching S4 or S5. School principals will be responsible for nominating the SBA coordinator for their school.

It is up to the school principal to nominate the most suitable teacher in the school to be the SBA coordinator. However, it is recommended that S4 coordinators should be S4 teachers because they would be responsible for coordinating the SBA activities in the school and ensuring that all S4 teachers are familiar with the assessment criteria and standards. Coordinators who do not teach S4 may be less sure about S4 standards and will have to do extra work to carry out the coordinating duties.

At this 3-hour meeting, SBA coordinators from different schools can share experiences and expertise, review their SBA practices, and compare and standardize their assessments. One of the responsibilities of an SBA coordinator is to coordinate the assessment process in their school, and these meetings with other coordinators from other schools will be immensely useful, not only in getting advice on problematic assessment cases but also for professional support and sharing.

Students should keep a record of their reading/viewing in a log book and teachers can collect this for checking. Some of the work can also be done in class so that teachers can monitor their students' progress. Since teachers know the standards of their students and normally teach them for two years, it is unlikely that students can get away with work that is not their own.

It should also be noted that students who do not actually read/view the texts will not benefit from the reading/viewing experience and will lack the language necessary for talking about what has been read/viewed, and so will perform less well.

If a student goes to an oral exam but says nothing, he gets a zero. The same principle also applies to SBA. However, SBA should be easier for students to take part in even if they have very weak oral skills because they interact with their own teachers and classmates, and be given tasks more appropriate to their level, whereas in the public oral exam, there is a prescribed task and students have to interact with strangers. The absentee rate for the current oral exam is 15-20%. Many students don't take the exam because they find it too challenging and they don't want to suffer humiliation in front of strangers. But this should not happen in school because their own English teacher is the assessor and the students can interact with their classmates who are about the same level. So it is hoped that no student will refuse to take part. If they do refuse to take part, teachers should give them a lot of encouragement and allow them to start with simpler tasks that they can manage. If the student still refuses to participate in all four assessment tasks, then the final resort is to give that student a zero, and to make sure he knows the consequences for not taking part in the school-based assessment, which means 15% of his marks are automatically gone.

If over-rehearsal affects the students' performance and makes it very unnatural and lacking in authenticity, then this will be obvious and students will not score highly on the assessment criteria. The students' own teacher is also the assessor, so there is no point in students over-rehearsing. It will be apparent to the teacher if a student is giving a memorized presentation or if a group of students are acting out a planned interaction. The teacher should then ask follow-up questions to ascertain the students' true speaking ability or require them to do another assessment task.

The HKEAA will not be going to every school to inspect the work of individual students. However, there may be advisory visits to schools if necessary. The purpose of such visits is for support as well as for inspection. Teachers should keep the assessment records of each student on file and produce them as evidence of the SBA if required. The video and audio recordings also form part of the evidence for teachers and for schools. They are ways to maintaining good quality within the system.

It depends on the kind of help they get. If the tutorial school is simply discussing the books with the students in great detail, giving them a lot of notes, teaching them how to plan the individual presentation and developing their speaking skills, then it would be all right. It is up to the teachers to set the assessment task and to validate their students' work. If there are reasons to suspect that a student has not done any work on his own and is using a 'model' presentation, the teacher can ask some additional questions or request the student to do another task. If the student is able to perform other tasks well, it may be the student has learnt a lot from the tutorial schools, and is able to transfer the skills he learned. Otherwise, the teacher should re-assess the student.

It depends on the nature of the help given, not who gives the help. It doesn't matter whether the help is from another teacher, the subject teacher, a tutor or a parent. Help in terms of teaching the student reading and speaking skills, pronunciation, language structures, etc, anything to really improve the student's language ability, is strongly encouraged. It is not cheating. However, help which involves writing out a speech for the student to memorise, or writing a script for a group interaction for a group of students, is cheating because such help lets students use work that is not their own. It is also counter-productive as such memorisation and/or rehearsal will lead to very stilted and unnatural language use. It also does nothing to help students to improve their actual English skills. The bottom line is we want to ensure students are taught the kinds of skills that they can transfer to new situations. We also want to assess our students' true speaking ability and how they can interact using their own language in authentic situations.

