Mātauranga Māori constitutes concepts and principles that are richly detailed, complex, and fundamental to Māoridom. It is important to remember that the practice of these are wider and more varied than their use within the proposed NCEA Achievement Standards and supporting documentation.

We also recognise that the cultures, languages, and identities of the Pacific Islands are diverse, varied, and unique. Therefore the Pacific concepts, contexts, and principles that have been incorporated within NCEA Achievement Standards may have wide-ranging understandings and applications across and within the diversity of Pacific communities. It is not our intention to define what these concepts mean but rather offer some ways that they could be understood and applied within different subjects that kaiako and students alike can explore.

The intent of the Standard

This Achievement Standard assesses the student’s ability to demonstrate understanding of written Chinese related to everyday contexts. Students will find and combine information, identify key points, and use context to understand texts.

Students will combine communicative, linguistic, and cultural knowledge with general linguistic strategies to decode texts. They will demonstrate understanding of written Chinese to make meaning of vocabulary, grammar, and syntax with varying levels of precision. Students will answer questions in English or te reo Māori, relating to the information provided.

Written Chinese may include a combination of texts, for example, a menu and a written message about a restaurant outing, or an advertisement and an email about a trip. Students will be required to take up a standpoint from outside the text to show their understanding of the context, audience, and purpose of the text. For example, they will be asked questions such as what situation the text is exploring, why this text was written, and for whom.

This Achievement Standard draws on the following Big Ideas:

• Learning languages is about connecting and communicating within and across cultures and communities
• Languages express meaning through unique forms of communication
• Language, culture, and identity are inextricably linked.

This Achievement Standard draws on the following Significant Learning:

• be exposed to, practise, and enjoy experimenting with a wide range of spoken, written, and visual communication in Chinese (Mandarin)
• grow intercultural awareness by questioning assumptions and stereotypes, and exploring how language and culture affect, and work together in, communication
• explore the use of script and the connection between script and pronunciation in different contexts
• engage with and make meaning of a variety of text types, featuring connected sentence and paragraph-level expression and a range of very high frequency vocabulary
• develop a foundational awareness of and use the key linguistic building blocks and patterns of language
• recognise and develop an awareness that there are appropriate registers of language
• acquire simple linguistic strategies and basic knowledge of how to use resources to make meaning from unfamiliar language.

Making reliable judgements

Students must demonstrate understanding of the context, audience, and purpose of the written texts presented in the assessment. At all levels, they need to apply knowledge of Chinese including vocabulary and grammar specified in the Level 1 Vocabulary List, as well as cultural references, to understand the context, audience, and purpose of written Chinese texts.

Students achieving at higher levels will submit evidence containing more detail and showing a higher level of understanding by engaging more comprehensively with the written texts to connect information, ideas, and opinions. Students will also demonstrate increasing levels of precision in their communication, with fewer inconsistencies impacting overall communication.

Collecting evidence

The method of this assessment is an examination administered during the end-of-year examination period. The provision of the tasks and grading of evidence will be carried out by NZQA.

Refer to the External Assessment Specifications for further information.

Possible contexts

Everyday contexts relate to events or experiences that are familiar and relevant to the student and may reflect Chinese-speaking communities, te ao Māori, the Pacific, and Aotearoa New Zealand.

Examples include:

• school
• family
• hobbies
• holidays.

Standard Exclusions

This Standard has one or more exclusions, or Standards that assess the same or similar learning. These Standards are excluded against one another to prevent assessing the same learning twice. You can only use credits gained from one of these standards towards your NCEA qualification.

Find out more about the NCEA Level 1 Exclusions List.