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Study Guide

Field 169: Bilingual Education Assessment—Spanish
Presentational Writing: Spanish

Recommendation for individuals using a screenreader: please set your punctuation settings to "most."

This test includes one or more written assignments that require you to type a response in which you will need to use special characters, similar to the NYSTCE Spanish CST. Review the character selector tutorial video for the Spanish CST opens in a new window to become familiar with this feature and the special character palette available for the BEA—Spanish test:

Spanish special character options

Directions for Presentational Writing: Spanish Assignment

For the Presentational Writing section of the test, you will write an essay in Spanish in response to an assignment.

Read the assignment carefully before you begin to write. Think about how you will organize your essay. You should use your time to plan, write, review, and edit your essay. Your final essay must be typed in the on-screen response box presented with the assignment.

Please note that special characters (such as letters with accents or other diacritical marks) cannot be entered using the keyboard, but are available for insertion in the on-screen response box. To access these characters, click on the ash symbol button that appears in the upper left corner of the screen. Using the mouse, double-click on the character you wish to include in your response, or click on the character and then select "Insert." The character will be inserted where the cursor is positioned in the response box.

Your response will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

Your response will be evaluated on the criteria above, not on the position you take. Your response must be written in your own words.

You may use the erasable notebooklet provided to take notes; however, you will be scored only on the response that you type in the response box for the assignment.

Select the Next button to continue.

Presentational Writing: Spanish
Sample Assignments

In this study guide, two sample assignments are provided to assist an examinee in preparing for the actual test. On the actual test, there will be one Presentational Writing: Spanish assignment to which the examinee will have to provide a response.

Competency 0006 
Presentational Writing: Spanish

Presentational Writing: Spanish
Sample Assignment 1

Use the information below to complete the assignment that follows.

In your opinion, can online teaching and learning be used for class instruction in a useful and effective way?

In response to the question above, write a well-organized and coherent essay in Spanish for an audience of educated adults. In your essay, you must:

Your response must be written in your own words.

Presentational Writing: Spanish
Sample Strong Response to Sample Assignment 1

Coming 2024

Presentational Writing: Spanish
Rationale for Sample Strong Response to Sample Assignment 1

Coming 2024

Presentational Writing: Spanish
Sample Assignment 2

Use the information below to complete the assignment that follows.

In your opinion, can students' life experiences be used to facilitate student learning?

In response to the question above, write a well-organized and coherent essay in Spanish for an audience of educated adults. In your essay, you must:

Your response must be written in your own words.

Presentational Writing: Spanish
Sample Strong Response to Sample Assignment 2

Coming 2024

Presentational Writing: Spanish
Rationale for Sample Strong Response to Sample Assignment 2

Coming 2024

Performance Characteristics for Presentational Writing: Spanish Assignment

The following characteristics guide the scoring of the response to the Presentational Writing: Spanish assignment.

APPROPRIATENESS The extent to which the response is an essay written in the candidate's own words, states an opinion on the issue presented in the question, and uses language, style, and sociocultural conventions appropriate for the assignment (task, purpose, audience, and context or situation)
SUPPORT The extent to which the response supports and explains the stated opinion with the candidate's own relevant ideas or examples
ORGANIZATION The extent to which the response is a well-organized and coherent essay that communicates clear ideas, develops a logical conclusion, and uses cohesive devices to connect sentences
GRAMMAR The extent to which the response uses a range of appropriate grammatical constructions, time frames, sentence structures, and mechanics (i.e., spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and diacritical marks)
VOCABULARY The extent to which the response uses a range of appropriate vocabulary and academic and/or idiomatic language

Score Scale for Presentational Writing: Spanish Assignment

A score will be assigned to the response to the Presentational Writing: Spanish assignment according to the following score scale.

Score Point Score Point Description
4 The "4" response demonstrates effective presentational writing skills.
3 The "3" response demonstrates generally effective presentational writing skills.
2 The "2" response demonstrates partially effective presentational writing skills.
1 The "1" response demonstrates ineffective presentational writing skills.
U The response is unscorable because it is merely a repetition of the assignment, not related to the assignment, not primarily in the target language, or not of sufficient length to score.
B There is no response to the assignment.