Topic outline
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- Videos: Assessment objectives
Set Texts
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Prose AO1 video transcript
The assessment objectives AO1 to AO4 remain the same across all papers. Therefore, to be successful, you must explain and analyse how the writers have conveyed their meanings through a wide range of different language and structure devices. You must do this in conjunction with relevant evidence, selected from the texts.
An easy way to interpret and communicate the importance of the assessment objectives is to think about them in the following way:
- When you use selected quotations, and develop explanations of meaning, significance and context in your paragraphs then you are addressing AO1 and AO2
- When you use these same quotations to analyse the range of effects created by the writer’s use of language and structure devices, then you are meeting AO3
- AO4 relates to the entirety of a candidate’s response, but it can be explicitly addressed and reinforced in a well-developed conclusion.
Each paper (or text studied) presents different opportunities for you to satisfy all four assessment objectives.
The examiner expects candidates to include slightly different things in their responses to Prose, Poetry, Drama and Unseen texts. This is because Prose, Poetry and Drama are written very differently, and communicate layers of meanings in different ways.
- In poetry you have a wide range of structural devices to draw upon which are absent in Prose
- In drama you can consider and discuss the use of stagecraft in your responses
- In Prose, the narrative style is an important element that can be different from techniques used in Drama and Poetry texts
You must be aware of this to investigate and practise how to comment upon the writers’ use of different devices to create a variety of effects across the set texts you are studying.
Let’s focus on AO1 more explicitly and think about what counts and what does not count as ‘detailed knowledge of the content of literary texts’ in Prose.
Perhaps it would be helpful to begin with what does not count. This will help ensure that you avoid any slips, trips or falls in your responses!
As a general rule, always remember that you are studying Literature, and writing Literature essays – not historical, scientific or geographical ones.
Lengthy personal interpretations of how the themes and messages of the text that are apparent in our modern world (or in the past) should also be avoided.
These ideas do not match the assessment objectives, and are not included in the mark scheme. If you include such comments then you are wasting words, and time in the examination.
Many candidates make the mistake of including a biographical account of the writer in their essay, or a lengthy account of what it was like to live in the period that the text was written.
Details of events or circumstances in a writer’s life that are directly significant to the text can be briefly included in the introduction and conclusion, but only when the text revolves around such a highly personal and specific event. Often this is more applicable in poetry than prose.
So what counts as ‘detailed knowledge of the content of literary texts’ in Prose?
In your responses, you should show an in-depth knowledge of the text by explaining meanings and their significance, in relation to this list.
‘contexts’ from AO2 should also be remembered. This list should be commented upon in terms of the context of the question in other words, what the question is asking the learners to focus on, and the context of where they come in the novel itself.
Which part of the text is being considered?, and
How that part relates to the whole of the story?
The word contexts is also important as it reminds you that you must respond to the text by showing an awareness of the writer’s intended meanings. You should also have a detailed knowledge of the messages and ideas the writer is conveying in relation to the text as a whole, and in relation to the different parts of it, too.
So, how can you satisfy AO1 in your essay responses, while observing a relevant focus that will also meet AO2? It sounds difficult but it really isn’t.
You can do this in a number of ways starting with the introduction of your response. Here is how you can make an introduction effective:
Firstly, ensure that it is not too long. You should use your introductions to show that you have a good understanding of the text (and the passage being analysed if it is a passage-based question that you are responding to). Therefore, three to four lines will be sufficient.
In these three to four lines, it is a good idea to try and develop a brief summary of the events and themes of the text
Ok, let’s look at 1984 by George Orwell.
Here is what an introduction to an answer on a passage-based question could look like.
The passage is taken from Chapter 1 of the novel. The question is:
Explore how Orwell conveys feelings of chaos and fear in the following passage.
Have a look at the example answer.
Let’s think about how you can satisfy AO1 in the main body of an essay response.
It is important that you maintain a high quality of explanations throughout your responses, and support your ideas with relevant evidence to exemplify and support your ideas. After all, the full AO1 includes ‘supported by reference to the text.’
However, selecting relevant evidence can often be difficult. To help you achieve this, let’s look at these questions and use them as a checklist.
