C1 DEALING WITH MEDIATION

HOW TO DEAL WITH MEDIATION TASKS

What is mediation?

Mediation is a technique used to express relevant aspects of a text in another language (or in the same language but adapting the register for whatever reason). 
In written exams you are most often asked to mediate a Spanish or English text into English.

 Do not translate literally!! You have to process the text. 

The task is given in a specific situation, 

e.g. you help a tourist to understand information in English, you write an article for an American school’s year book using an English source, etc.

4 MISTAKES you need to stop making in your MEDIATION exam- EOI

( Thanks to Mónica Redondo for this so clear explanation)

👉Useful language to mediate a text oral or written

How to work on written mediation tasks

(2a)

How to-card: STRATEGIC STEPS OF WRITTEN MEDIATION READING & PLANNING STEP 1: Read the task attentively.                                                                        In doing so, highlight addressee, focus of interest and the required text form. STEP 2: Read the text and underline relevant information.                 STEP 3: Number the underlined pieces of information in a useful order. STEP 4: Highlight culture-specific terms etc. you have to explain.                   WRITING STEP 5: Write your English text for the addressee in the required text form. In doing so, consider these points: ·     Report the information objectively.                                                   ·     Summarize information. ·     Paraphrase complex ideas and difficult terms.                                ·     Make use of language help (word list, English text on the same topic, bilingual dictionary). EDITING STEP 6: Check and improve your text (content, structure, language) to best serve your addressee’s needs.

Evaluating your performance:
written mediation 

A. Assessing your own / partner’s English text

(1) Assess your own / partner’s English text as a whole.

All in all, I consider the English text as...

       o bad        o not so good         o good        o very good

(2) With respect to the following criteria, assess your own / partner’s text on a scale from 1 (bad) to 4 (very good), noting down comments where useful.

NB: Criteria of particular relevance for written mediation tasks appear in bold print.	1	2	3	4	Comments:
Content:
a. The text provides the addressee with the relevant information (cf. focus of interest).
b. The text provides extra information where necessary.
LANGUAGE:
Presentation / organization:
c. The text fits the situation (e.g. required text form, style) and is written for the addressee in a functional way.
d. The text is well-structured.
e. The text structure is shown (e.g. paragraphs, connectives).
f. The text shows an adequate degree of detail and explicitness.
Range of vocabulary and grammatical structures:
g. The text is written “in your own words” and avoids literal translation.
h. The text shows successful paraphrasing.
i. The text is written in fluent and idiomatic English (cf. collocations).
k. The text shows an adequate range of vocabulary.
l. The text shows an adequate range of grammatical / syntactical structures.
Correctness of vocabulary and grammatical structures:
m. The text is written in (mostly) correct, understandable English concerning vocabulary.
n. The text is written in (mostly) correct, understandable English concerning grammatical / syntactical structures.
o. The text is written in (mostly) correct, understandable English concerning spelling and punctuation.