2019 English Home

Language

Welcome
 Paper 1

Comprehension and Language

FAIR AND ACCESSIBLE

PAPER
APPROPRIATE HOME
LANGUAGE STANDARD
RESOURCES ACCESSIBLE
 General comments
• The paper was generally handled well by
candidates who had prepared for the paper
and who understood the demands of each
question.
• There are ongoing concerns regarding the
reading speed and comprehension level of the
candidates attempting the Home Language
English exam.
• Also there is an increasing trend of poor time
management by the candidates as well as
inappropriate slang and colloquial English usage
in the paper.
 QUESTION 1: Comprehension

While the candidates answer the lower order questions

fairly well, there is need for revision of the following
skills:
a) The usage of the quotation in an answer ( when it is
appropriate ) and how to avoid a penalty for
plagiarism.
b) The recognition of the nuances in meaning for the
different verbs of questioning e.g. explain versus
discuss versus justify
c) The need to make specific reference to the text
rather than generalised, vague answers.
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a) a specific focus on how to approach a
question that makes reference to diction or
stylistic techniques.
b) The ability to compare and contrast content
and overall themes between the two
comprehension resources, particularly in the
“traditional” 3-4 mark final question.
c) The recognition of a line reference in a
question signifying that there is specific
contextual meaning and content 6
that must
 QUESTION 2: Summary
This question scores highest on average in this paper and can be a salvation for
even the least prepared candidates.
Reminders:
a) Do this question early and clear it out the way. Leaving it until last means an
unnecessary loss of almost-guaranteed marks when compared to leaving the
editing question until last.
b) This is NOT an exercise in style or composition. No marks are awarded for
these efforts!
c) In order to avoid a penalty for plagiarism, only a single omission, addition or
alteration is needed in a sentence. There is no need to rewrite everything
using different words! There is also the danger that a candidate may lose the
gist of a particular point if it is rewritten too extensively and so not be
awarded a mark.
d) A single fluent paragraph is required!
e) Encourage the candidates to make sure that they have provided at least
SEVEN, DIFFERENT facts; be wary of repetition.
f) This question is only worth 10 marks so be careful about spending too much
time on it.
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 QUESTIONS 3 AND 4: Visual literacy
Both these questions present the same challenges:
a) For a candidate to be awarded marks, the
candidate must have made SPECIFIC reference to
the text and then comment on that reference.
The candidates generally make very vague and
generalised references that do not show the
candidate has grasped the concept presented.
b) Merely describing or listing content is not
sufficient to warrant more than a generous single
mark.
c) Unless specifically asked, only reference one text
in the answer.
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 Question 3: Advertising
a) In Advertising the knowledge of advertising jargon is critical to
answering the questions: i.e. image, logo, slogan. Candidates tended
to mix these up and then be awarded no marks.
b) The candidates need to be able to compare two different
advertisements and comment on their relative effectiveness.
c) For a candidate to score a good mark for this question there is a need
to be able to link the content of the advertisement and its workings
to the outcome of the advertisement; to show how the
image/caption/logo enhances the chance of the product being
bought, advertised information being taken on board or required
action being done.
d) Also the candidate needs to avoid assumptions about a product;
there are many different approaches to advertising a certain product
and not all will appear in any one advertisement.
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 Question 4: Cartoon
The overall skill is to describe how humour is created in a
piece.

a) The candidate needs to be familiar with the tools of

humour like irony, stereotyping, puns, hyperbole, litotes,
climax and anti-climax.
b) The ability to identify and explain satire is often examined.
c) The candidate needs to be able to describe what is in a
cartoon like body language or facial expression, and then to
state what these elements signify.
d) Cartoon techniques such as framing and the form of the
speech bubbles are occasionally examined.
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 Question 5: Editing
• A wide variety of skills are being tested here so people have
tended to focus on the most commonly asked skills:
• Uses of the apostrophe, parenthesis, dashes and hyphens;
active and passive; Malapropism, ambiguity, direct to reported
speech, synonyms/antonyms, and the three “classic” errors:
concord, misrelated participle,and comma splice.
• BUT in the last paper we had a question which seemed to refer
to a Malapropism but in fact was not so candidates must read
the question and not assume.
• Sentence synthesis is starting to re-appear so some lesson time
can be spent on distinguishing among the Phrase, Simple
sentence, and Complex, Compound and Complex-compound
sentences.
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 In Conclusion
• There is no substitute for experience with Paper 1; the more
the candidate has been exposed to old papers and worked
through them, the less chance of disaster. Also time
management and exam skills are important: those questions
which can be completed competently and confidently,
should be attempted first.
• Mark allocations have meaning and the candidates need to
provide sufficient information to adequately cover the mark
allocation.
• Finally, the candidate should always attempt to ascertain
which skill or knowledge set is being examined in each
question and prepare themselves accordingly.

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