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English A2 Paper 2 . Overall grade boundaries Higher level Grade: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Mark range: 0 - 10 11 - 23 24 - 35 36 - 51 52 - 66 67 - 81 82 - 100 Standard level Grade: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
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Overall grade boundaries Higher level Grade: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Mark range: 0 - 10 11 - 23 24 - 35 36 - 51 52 - 66 67 - 81 82 - 100 Standard level Grade: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Mark range: 0 - 10 11 - 23 24 - 35 36 - 51 52 - 66 67 - 81 82 - 100
Facts • Weight: 25% of overall assessment • Externally set and assessed • Total marks= 30 • At both HL & SL students get • 2 pairs of texts (students have to choose only 1) • Different in nature • Each pair is thematically linked
Objectives Examiners expect to witness evidence of the following in students’ responses: • Critical examination of the different styles, registers, and forms • Demonstration of : • analytical skills of comparison • stylistic and thematic appreciation • commenting on the texts clearly and coherently • using examples from the texts
The following forms are NOT used in paper 1: • Parody • Pastiche • Cartoon • At SL, students get a maximum of 4 guiding questions
What is meant by: Demonstrate analytical skills of comparison, stylistic and thematic appreciation? Identify unique features/ stylistic devices
Form Sentence length Sentence structure Point of view Register Mood Use of punctuation Tone Diction
Comment on differences between • What is communicated • How it is communicated
Assessed against 3 criteria Understanding & comparisons of the tests Presentation Language
Assessment Criteria Awareness of Similarities and Differences Fluency, variety, accuracy Register and style: appropriate vocabulary, structure, tone… etc. Understanding the texts and their themes Supporting comments by well-chosen ‘quotes’ from the texts Organisation of the Commentary Coherence of structure Balance: equal treatment of both texts Integration of examples
Subject Reports: Grade Boundaries Grade: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Mark range: 0 - 3 4 - 6 7- 9 10 - 14 15 - 19 20 - 24 25 - 30 • identify common pitfalls in students’ performance • point out the strengths and weaknesses in students’ answers • give recommendations to help teachers improve students’ performance • indicate grade boundaries per paper/ internal assessment.
English A2 May 2008 Paper 1 HL Examiners’ Comments • Many candidates were penalised for their use of colloquial language and slang • Paragraphing is a growing concern • The failure to integrate quotations (most candidates cite relevant examples, but they struggle to do so in a manner that is grammatically or syntactically correct) is another growing concern • Tone remains tricky… many had difficulty explaining what they meant by “formal” and “informal” • When referring to structure, many candidates counted the number of sentences and/or paragraphs… not helpful and should be explicitly discouraged; candidates should attempt to consider how a text’s structure informs its meaning. • Although many candidates were able to identify stylistic devices, the majority struggled to explain their effects
English A2 May 2008 Paper 1 HL Recommendations and guidance for the teaching of future candidates • Candidates should be discouraged from counting the number of lines or sentences in a passage, as this is altogether unhelpful. Teachers might help candidates practice identifying the ways in which a text’s structure contributes to its meaning. • Candidates can identify stylistic devices but teachers need to encourage candidates to explain their effects in more detail. • Candidates struggle to deal with tone. Teachers should focus on how to describe and illustrate tone.
English A2 May 2008 Paper 1 HL Recommendations and guidance for the teaching of future candidates • Candidates’ ability to integrate examples varies a great deal. Some have excellent citation skills. Some quote long sections but provide little analysis. Others give line numbers, which leaves the examiner trying to find the appropriate example, and which is not acceptable. • Candidates should be exposed to a wide range of text types as identified on page 16 of the Subject Guide and these should include poems and essays.
How to? Purpose: NOT to list but to communicate how stylistic devices are employed to create specific effects. • Poetic • Mass • Professional Establish communicative purpose Draw thematic connection
Compare form, style, • Register • Compare authors’ • attitudes, ideas, and • feelings Plan the Comparative essay
How to approach the Commentary Essay Step 1:Read both texts holistically to get a general feeling of what they try to communicate to YOU. Step 2: What is the purpose of each text? convince? Express opinion? inform? entertain? shock? identify? justify? explain?
Step 3: Where would you usually come across such texts? Song? Novel? Poem? Speech? magazine? Set of guidelines? Brochure? Newspaper?
Step 4: List the stylistic devices that you need to compare the texts against Sentence structure Point of view Sentence length Tone Punctuation Mood Register Imagery Diction
Main idea/s: ......................................................................................
Cite specific examples from the texts… remember you do not need to find everything in both texts… The comparison plan Also, remember your purpose is NOT to list the identified devices. You need to comment on how they help in creating the author’s specific effects.
Sounds like a letter instead of a song (example: Dear Mr. President)… Effect: indicates need to communicate? Indicate President is unaware of people’s feelings? Needs? Use of questions (example: What do you feel? How do you sleep? Can you look me in the eye and tell me why?) Effect: ………………………………… Theme: ……………….. Tone: example: Effect: http://www.sing365.com/music/Lyric.nsf/Dear-Mr-President-lyrics-Pink/D5573BBA412185094825713F000F00FD Mood: example: Effect: Voice: example: Effect: Repetition of certain words: example: Effect: Diction: example: Effect: Purpose: ………………..
No Madonna and Child could touch that picture of a mother’s tenderness for a son she soon would have to forget. The air was heavy with odours of diarrhoea of unwashed children with washed out ribs and dried-up bottoms struggling in laboured steps behind blown empty bellies. Most mothers there had long ceased to care but not this one; she held a ghost smile between her teeth and in her eyes the ghost of a mother’s pride as she combed the rust-coloured hair left on his skull and then- singing in her- began carefully to part it... In another life this would have been a little daily act of no consequence before his breakfast and school; now she did it like putting flowers on a tiny grave. Refugee Mother and Child Chinua Achebe (1976) Youth Action International... Kimmie Weeks