HOW TO IMPROVE GRADES IN KCSE ENGLISH IMAGINATIVE WRITING
KCSE English paper 3 is consistently poorly performed. It consist three essay questions. This indicates that most students find it difficult to communicate in writing.
KCSE IMAGINATIVE WRITING |
In KCSE English paper 3, question 1 tests imaginative compositions under creative writing . The question tests the candidate’s creativity, originality and ability to communicate in writing.
Preamble
English, as a subject,
is the tasked with the objective of imparting four skills; listening,
speaking, reading and writing. A good speaker listens. A good writer reads.
Emphasis on attainment
of stellar grades or the need to achieve the minimum requirement for university
admission has killed spirit of reading in students. They only study to pass
exams and not to acquire the skills of reading or writing. This has adversely
affected the quality of compositions the students write at KCSE level. Most of
the imaginative compositions are devoid of creativity.
Very few students, if
any, manage to score between 19 and 20 marks in the question.
It is fairly easy to
score anything above sixteen marks since the question on imaginative writing is
anything but demanding for the candidates. It simply tests the candidate’s
ability to communicate in writing. The examiner is keen on the linguistic
competence of the learner.
For a candidate’s
composition to be considered outstanding they should exhibit the ability to
communicate deeply through the use of a wide range of effective vocabulary,
originality, a vivid and sustained account in the case of a narrative or a well
developed and ordered argument in the case of a debate or discussion. Such a
candidate also avoids errors. Their composition has a significant impact on a
reader.
To be able to achieve
this, the learner must be exposed to intensive and extensive reading.
The objective
By the end of the four year course, the teacher must ensure that
they meet certain objectives. The learners should be able to read effectively
and fluently, use the dictionary effectively, enjoy reading literary and
non-literary materials, demonstrate awareness of contemporary issues and build
a wide range of vocabulary and knowledge of language use through reading.
Teachers should
establish a strong reading culture right from the moment the learner joins
their school, ideally in form one. This can be achieved through consistent
supervised reading of novels, plays or any other relevant literature materials
that spark the leaner’s interest. Pick books/materials with themes or story
lines that the learners find exciting and accessible.
Learners should be
exposed to regular extensive reading through exposure to newspapers, magazines
and periodicals. The teacher should guide them to pay special attention to
information on contemporary issues such as Children’s rights, Child labour,
Environment, HIV and AIDS, Moral values, Governance and Integrity issues. They
should also read literary and non-literary materials on social responsibility,
gender responsiveness, poverty eradication, drug and substance abuse and human
rights. This is a requirement of the syllabus.
A student who reads
regularly is capable of writing effectively. Sadly, most candidates’ work
displays lack of creativity. Many of them fail to compose relevant pieces and
instead digress off the main topic and instead make unsuccessful attempts to
tag on the leads to their irrelevant pieces. Other students
simply write memorised pieces. This reveals lack of practice.
We, teachers, are partly
to blame for the consistent poor performance in this section. To avert any
further dip in performance, the teacher must ensure that they place emphasis on
topics on writing. They should teach students to: write legibly, spell words
correctly, and write clear and correct sentences, use sentence variety, develop
proper paragraphs, have cohesion in paragraphs by using transitional words and
phrases and use punctuation marks correctly.
Learners should have
enough practice on descriptive essays, argumentative essays, narrative essays
and expository writing. Unfortunately, this is not the case on the ground.
Students have inadequate practice in writing. Some only write one composition
after joining high school-mostly about their first day in high school. In an
ideal world, the learners would write one composition weekly.
Students should
understand that the quality of a composition is determined by the degree of
communication. It should posses the following qualities: intelligibility (able
to be understood), correctness, fluency, pleasantness and originality.
It should simply communicate effectively. A learner should express himself
freely; exhibit no visible constraint, exhibit maturity by avoiding graphic
description of sexual innuendos or other forms of immorality, good planning and
humour.
In brief, the Kenyan
students need to start reading extensively under the strict supervision of the
teacher. English teachers must teach composition writing in its entirety and
provide learners with ample practice.
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