The HKEAA has cooperated with the Independent Commission Against Corruption to develop procedures to ensure that there is no abuse of the system for administering school-based assessments in general, covering issues such as conflict of interest, marking schemes, school visits, security of question papers, submission of marks, processing of marks and uniformity of standards.

Guidelines on suitable assessment tasks and assessment criteria are provided, as well as samples of a range of student performances to illustrate the standards so that teachers can compare the performance of their own students to the set standards.

In line with overseas practice, statistical moderation of school assessments will also be adopted to ensure that the marks submitted by schools are in line with the abilities of their students as reflected in their results in the external examinations. This is because teachers have a good knowledge of the standards of their own students but are not necessarily familiar with the standards in all other schools. However, the ranking of the students within a school will not be affected by statistical moderation.

The HKEAA will continue to organize professional development sessions and provide support materials for teachers to ensure that they are adequately prepared. There will be training sessions for all teachers teaching S4 / S5 at the beginning of each school year. Support materials in the form of CD-ROMs and booklets are provided, with information on teaching/learning activities, suggested assessment tasks and assessment criteria. Guidelines on the implementation of SBA and quality assurance are also made available to schools. In addition, more professional development courses related to the SBA component will be conducted by tertiary institutions.

What will be the impact of SBA on students' and teachers' workloads?

Currently, teachers already engage in ongoing assessment of their students as a routine part of teaching. Under SBA, the reading programme should be an integral part of classroom teaching and learning and not an 'add-on'. The ongoing assessment will become more structured and formalized because it is part of the assessment system. Once SBA has become a routine part of classroom activities, there should be no significant increase in the workload for students and teachers. In other words, SBA will change the nature of what is done rather than change how much is done. SBA will also help prepare students for external examinations especially the speaking component.

Can students appeal against SBA results?

The HKEAA will extend the appeals system to the rechecking of marks awarded by schools under SBA, but not to the re-assessment of the students' performance. The assessment criteria and standards will be made known to students so they will be well aware of their progress and their standing during the two years. They will also have plenty of opportunities to follow up on school assessments with their teachers. Schools will be provided with administrative guidelines to ensure that SBA is implemented fairly and will be required to retain relevant evidence of students' progress and performance to address any formal complaints and queries.

10.

How can schools handle complaints regarding SBA from students or parents?

Schools can use their existing complaint handling procedures but can also consider setting up a special panel to settle disputes that cannot be resolved by the subject teacher. This panel should consist of at least two members, but excluding the teacher concerned. It should consider justifications provided by all relevant parties and review supporting evidence, re-assess the student if appropriate, and make a judgement within a reasonable time. Cases can be referred to the HKEAA if they cannot be settled within the school. The HKEAA has established procedures for dealing with complaints related to public examinations and will be able to handle cases regarding disputes over SBA results.

Private candidates will continue to be able to take the HKCE English Language Examination. They will not need to complete the SBA component. Their subject mark will be based entirely on their public examination marks and proportionally adjusted, and their certificates will be annotated accordingly.

The basic principles behind the design have been retained but there will be more flexibility and less work. There is no need to select two texts from the recommended list, which will be for reference only. Teachers / students can choose any suitable texts based on the text selection criteria provided. The number of texts read / viewed by students has been reduced from four to three, and the number of assessments required from four to two. The assessments can be either group interactions or individual presentations or both, and teachers can choose to conduct group interactions first or individual presentations first during the two years. Schools are given three options regarding the mode of implementation. They can choose to (1) submit SBA marks for feedback and include the marks in the subject result; (2) submit SBA marks for feedback only but not include the marks in the subject result; or (3) not submit SBA marks. If schools choose options 2 or 3, the weighting of the public examination component will be adjusted from 85% to 100%.