ENGLISH LITERATURE 12

TABLE OF SPECIFICATIONS AND DESCRIPTION OF EXAMINATION

TABLE OF SPECIFICATIONS
CURRICULUM ORGANIZER
Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Literature Renaissance and 17th Century Literature 18th Century and Romantic Literature Victorian and 20th Century Literature Literary Analysis Critical and Personal Response to Literature Literary Tradition of English Language Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Literature Renaissance and 17th Century Literature 18th Century and Romantic Literature Victorian and 20th Century Literature Literary Analysis Critical and Personal Response to Literature Renaissance and 17th Century Literature Literary Analysis Critical and Personal Response to Literature Literary Tradition of English Language Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Literature Renaissance and 17th Century Literature 18th Century and Romantic Literature Victorian and 20th Century Literature Literary Analysis

EXAMINATION PART
RI Part A: Literary Selections, Recognition of Authors and Titles 8 Multiple Choice

READING CATEGORIES

WEIGHTING
AT 25%

RM 10 Multiple Choice

IT 5 Multiple Choice

Part B: Sight Passage

3 1 Written Response

1 Multiple Choice

25%

Part C: Shakespearean Drama

1 Written Response

20%

Part D: General Essay

1 Written Response

30%

TOTALS

8 MC

13 MC

8 MC 1 WR

1 MC 2 WR

100%

The number of questions given for each reading category is approximate. Actual numbers may fluctuate. The Table of Specifications provides weightings for the parts of the examination.
Ministry of Education 2009/10 School Year -1English Literature 12 Table of Specifications and Description of Examination

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROVINCIAL EXAMINATION

A copy of the list of Specified Readings is included in the Examination Booklet. Literary Forms and Techniques will be examined in context in 5 multiple-choice questions distributed between Parts A and B. The provincial examination is divided into four parts: Part A: Literary Selections Students are presented with questions dealing with the content of the Specified Readings. The questions address such matters as interpretation, theme, mood, forms and techniques, events, and characters and their motivations. Students are examined on the following pilgrims from The Prologue of Chaucers The Canterbury Tales: Lines 142, Knight, Squire, Nun, Monk, Friar, Oxford Cleric, Wife of Bath, Parson, Plowman, Miller, Reeve, Summoner, and Pardoner. The order of the questions will follow the chronological pattern of the Specified Readings. Recognition of Authors and Titles Quotations from the Specified Readings are presented, and students are asked to identify the author or title of the selection that contains the quotation. The order of the questions does not follow the chronological pattern of the Specified Readings. Part B: Sight Passage Students are required to answer questions in both multiple-choice and written-response paragraph format. The Sight Passage is drawn from an author found in the four historical divisions of the Specified Readings. Authors may include the anonymous writers of Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Medieval Ballads. The Sight Passage is not from one of the Specified Readings. Multiple-choice questions deal with the students understanding of the content and structure of the passages. Students may be asked about historical context, literary forms and techniques, the meaning of specific lines, as well as interpretation of the passages. Forms and Techniques are examined in context in 5 multiple-choice questions distributed between the Literary Selections and Sight Passage sections. Students are required to write approximately 200 words in paragraph form. The written-response question requires students to discuss in depth some aspects that arise from the passage such as theme, style, mood, tone, and figurative language. Students may also be asked how the passage reflects the issues, values, or literary conventions of the time in which it was written. The Sight Passage may include two passages or poems.

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English Literature 12 Table of Specifications and Description of Examination

Part C: Shakespearean Drama Students are required to write approximately 200 words in paragraph form. Students must select an excerpt from one of the following plays: Hamlet, The Tempest, or King Lear. The written-response question requires students to discuss in depth some aspects that arise from the excerpt such as character development, motivation, theme, or figurative language. Students are expected to demonstrate their understanding of the passage in the context of the play. For each of these excerpts, a brief explanation of context may be provided. Excerpts may vary in length. The length of the excerpt does not denote the ease or difficulty of the question. Two excerpts may be given in one question. Part D: General Essay Students are required to write approximately 400 words on one of three topics given. Topics may address literary elements, such as setting, speaker, character, plot, voice, conflict, suspense, symbol, and irony; historical, biographical, and social context of literary works; universal themes, such as the fear of death. In their responses, students are required to refer to at least three literary works, one of which must come from the Specified Readings. Students may refer to works outside the Specified Readings; however, students will not be penalized for using only Specified Readings in responding to a question. In their responses, students must use works written in English and not translated from another language. The only translated works will be from Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Literature. The reference to Classical literature in the IRP shall be defined for the purpose of the examination as Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Literature (Greek or Roman Literature may not be included).