Do you understand what the quotation means?
Does the quotation help you answer the question?
How does the quotation help you to explain something about character, events, themes, setting and/or atmosphere in relation to the question?
Does the quotation contain interesting vocabulary choices and/or imagery that will help to explore the different effects the writer has created?
You have 45 minutes to respond to the Prose question and you should aim to use at least six or seven quotations form the whole text to answer the essay question. Make sure these are phrases or sentences rather than words.
You have selected evidence to answer the essay question, so what does a supported explanation of meaning and content look like?
Here is an example. It is in response to the same passage and question you considered for the introduction.
To what extent do you think this response satisfies AO1 and AO2?
Can you spot where the candidate has responded to the surface meaning, but then elaborated on them to explore the hidden and figurative meanings contained in the quotation?
Pause the video to allow some thought about these questions. You could look at the mark scheme and consider what mark this paragraph should get, and why?
If you refer to the mark scheme you will note that this paragraph merits a Level 8 mark as it:
This response incorporates well-selected reference to the text skilfully (AO1). The quotation contains what seem like a straightforward description, but in actual fact you know that these images metaphorically to how Winston feels at the start of the text. It also demonstrates detailed knowledge of the text.
Sustains a critical understanding of the text showing individuality and insight (AO2). The candidate shows an understanding of the surface and hidden/ figurative meanings of the quotation by explaining the significance of events and setting.
Responds sensitively and in considerable detail to the way the writer achieves his effects (AO3). The candidate explores how the writer’s use of language creates effects on the reader by discussing character, setting and atmosphere.
Sustains personal and evaluative engagement with the task and text (AO4). The candidate evaluates ideas in relation to the essay question and supports ideas with detailed reasons.
Using example paragraphs like this in conjunction with the mark scheme can be a very useful activity. You can evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of responses so that you know how to demonstrate a ‘detailed knowledge’ and support ideas with references from the text. It can also help you to understand how to meet the other assessment objectives.
For example, if you can understand the difference between a Level 4, a Level 6 and a Level 8 response (and explain why) then you will have a good understanding of what you must do.
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Prose AO2 video transcript
‘Son Coeur est un luth suspendu;
Sitot qu’on le touche il résonne.’
Wow! I thought I was taking Literature in ENGLISH! This is from the start of Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher.
And there is a complexity of meanings.
In fact, all of the Prose texts on the Set Text list for Cambridge IGCSE Literature in English, Paper 1, communicate meanings
on different levels
in different ways, and
at different stages of your narratives.
This is more obvious in Poe’s opening epigraph, than it is in any of the other texts. It means that you must translate the meaning from another language.
But, no matter what text you have chosen, the problem of how to unpack the layers of meaning in a manageable and understandable way is often an ongoing battle.
However, it is a battle you must win as assessment objective 2 requires that you to:
‘Understand the meanings (plural!) of literary texts and their contexts, and explore texts beyond surface meanings to show deeper awareness of ideas and attitudes.’
Perhaps a good way of thinking about surface meanings and other meanings is to recall Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland. Before Alice goes through the rabbit hole and discovers a world of reality and meaning she never imagined existed, all she knew was the regular, everyday surface meaning of her existence. Her eyes and mind were never exposed to the layers of hidden meaning that existed beyond this.
It is like Alice (before she plunges through the rabbit hole), when you read a text for the first time as your mind tends to focus on the narrative events, the surface meanings, rather than the writer’s hidden, implied and figurative meanings.
So, what does this require you to do in your essay responses? The assessment objective AO2 mentions surface meaning.
Therefore, it is important that the you
know what it is
understand what other types of meaning there are, and
know how to comment upon the effects that they create.
A good starting point in this would be to explore the word meanings.
How can there be more than one meaning to a text?
What is the ‘surface meaning of a text’?
What other types of meanings are there (for example, hidden, implied, and figurative)?
How is a text able to communicate more than one meaning?
Here’s a way of looking at the two layers of meaning to help consolidate ideas.
For surface meanings think about narrative, how the characters think and behave, the relationships between characters, the themes of the text and the settings.
