The English Language examination West African Examination Council focuses on testing students’ knowledge of English and basic communication skills through reading, comprehension, summary, vocabulary, lexis and structure, and recognition of different aspects of spoken English.

The WASSCE English Language examination comes in three forms or papers. Paper one is a set of objective questions including short comprehension, stress patterns and general aspects of the subject. Paper two is essay while paper three is test of orals/phonetics. To ensure that your school is properly coaching the students in accordance with the required standard set by the council, we have made a detailed break of the English Course, according to the official WAEC curriculum.

AIMS

 The aim of the WASSCE English language examination is to test students’ ability to:

• use correct English
• write about incidents in English that are appropriate to specified audiences and situations
• organize material in paragraphs that are chronologically, spatially and logically coherent
• control sentence structures accurately
• exhibit variety in the use of sentence patterns
• comply with the rules of grammar
• spell and punctuate correctly
• comprehend written and spoken English
• recognize implied meaning, tones and attitudes
• use an acceptable pronunciation that can be comprehended by others
• Recognize the physical characteristics of English sounds and the letters that represent them.
• Pick out and summarize relevant information from set passages

Below is the full curriculum for English Language course as required by WAEC

A. LEXIS

In addition to items testing knowledge of the vocabulary of everyday usage questions will be set to test candidates’ ability in the use of the general vocabulary associated with the following fields: Agriculture, Fishing, Stock exchange, Health, Environment, Culture, Institutions and Ceremonies, Law and Order, Motor Vehicles and Travelling, Government and Administration, Religion, etc.

B. STRUCTURE

• Tenses
• Figures of speech
• Parts of speech
• Idioms

PAPER 1: (For candidates in Ghana only)

Lexis

vocabulary associated with

• Building
• Plumbing
• Fishing
• Finance – commerce, banking, stock exchange, insurance
• Photography
• Mineral exploration;
• Common manufacturing industries;
• Printing, publishing, the press and libraries;
• Sea, road, rail and air transport;
• Government and politics;
• Sports and entertainment;
• Religion
• Science and Technology;
• Power production – hydro, thermal, solar;
• Education;
• Communication;
• Military Journalism and Advertising
• Idioms
• Structural (tenses, concord and the use of correct and parts of speech
• Figurative Usage
• Journalism and Advertising.

PAPAR 2 (For all candidates)

ESSAY WRITING (50 marks)

• Letter writing
• Speech writing
• Narrative essay
• Descriptive essay
• Argumentative essay/debate
• Report writing
• Article writing
• Expository writing Creative writing

COMPREHENSION (20 marks)

The questions will test candidates’ ability to

• find appropriate equivalents for selected words or phrases
• understand the factual content
• make inferences from the content of the passage
• understand the use of English expressions that reveal/reflect sentiments/emotions/attitudes
• identify and label basic grammatical structures, words, phrases or clauses and explain their functions as they appear in the context
• identify and explain basic literary terms and expressions
• recast phrases or sentences into grammatical alternatives

SUMMARY WRITING (30 marks)

• extract relevant information
• summarize the points demanded in clear concise English, avoiding repetition and redundancy
• present a summary of specific aspects or portions of the passage

PAPER 3: TEST OF ORAL/PHONETICS

There are two alternatives for paper three. The first alternative is for candidates in Ghana, The Gambia and Sierra Leone who will be tested in listening comprehension. The second alternative is for candidates in Nigeria and Liberia who will take test of oral.

Listening Comprehension Test (For candidates in Ghana, The Gambia and Sierra Leone)

Section 1: Test of word final voiced-voiceless consonants in isolated words mainly, but other features such as consonant clusters may also be tested.

Section 2: Test of vowel quality in isolated words.

Section 3: Test of vowel quality and consonant contrasts in isolated words.

Section 4: One of three options below will be used in different years

• test of vowel and/or consonant contrasts in sentence contexts;
• test of vowel and consonant contrasts in isolated words- to be selected from a list of at least four-word contrasts;
• test of vowel and consonant contrasts through rhymes.

Section 5: Test of rhymes

Section 6: Test of comprehension of emphatic stress

Section 7: Test of understanding of the content of longer dialogues and narratives

CONSONANTS

• Single consonant
• Consonant Clusters

VOWELS

• Pure vowels
• Diphthongs
• Triphthong

STRESS

• Word stress
• Sentence stress
• Emphatic stress

INTONATION

• Falling intonation
• Rising intonation

Test Of Orals (For candidates in Nigeria and Liberia)

The test will cover the following areas

• Vowels – pure vowels and diphthongs;
• Consonants and clusters;
• Rhymes;
• Word stress/Syllable Structure;
• Emphatic Stress/Intonation Patterns; Phonetic Symbols

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