LITERATURE IN ENGLISH

INTRODUCTION The public assessment of this subject is based on the Curriculum and Assessment Guide (Secondary 46) Literature in English jointly prepared by the Curriculum Development Council and the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority. Candidates should refer to the Guide for the knowledge, understanding, and skills, etc. they are required to demonstrate in the assessment. ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVES The assessment objectives of Literature in English are to evaluate the following: (a) candidates familiarity with the background and content of literary and film texts as well as the techniques employed by the writers/filmmakers in their works; (b) candidates ability to articulate an informed personal response; (c) candidates ability to write clear, succinct answers which demonstrate critical and analytical skills; and (d) candidates ability to express themselves more freely, informally and imaginatively in portfolio work which relates topics of literary significance to issues of importance in contemporary culture. MODE OF ASSESSMENT The table outlines the various components of the public assessment of Literature in English in the 2012 HKDSE: Component Paper 1 Appreciation Paper 2 Essay Writing Paper 3 Portfolio Weighting 30% 50% 20% Duration 2 hours 3 hours

Public Examination

PUBLIC EXAMINATION Paper 1 Appreciation (2 hours) (30%)

This paper will be divided into 3 sections. Candidates must choose one question (from a choice of two) from all three sections. Multi-part questions will invite critical analyses and/or comparisons of one or two passages from the prescribed novel or play in Section A (10%), two or three set poems either by the same or different poets in Section B (12%), and one or two unseen poems in Section C (8%). (For the Unseen Poetry section, candidates should study a broad range of modern poetry including themes such as love, nature, war, death and animals. Candidates will be expected to show an ability to understand the thought and feeling in the poetry, and the ways in which these are conveyed.) Copies of the set and unseen poems will be included in the question paper.

2012-HKDSE-LIT ENG

Paper 2

Essay Writing

(3 hours)

(50%)

This paper will be divided into two parts. Part I will be comprised of four sections, A D, covering a single novel, play, film, and set of short stories respectively. There will be two questions in each section. Part II will be comprised of eight questions requiring comparisons of two or more of the set texts from Part I. Candidates must answer three questions from the paper as a whole, two from Part I (taken from different sections) and one from Part II, which must cover those texts the candidate has not already covered in Part I. All questions will require essay-type answers, with some inviting imaginative expansion of texts. Paper 3 Portfolio

The portfolio component of Literature in English constitutes 20% of the total weighting for the subject. It involves the preparation of two pieces of work: EITHER a review of a film/play/performance of about 600 words OR a piece of creative work, which will be allocated 8% of the subject weighting, and an extended essay of 1500 2000 words on a theme/work/writer connected to learners study in the subject; this will take up 12% of the subject mark.

It should be noted that the work for the portfolio should be related to but not exclusively or extensively based on the set texts for study. Learners can use the texts they study as an inspiration for their portfolio work, but they should not include detailed analysis of those works. Instead they should focus on other arts-related materials. In the context of this subject, arts refers to activities such as literature, cinema, television, music, painting and dance, which people can take part in for the purposes of enjoyment, or to create various impressions and/or meanings. The main prose or film works chosen for study should be written or made originally in English. Similarly, studies of other cultural mediums should centre largely on the works of English-speaking artists or performers. Candidates should be encouraged to make connections between what they read and things occurring in Hong Kong and around the world. Cross-cultural references can be made in the work, e.g. comparing the set film with local films/television. Extended essays which deal exclusively with such subjects as history, sociology, psychology, scientific or liberal studies are not appropriate. Submissions for Portfolio work should not exceed the word limit stated, which includes footnotes. Work should be typed on A4 paper with the task type(s) clearly indicated on the front cover(s) and presented in a folder. The tasks may be submitted as two separate pieces of work or bound together providing both sections are clearly indicated. Portfolios will be collected at the end of January of the year of examination. SCHOOL-BASED ASSESSMENT (SBA) School-based Assessment for Literature in English will be implemented in the 2014 HKDSE Examination and will constitute the portfolio as described above. However, the review/creative work should be submitted at the end of S5, and the extended essay at the end of S6.
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The implementation schedule for SBA is as follows: Year(s) of examination 2012 and 2013 Implementation of SBA Both pieces of the students portfolio work will be collected at the end of January for S6 and marked by the HKEAA. SBA will be fully implemented. The portfolio work will be marked by the students own teachers and their marks will be submitted to the HKEAA. (the review/creative work at the end of S5, and the extended essay at the end of S6.)