For hidden, implied and figurative meanings – explore the effects of dramatic irony, narrative style, red herrings, foreshadowing, symbolism, allegory, imagery, use of flashback.
What makes up the surface meanings of a text constitute your literal understandings of the events, characters and how you understand the writer’s messages. Yet, the surface meanings are the tip of the iceberg, not the hidden bulk below.
The hidden, implied and figurative (or allegorical) meanings need to be explored and unpacked carefully as these contain the writer’s key ideas. They aid us in grasping a more secure and in-depth ownership of both the events, and the writer’s messages. If you like, these other meanings are what give the text its buoyancy.
Therefore, a careful consideration of more hidden and complicated meanings enables you to develop explanations and analysis that maximises your chances of achieving higher marks in the exam.
But remember to support your ideas with detailed reasons, and link your ideas to the focus of the essay question.
Ok, let’s go back to Edgar Allen Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, and look at the narrator’s first observations of the House of Usher.
Look at the first five paragraphs of the text ending with the line ‘…lost in the sullen waters of the tarn.’
A way to unpack the surface meaning here would be to consider what descriptions of the setting add to the sense of atmosphere at the start of the story and how these descriptions help create a strong feeling of tension and suspense. Then explore how these descriptions convey ideas about the narrator’s apprehension and fear of entering the place.
To help explore the figurative, implied and hidden meanings explore the symbolism contained in these descriptions. Think about, how the descriptions of the House of Usher helps to communicate meanings about Roderick, his sister and the Usher family.
An obvious example would be the ‘fissure’ that runs down the building as he arrives.
How does this structural crack represent similarities in the Usher family and in the character of Roderick?
Explore how these descriptions give clues about subsequent events and how they foreshadow later parts of the story?
Here are some other activities to help secure your knowledge and understandings of a text’s meanings.
AO1 is an important part of any investigation of meanings as you must always be able to illustrate your ideas by referring to evidence from the text. Any explanation of meaning must be rooted in evidence from the text (whether it is a passage-based question or a question about the whole text). In other words, if you were to make a claim about the text (surface or figurative) this must be supported with a quotation, an explanation and analysis in line with the writer’s intended meanings, themes and messages.
So how can you make use of these layers of meaning in your examination responses?
Well, there are a number ways of utilising your knowledge of the surface and hidden meanings of a text. It is important to look at the layers of meaning.
Use these sentence starters to help form explanations and analysis of quotations to discuss both the surface and figurative meanings of a text, in an examination response.
‘His heart is a tightened lute;
As soon as one touches it, it echoes.’
The Epigraph of Poe’s Gothic short story offers much in terms of preparing the reader for the surface meaning of the text, and signalling the important meanings relating to the character of Roderick (and perhaps, the narrator) as well as the story’s events.
After the first reading, this is the entrance to the rabbit hole!
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Prose AO3 video transcript
The aim of this video is to give you and your learners a breakdown of how Assessment Objective 3 is assessed. However, remember that for each candidate answer, all four assessment objectives are considered by the examiner. The best candidate responses will consider all four when answering the question.
AO3: Recognise and appreciate ways in which writers use language, structure and form to create and shape meanings and effects.
Think of a movie you know and enjoy, perhaps one you have watched more than once. Now, think of a part in that movie that makes you feel happy, or sad, or frightened. Now think about how and why that scene makes you feel happy, sad or frightened. • What is it about that part of the movie that makes you feel this way? • What has the director done to evoke that emotion in you? You will have probably concluded that the feeling you experience when you watch that particular scene is brought about by the use of sound, dialogue, setting, events, lighting, and character behaviour and relationships (and of course special effects). While watching a film, each of these things act upon us and stir our emotions and thoughts in relation to what is happening on screen. These are the tools that are used to engage the audience and tell the story.
So, what has all this got to do with responding to prose texts? Well, when we read a text, the writer manipulates our emotions and thoughts in relation to the events that are unfolding. Instead of using the audio and visual tools, writers use a range of language and structural devices to create effects upon us. The effects of these language and structure devices affect how we feel towards, and understand, the meanings of a text, the significance of settings, the senses of atmosphere created and the development of characters and their relationships.