Note on Written Responses: Students should use the recommended lengths for written responses only as guidelines. Responses are marked on the basis of the arguments presented, the organization of the ideas, the specific references to works, and the correctness of the language, as shown in the Scoring Guides. Students should be discouraged from writing everything that they can think of in the hope that some of it will relate to the specific question being asked. The inclusion of irrelevant facts and arguments in a response will result in a lower mark.

Acknowledgment The Ministry of Education wishes to acknowledge the contribution of British Columbia teachers in the preparation and review of this document.
Ministry of Education 2009/10 School Year -3English Literature 12 Table of Specifications and Description of Examination

SPECIFIED READINGS LIST Anglo-Saxon and Medieval from Beowulf, The Coming of Grendel; The Coming of Beowulf; The Battle with Grendel; The Burning of Beowulfs Body (if using Athena edition) / The Farewell (if using Prentice-Hall edition) from Geoffrey Chaucers The Canterbury Tales, The Prologue (Lines 142, Knight, Squire, Nun, Monk, Friar, Oxford Cleric, Wife of Bath, Parson, Plowman, Miller, Reeve, Summoner, Pardoner) Bonny Barbara Allan (ballad) from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (lines 1 to the end if using the Athena edition, and lines 259 to the end if using Prentice-Hall edition) 18th Century and Romantic Lady Mary Chudleigh, To the Ladies Alexander Pope, from The Rape of the Lock (Canto III and V excerpts) Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal Robert Burns, To a Mouse William Blake, The Tiger; The Lamb Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard William Wordsworth, My Heart Leaps Up; The World Is Too Much with Us Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner George Gordon, Lord Byron, Apostrophe to the Ocean Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ode to the West Wind John Keats, Ode to a Nightingale; When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be Victorian and 20th Century Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Ulysses Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnet 43 Robert Browning, My Last Duchess Emily Bront, Song Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach Thomas Hardy, The Darkling Thrush Emily Dickinson, Because I Could Not Stop for Death Wilfred Owen, Dulce et Decorum Est William Butler Yeats, The Second Coming T.S. Eliot, The Hollow Men Dylan Thomas, Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night Stevie Smith, Pretty Margaret Atwood, Disembarking at Quebec

Renaissance and 17th Century Sir Thomas Wyatt, Whoso List to Hunt Christopher Marlowe, The Passionate Shepherd to his Love Sir Walter Raleigh, The Nymphs Reply to the Shepherd William Shakespeare, Sonnets 29, 116, 130; Hamlet, King Lear or The Tempest John Donne, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning; Death, Be Not Proud Robert Herrick, To the Virgins John Milton, On His Blindness; from Paradise Lost (Book I, lines 1263) Samuel Pepys, The Fire of London

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English Literature 12 Table of Specifications and Description of Examination

EMILY DICKINSON This is the examinable version of the poem. Because I Could Not Stop for Death Because I could not stop for Death He kindly stopped for me The Carriage held but just Ourselves And Immortality. 5 We slowly drove He knew no haste And I had put away My labour and my leisure too, For His Civility We passed the School, where Children strove At Recess in the Ring We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain We passed the Setting Sun Or rather He passed Us The Dews drew quivering and chill For only Gossamer, my Gown My Tippet1 only Tulle2 We paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground The Roof was scarcely visible The Cornice in the Ground Since then tis Centuries and yet Feels shorter than the Day I first surmised the Horses Heads Were toward Eternity

10

15

20

Emily Dickinson _________________________

1 Tippet: a scarf worn as a hood 2 Tulle: light net fabric

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English Literature 12 Table of Specifications and Description of Examination