Lets compare some examples of writing from Level 6 and Level 5 so that we can find out the differences between these levels.
Below you will see 5 pairs of texts taken from an essay about learning and motivation. Each pair of texts has a Level 6 version and a Level 5 version of the essay - but, you have to decide which is which. The idea is just to get you thinking about the differences between the levels - it is not a test!
-Text 1
"Bennett (1999) believes that motivation is essential for successful studying."
-Text 2
"Most of the current literature in the field of education emphasises the importance of study skills. In fact, as early as 1870, Carruthers maintained that education should include the teaching of study skills. From the 1960s, however, authors have been recommending that motivation be seen as the key to educational success. Research by Houlot (1973) for example, found that students who could manage their own motivation had the highest chance of successfully completing their nursing training."
Pair 2:
-Text 1
"This view is confirmed by the requirements of the Government’s Plan for Progress in Education (2019) which stresses that it is important to identify students with low motivation at the beginning of a course and give them some training."
-Text 2
"Motivation is now an integral part of the Government’s Plan for Progress in Education (2019). This stresses the importance of identifying students with low motivation at the beginning of a course so that remedial training can be given to them."
-Text 1
"This plan underlines the importance of motivation in education."
-Text 2
"Reviewing the literature on motivation reveals it to be a complex and nuanced concept which can be analysed through a political, psychological, or sociological lens. This has resulted in definitions which vary enormously between different authors. For example, Brown (2001), Barker (1984), and Poitier (1968) are among those authors who interpret motivation as socially-mediated and therefore essentially not controlled by the individual. On the other hand, some authors see motivation as a psychological quality and part of the essential character of an individual (Ng, 2018; Hertzog, 1998). In contrast, there is a large number of researchers, such as Smith (2015) and Fumagalli (1996), who understand motivation as inherently political and a manifestation of a fundamentally power-related construct of group identity. As there is no agreed-upon definition of motivation, it could be argued that it would be unwise to use it as the basis of an important national policy."
-Text 1
"Bakker (2020) makes it clear that successful use of study skills needs an underlying motivation."
-Text 2
"Bakker (2020), for example, maintains that successful use of study skills requires an underlying motivation. If this is the case, identifying students who have low motivation may be difficult without a clear and agreed definition of motivation."
-Text 1
"Hong (2014) maintains that the fundamental feature of a motivated student is the power to achieve success. From my personal experience as a student, motivation can make a learner feel that they have the power to achieve their goals. This is supported by Bukowski (2009) who found that in third-year International Politics students, motivation increased feelings of power and self-actualisation."
-Text 2
Hong (2014) believes that the most fundamental skill of a successful student is the inborn talent to self-motivate, while Singh (2002) has concluded that students can only feel motivated if they are in a non-competitive, supportive, and sharing community. On reflecting on my own experience of studying, successful motivation appeared to be based on my external goals which could only be achieved by completing the course successfully. It seems to me that two factors were at play: a strong and clear goal was necessary for triggering motivation and to overcome inertia; and secondly, I was not satisfied with my then situation and thus I was receptive to applying myself to make a change.
These two requirements, for goals and to make progress, may be based on individual psychology and there is some evidence for this in the literature. Redman (2006), for example, argues that motivated learners are born and it is not a skill that can be taught. Santos-Dumont (2007) also found evidence indicating that common key personality traits can be identified in well-motivated learners, which were almost certainly in place from at least early childhood. Consequently, it seems probable that one of the foundations of the Government’s Plan for Progress in Education is not securely based on the best currently-available evidence, since the most recent research indicates that motivated students are born not made.
On the next page you can see a summary of the differences between Levels 5 and 6.