In terms of the mark scheme, we need to fulfil Assessment Objective 3 (along with AO1, AO2 and AO4). That means we must recognise and appreciate ways in which writers use language, structure and form to create and shape meanings and effects. What does it mean really? Basically, to satisfy this assessment objective, we must focus on analysing how the writer’s use of language and structure devices makes the reader feel about events, characters, relationships between characters, settings and the senses of atmosphere created.
Here is a list of some of the language and structure devices writers use in order to affect our feelings and thoughts as they tell their stories. In order to maximise our marks, we should always try to select quotations that allow us to discuss the effects of these things when responding to the examination questions. If we use quotations which contain relevant and effective language devices, then our explanations and analysis of them should also be relevant and effective. Language devices • Interesting adjectives • Powerful adverbs • Simile • Metaphor • Personification • Alliteration • Oxymoron • Repetition • Hyperbole • Reported speech Structure devices • Sentence structures • Paragraph length • Use of flashback • Narrative voice (i.e. first or third perspective) • Dramatic irony • Foreshadowing
Let’s have a look at a passage from Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre to see if we can begin to identify suitable quotations that could help us answer the following question: How does Brontë develop Jane Eyre’s isolation and fear in the following passage? The passage is taken from Chapter 2 from ‘Daylight began to forsake the red-room…’ to ‘…the key turned, Bessie and Abbot entered.’
Let’s look at how Brontë creates effects upon the reader through her use of language. There is not much opportunity here to discuss the use of structural devices. However, the fact that Brontë chose to begin the story when Jane was young and mistreated by her cousins and her Aunt, Mrs. Reed, is significant. The story would have a different effect and so would our feelings of empathy with Jane, had the story begun when Jane was in her twenties. Therefore, how Brontë begins the story in Jane’s youth to secure a deep emotional bond between the reader and this character is worthy of a brief structural point, perhaps in a short paragraph after your introduction. Let’s see if we can include that a bit later on when we consider how we can go about developing our written responses to this passage-based question.
Let’s try and select quotations from this passage that will help us answer this question. What to think about when selecting quotations from the text: • Do I understand what the quotation means? • Does the quotation help me answer the question? • How does the quotation help me to explain something about character, events, themes, settings and/or atmosphere in relation to the question? • Does the quotation contain interesting vocabulary choices and/or imagery that will help me explore the different effects the writer has created?
‘I heard the rain still beating continuously on the staircase window, and the wind howling in the grove behind the hall; I grew by degrees cold as a stone, and then my courage sank.’ ‘In such a vault I had been told did Mr. Reed lie buried; and led by this thought to recall this idea, I dwelt on it with gathering dread.’ ‘It must have been most irksome to find herself bound by a hard-wrung pledge to stand in the stead of a parent to a strange child she could not love, and to see an uncongenial alien permanently intruded on her own family group.’ ‘My heart beat thick, my head grew hot; a sound filled my ears, which I deemed the rushing of wings; something seemed near me; I was oppressed, suffocated; endurance broke down; I rushed to the door and shook the lock in desperate effort.’ Here are some quotations that are very central to the passage. Did you select any of these? It is okay if you did not, as there is always a range of evidence available for you to choose. However, some of the evidence available is better than others. If you used the criteria on how to select effective quotations, then you will have at least one of these. Consider these quotations in relation to the ones you have selected, and the criteria we used for selecting quotations.
Remember you do not get any marks for retelling the story. Some of these quotations are quite large, and too long to include in an essay. After all, we don’t want to waste words in the 45 minutes we have to respond to the essay question during the examination.
So instead of quoting each long sentence you could choose to use parts of the quotation. For example, you could just use the phrases highlighted in bold. ‘My heart beat thick, my head grew hot; a sound filled my ears, which I deemed the rushing of wings; something seemed near me; I was oppressed, suffocated; endurance broke down; I rushed to the door and shook the lock in desperate effort.’ In this way, we will be able to keep our writing very specific, and focus in on commenting upon the effects created by Brontë’s use of language. However, what would this paragraph look like?
Here is an example of what such a response could look like. Take a moment to read this carefully (with your mark schemes).
