Welcome to Task I Homepage
Task I: Listening and Writing for Information and Understanding
a) Extended written response to a speech
b) Multiple-choice questions on key ideas (5-6)
Performance Indicators
- Interpret and analyze complex informational text and presentations
- Use a combination of techniques to extract salient information from text.
- Make distinctions about the relative value and significance if specific data, facts, and ideas.
- Write research reports, feature articles, and thesis/support papers on a variety of topics.
- Present a controlling ideas that conveys an individual perspective and insight into the topic
- Use a wide range of organizational patterns
- Support interpretations and decisions
- Use standard English skillfully
The Purpose of the Assessment
The purpose of Task I is to assess how well students are able to:
- listen to a speech,
- take notes and/or remember the important ideas and information presented in the speech,
- use the information to write a well developed essay,
- for a specific audience and purpose.
This task provides us with information about how well students are able to listen to and analyze an informational passage and how well they are able to produce an extensive piece of informative writing (i.e., essay, article, letter) using appropriate information from the speech.
Summary of Specifications
- Text is rich in information without being overly technical
- Topic is significant and relevant
- Ideas are expressed clearly and engagingly
- Text has a clear organizational pattern, enhanced by such techniques as rhetorical questions, signal words, helpful repetition, or illustrative material
- Text is free from gender, ethnic, and cultural bias; stereotyping; and treatment of controversial of emotionally charged topics (e.g., death, violence, homelessness, and criticism of authority figures).
- Information can be applied to another context for a legitimate purpose
- Text can be read in three or five minutes
Administration Time
Two 3-hour sessions: Task I & Task II
Task III & Task IV
Status
Prototype--Spring 1998
First administration: June 1999
Click here to see a sample question of Task I
Click here to go to Task 2 Homepage to view sample questions of Task 2
Click here to back to the Index page of Guide to the English Regents