Where is grammatical accuracy assessed in Skills for Life mark schemes?
The structure of the Skills for Life (Writing) mark schemes allows raters to focus on grammatical accuracy within Sentence focus. Therefore, a candidate who has problems with accuracy should be able to make up for these by achievement in the Text and Word focuses. It should, however, be noted that if lack of grammatical control leads to a breakdown in communication, this will of course have an impact on the mark awarded in Text focus, but, assuming that the intended audience’s understanding of the message is not impeded, the Text focus mark will not be affected by poor control of grammar.