Here is an example of what such a response could look like. Take a moment to read this carefully (with your mark schemes). The isolation and fear that Jane feels in the red-room climaxes when she sees the light from the lantern. ‘My heart beat thick, my head grew hot;’ emphasises the pure terror that she endures as she imagines that it is her dead uncle’s spirit visiting her. It conveys her absolute fear as she is deeply distressed and alone; thus, creating great sympathy for her. ‘I was oppressed, suffocated;’ emphasises her isolation as the pronouns ‘my’ and ‘I’ remind us she is alone and vulnerable. Also, she is physically suffering here as she cannot breathe; emphasising her panic and helplessness. ‘rushed’ reinforces these feelings of terror as she acts in a sudden and uncontrolled way. ‘shook the lock in desperate effort.’ also highlights her fear as she has lost control and battles to open the door even though she knows it is securely locked. The contrasting long vowel sounds and harder consonant sounds convey her loneliness and fear as they add a soft, but urgent helplessness to her tone. This long sentence, with its sudden pauses of punctuation, adds a jerky tension and breathlessness that helps convey her fear too. What are the strengths and weaknesses of this paragraph? Try to use a mixture of your own comments and comments from the mark scheme as you answer this question. Not all of your paragraphs have to be this long. The length of your paragraphs will always depend on the length of the quotation you are using. This is an example of a way you could respond to satisfy our assessment objectives in detail but remain concise and focused without wasting words.
So how does this response satisfy Assessment Objective 3? Let’s take a look at these highlighted parts.
In these parts you can see that the candidate has: - in yellow, recognised ways in which the writer has used language to create and shape meanings and effects - in green, appreciated how the writer has used language to create and shape meanings and effects - in pink, recognised ways in which the writer has used structure to create and shape meanings and effects - in blue, appreciated how the writer has used structure to create and shape meanings and effects. The introductory sentence is an explanation and helps satisfy Assessment Objective 1 and Assessment Objective 2 more than it does Assessment Objective 3. In addition, the whole paragraph ‘communicates a sensitive and informed personal response (of the writer’s intended meanings and ideas)’ thus satisfying Assessment Objective 4 too.
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Prose AO4 video transcriptThe aim of this video is to give you and your learners a breakdown of how Assessment Objective 4 is assessed. However, remember that for each candidate answer, all four assessment objectives are considered by the examiner. The best candidate responses will consider all four when answering a question.
AO4: Communicate a sensitive and informed personal response to literary texts.
A ‘sensitive personal response’. You need to have a secure and considered knowledge and understanding of the text, and the writer’s intended meanings and messages. Assessment Objective 4 requires you to reflect on and incorporate the ideas you have expressed in relation to Assessment Objectives 1, 2 and 3.
Assessment Objective 4 states that you must respond in a ‘personal’ way. However, this does not mean that you should freely express any ideas, opinions or value judgements that you have about the text and the writer. You should definitely avoid this when answering the exam question. You should not comment on: • how well a writer has written a text • how well they have conveyed a theme • how they could have improved the text • how they should have ended the novel • why we thought the text was ‘boring’. Comments that include ideas like this are just a waste of words and time.
So, how should you structure and communicate an effective and sensitive personal response that fulfils Assessment Objective 4? Think back to what you have considered about AO1, AO2 and AO3. - What should you look out for when selecting your quotations? - What are the key things to respond to when you are developing explanations of quotations (AO1 and AO2)? - What aspects of the text did you identify that you had to respond to when developing your analysis of quotations? You may wish to pause the video here to think about this.
Here are some lists to remind you of what we identified in your responses to Assessment Objectives 1, 2 and 3.
How to select quotations
How does the quotation help to explain something about: character, events, themes, setting and/or atmosphere in relation to the question?
Aspects of the text to focus on when explaining the meaning and context of our quotations:
- Narrative/events - How characters think and behave - Relationships between characters - Themes - Settings - Sense of atmosphere
Language devices to focus on when analysing how the reader is made to feel about events, characters, themes and settings:
- Dramatic irony - Narrative style - Red herrings - Foreshadowing - Symbolism - Allegory - Imagery - Flashback
Now that you have reminded yourself about what you must do to cover Assessment Objectives 1, 2 and 3, what do you think the areas of our ‘sensitive personal response’ should be? What aspects of the text do you respond to in order to express your Assessment Objective 4 personal response?
