2017 ENGLISH HL ROADSHOW Welcome

FAIR AND ACCESSIBLE PAPER Paper 2 LITERATURE FAIR AND ACCESSIBLE PAPER

The paper repeated the structure and pattern of mark allocation. GENERAL COMMENTS The paper repeated the structure and pattern of mark allocation. The questions were carefully constructed to allow for lower, middle and higher order answers within a question, which allows learners to achieve some marks in each question. Learners need to be guided as to what to look for in these 3 and 4 marks questions in order to score in every question in the paper.

Question 1 (POETRY)-UNSEEN The Unseen Poem was not very accessible to the candidates – performed poorly. Candidates did not focus on the connotations of words for example “punched”, “groped” and “strummed”.

PRESCRIBED POETRY-ESSAY Not a popular choice Performance for this question was generally above average Structure of the poetry essay has improved Weaker candidates who merely give a line by line analysis of the poem and do not focus on tone, diction and imagery.

PRESCRIBED POETRY-CONTEXTUAL Candidates struggled to explain the impact, appropriateness and effectiveness of diction, tone, mood and imagery. Answers were vague –not much focus on the requirement of the question. More focus should be given to teaching the poem in context. Social context and the Poet must be explored as part of teaching the poem.

RECOMMENDATIONS Educators should use the poetry rubric as a teaching tool and make candidates aware of the criteria used in assessing the poetry essay. The structure of the poetry essay must be taught and a focus on the requirement of the question regarding tone, diction and imagery is of paramount importance in answering the poetry essay question.

RECOMMENDATIONS The SWIFT method of analysis could be used by educators. S- SENSE OF THE POEM, W- WORDS AND DICTION ,I- INTENTION, F-FIGURES OF SPEECH(IMAGERY) and T- TONE and THEME. Poetry analysis must be taught from grade 8. Learners must be allowed to initiate discussion and debate. Merely providing learners with notes and giving them a superficial summary of the poem is insufficient.

SECTION B- NOVEL (Animal Farm/ Pride and Prejudice/ The Great Gatsby. Some essays are still written in a colloquial, chatty style. The formal academic style must be used and it must be written in the present tense. Candidates lifted quotes from the extracts set for the contextual question and it was used out of context. Focus should be on integrating quotes into the essay. Quotes must be accurate.

SECTION B- NOVEL Prepared essays for Animal Farm detected. Incorrect spelling of characters’ names.

RECOMMENDATIONS Teaching learners how to formulate a thesis statement and this can only be done after the planning is complete. A complete, thoughtful introduction which addresses the issues in the topic and a succinct conclusion that reinforces the argument is required. Focus should be on integrating quotes into the essay. Quotes must be accurate.

SECTION B- NOVEL CONTEXTUAL QUESTIONS : Lengthy responses The same language issues creep in year after year. Some of them are poor punctuation, using the comma to join sentences, the misuse of the apostrophe; poor paragraphing; poor grammar; quotations incorrectly used; poor spelling; poor diction; poor sentence construction. At times poor expression obscured meaning. This slows down the marking and frustrates the marker.

RECOMMENDATIONS Teachers must make use of past papers and set original papers using the same range of questioning techniques to prepare learners for the home language literature paper. Focus on remediating language issues. Learners must be able to spell the characters names. Avoid referring to the author by his first name for example George, William and Arthur etc.

Section C: Drama( Othello and The Crucible) Educators should focus learners’ attention to the Literary Rubric so that learners are aware of the criteria for the Moderate, Skilful and Exceptional essay. In order for a mark to be pitched in these three categories the learners must be able to engage with the topic and formulate and sustain an argument.

RECOMMENDATIONS For both the Drama and Novel essay the learners should be taught how to use the PEEL formula when writing the literary essay. P- MAKE A POINT, E- EXPLAIN/ OR ELABORATE ON THE POINT, E- GIVE EVIDENCE FROM THE TEXT, L-LINK TO THE TOPIC.

Section C: Drama( Othello and The Crucible) CONTEXTUAL QUESTIONS : Generally candidates struggled with accessing the key words in the question for example- account for, comment on, explain how, discuss how. Some suggestions for giving learners guidelines on how to unpack task word in a question:

Section C: Drama( Othello and The Crucible) Account for Give reasons for, explain why something happens Argue Make a case; use appropriate evidence for and against a position. Ensure you take a position. Critically Take a position based on your analysis; explore all sides of an issue deeply and thoroughly. Describe Give a complete and accurate account. Clearly identify the most important aspects. Discuss Provide a critical account exploring all sides of the debate/issue. Indicate your position if needed.

Section C: Drama( Othello and The Crucible) Evaluate Give a reasoned account showing good or bad points. Include the outcomes of your reasoning. Explain Give a clear understanding of meaning Why Give a clear reason for what is asked. If needed provide evidence for your reason

Teach, test, review GOOD LUCK CONCLUSION Caution candidates from writing personal notes to markers. Teach, test, review GOOD LUCK