KCSE ENGLISH IMAGINATIVE WRITING: BEST WAY TO IMPROVE GRADES

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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Tips on how to write imaginative compositions that score 19-20 marks in KCSE