So, what have we concluded? Hopefully, this list reflects some of the focus of your discussions:
- Character behaviour and actions
- Character relationships - Themes - Settings - Events - Atmosphere
These are the aspects of the text that you are most concerned about in relation to all of our assessment objectives.
• You should select quotations that are to do with these things (AO1). • You should develop explanations about these things (AO1 and AO2). • You should analyse how the writer’s use of language and structure makes the reader feel about these things (AO3).
So, what have we concluded?
Hopefully, this list reflects some of the focus of your discussions:
- Character behaviour and actions - Character relationships - Themes - Settings - Events - Atmosphere
These are the aspects of the text that you are most concerned about in relation to all of our assessment objectives.
• You should select quotations that are to do with these things (AO1). • You should develop explanations about these things (AO1 and AO2). • You should analyse how the writer’s use of language and structure makes the reader feel about these things (AO3).
What constitutes a sensitive personal response is actually your whole response: • It is your response to the writer’s ideas and messages. • It is your response to how the writer has created effects through his/her (use of) language devices and structure devices. • It is how you develop your response and answer the essay question.
Context matters!!! Don’t be the camera, see the whole picture!
Respond to what you know about the writer’s intended meanings and messages. It is very important to remember that you must show an appreciation and evaluation of the writer’s intended meanings in your essay responses. You must not just make up your own ideas and apply them to the text. Every explanation or point of analysis that you offer should be identifiable in the quotation you have used. All of your ideas must be linked to the text, and evidenced there. Do not make things up. Rely on what you have learnt in lessons about the meanings of the text and the writer’s messages.
Remember to link your ideas to the focus of the essay question.
Let’s look at the conclusion of your essay.
What is the purpose of a conclusion?
To begin with, your conclusions should not simply be a repetition of the ideas you have presented in the main body of your essay. You can use your conclusion to express an explicit ‘sensitive personal response’ to the key messages and themes conveyed in the passage (or the whole text) that we are analysing.
You must develop a personal response in relation to one or more of the things on this list: • Character behaviour and actions • Character relationships • Themes • Settings • Events • Atmosphere
Try to use your personal response in your conclusion to relate the ideas of the text to your own personal experiences and how you understand such messages in relation to how you see the world. This will help show ownership of the writer’s messages and themes and satisfy AO4 in an effective way.
Let’s look at an example of a conclusion.
In conclusion, Orwell conveys feelings of chaos and fear through Winston’s observations of how hostile London is under Party rule. He emphasises the bleak weather and how the towering Party buildings and their slogans dominate the city and everyone’s lives. Orwell’s ideas of a government watching and controlling its people’s private lives through fear is becoming more and more real in today’s world; especially after 9/11. For example, many governments now have laws that enable them to arrest and detain people without charge, and closely watch people’s activity on social media. This makes the text haunting as it acts like a warning to us of what our world might become.
This is a response to the passage and essay question we looked at in our video on Assessment Objective 1 taken from George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Here is a reminder of the question that was attached to that passage-based question: Explore how Orwell conveys feelings of chaos and fear in the following passage.
Read this conclusion carefully. To what extent do you think it: - works as a conclusion? - satisfies Assessment Objective 4? - satisfies the other assessment objectives? Pause the video here to think about these things.
Here is why we think it is an effective conclusion:
• The first sentence summarises the sensitive personal response expressed in the main body of the essay. These two sentences also directly answer the essay question. • The personal response in sentences 3, 4 and 5 identifies key themes of the passage that are relevant to the essay question. • The personal response relates the key themes and the writer’s messages to how the candidate views contemporary global events. • The ideas in the candidate’s personal response relate to the ideas in the essay question.
It could have been improved if it had been shorter.
Remember, in this paper you are not given marks for creating effects in your use of language. Instead, you gain marks for discussing the range of effects created by the writers’ uses of language and structure.
Avoid repetition of ideas you expressed in the main body of your essay
Keep your personal opinion focused and related to the focus of the essay question.
Your conclusion should be 5–6 lines long in total.
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