Clarification details
Updated December 2019. This document addresses issues that have arisen from moderation.
Demonstrating independent competence (Guidance Information 5)
Learners may use a bilingual and/or a monolingual English dictionary, but not electronic devices, to help them read and understand the written texts. Monolingual dictionaries should be those designed for English language learners at level 3.
Extended written text (Guidance Information 11)
An extended written text is one that merits two to three weeks of focus. Examples for an applied context include novels, reference materials, reports, manuals and a magazine, journal or website with a series of related articles or articles with multiple perspectives on a topic.
Abridged extended written texts (Guidance Information 8 (ii))
Abridged versions of extended written texts could include graded readers used in an extensive reading programme. These are graded by vocabulary level. Readers with a vocabulary level of around 1800 – 2100 headwords would be appropriate for this level 3 standard. See the Graded Reader Equivalence Chart on the Extensive Reading Foundation website for guidance.
Go to the Extensive Reading Foundation website (external link)
Vocabulary levels (Guidance Information 8 (iii))
The vocabulary of the text must be guided by the first 2000 words of the New General Service List (NGSL).
New General Service List (external link)
This means that most of the words will be within the first 2000 high frequency words. However, it is expected that texts will also include topic-specific vocabulary and fiction will include many proper nouns. (external link)
Assessors may find the NGSL Vocabulary Profiler or English Profile Text Inspector tools useful for analysing the vocabulary level of texts to confirm suitability.
NGSL Vocabulary Profiler (external link)
English Profile Text Inspector (external link)
Text types (Outcome 1 Range statement)
Details of the six written texts read need to be documented. Copies of articles, sample pages from extended texts or graded reader levels or webpage links should be kept to verify the suitability of texts for this level 3 standard. Visual or oral texts cannot be used for assessment against this standard.