2014 and thereafter

The detailed requirements, regulations, assessment criteria and guidelines will be provided in the SBA Handbook (Trial Version) for HKDSE Literature in English published by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority. During the transition years, schools will be expected to conduct the SBA activities as an integral part of learning and teaching and internal assessment as recommended in the Curriculum and Assessment Guide. In the light of feedback from schools during the transition years, a finalized version of the Handbook will be published when the SBA is implemented. THE SYLLABUS The syllabus is based on the study of one of two sets of texts which will vary over time. Each set is comprised of one novel, one play, one film, a set of short stories selected from a given volume and a set of poems selected from a given volume. The texts will be examined as follows: Text Novel Play Film Short stories Poetry Paper(s) 1 Section A (text analysis) & 2 Part I Section A, Part II 1 Section A (text analysis) & 2 Part I Section B, Part II 2 Part I Section C, Part II 2 Part I Section D, Part II 1 Section B (comparison of works by one or more poets)

2012-HKDSE-LIT ENG

Set 1 Novel: Play: Film: Short stories: Lord of the Flies, William Golding Othello, William Shakespeare The Painted Veil (2006) Dir: John Curran, Fiction: A Pocket Anthology (Sixth Edition) ed. R.S. Gwynn. Penguin Academics. C. P. Gilman: The Yellow Wallpaper Edith Wharton: Roman Fever Willa Cather: Pauls Case J. Steinbeck: The Chrysanthemums Shirley Jackson: The Lottery Hisaye Yamamoto: Seventeen Syllables Chinua Achebe: Dead Mens Path Raymond Carver: Cathedral Alice Walker: Everyday Use L. Erdrich: The Red Convertible From The Rattle Bag ed. S. Heaney & T. Hughes, Faber and Faber W. H. Auden: Funeral Blues (p.406); This Lunar Beauty (p.428); The Wanderer (p.454). Elizabeth Bishop: The Bight (p.76); The Fish (p.153); Sandpiper (p.363). Robert Frost: Birches (p.78); Gathering Leaves (p.176); Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (p.407). Philip Larkin: At Grass (p.45); Cut Grass (p.119); Days (p.121); Seventy Feet Down (p.376). Sylvia Plath: Crossing the Water (p.117); Mushrooms (p.299); Pheasant (p.342); Poppies in July (p.351); Youre (p.474).

Poetry:

Set 2 Novel: Play: Film Short stories: The Year of Living Dangerously, Christopher J. Koch The Crucible, Arthur Miller Chinatown (1974) Dir: Roman Polanski Fiction: A Pocket Anthology (Sixth Edition) ed. R.S. Gwynn. Penguin Academics. Sarah Orne Jewett: A White Heron C. P. Gilman: The Yellow Wallpaper Edith Wharton: Roman Fever James Joyce: Araby Flannery OConnor: Everything that Rises Must Converge Richard Yates: Doctor Jack-o-Lantern Raymond Carver: Cathedral Bobbie Ann Mason: Shiloh Gish Yen: In the American Society Daniel Orozco Orientation From 100 Great Poets of the English Language. ed. Dana Gioia. Penguin Academics. Emily Dickinson: Im Nobody! Who are You? (p.240), I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed (p.240), This is My Letter to the World (p.242), Because I could not Stop for Death (p.243) John Keats: La Belle Dame sans Merci (p.170), Ode on Melancholy (p.174), Ode to a Nightingale (p.175) Langston Hughes: Cross (p.401), I, Too (p.401), The Weary Blues (p.403), The Negro Speaks of Rivers (p.403), Theme for English B (p.405) Ted Hughes: The Thought-Fox (p.508), Hawk Roosting (p.509), Pike (p.510) Stevie Smith: One of Many (p.407), Mr Over (p.407), Not Waving but Drowning (p.408)

Poetry:

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