The importance of the WAEC syllabus cannot be over-emphasized as it serves as a pointer directing candidates on stress areas in each subject to concentrate on while reading for the exams. It is also a guide to important things/information every WAEC candidate should know/have before going for the examination.
WEST AFRICAN SENIOR SCHOOL CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION LITERATURE IN-ENGLISHPREAMBLE
This syllabus is designed to enable candidates appreciate Literature as an important part of
their overall educational process. In particular, the syllabus aims at enabling the students to
cultivate critical skills as tools for independent assessment of human issues and the enjoyment
and study of any Literature. It should help in moulding and forming their character morally
and intellectually.
The syllabus will test candidates’
(a) critical response to, and awareness of, how literature functions;
(b) familiarity with the terms and concepts necessary for the appreciation of Literature;
(c) ability to distinguish between types of Literature, their techniques of composition and
modes of appeal;
(d) competence in understanding literary texts at their various levels of meaning (e.g.
surface, implied, etc.);
(e) facility in responding imaginatively to literature through an effective and organized use
of language.
CONTENT OF THE PAPERS
Candidates will be required to take three compulsory papers.
The total marks for the three papers will be 200 Marks.
PAPER 1 : 1¼ Hours – Multiple Choice/Objective Questions – 50 Marks (25%)
This paper will consist of 50 multiple-choice context and objective
questions.
PAPER 2 : 2½ hours – Drama and Poetry : 100 Marks (50%)
This paper will be divided into four sections (A, B, C and D) and
candidates must answer one question only from each section.
PAPER 3 : 1¼ hours – Prose : 50 Marks (25%)
This paper will be divided into two sections, A and B (African and NonAfrican Prose)
Candidates will answer two questions in all: one question from Section
A (African Prose) and one question from Section B (Non-African Prose)
DETAILED SYLLABUS
Paper 1 – Multiple-Choice Objective and Context Questions
The aim of this paper is to test candidates’ knowledge of the prescribed Shakespearean text and
general questions on literary appreciation. In this regard, candidates will be required to answer
50 compulsory objective and context type questions made up as follows:
WEST AFRICAN SENIOR SCHOOL CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION
LITERATURE-IN-ENGLISH
(a) 20 questions on general knowledge of Literature:
(b) 5 questions on one Unseen Prose Passage;
(c) 5 questions on one Unseen Poem Passage;
(d) 20 Objective/Context questions on a compulsory Shakespearean text recommended for
study.
(i) The Unseen Prose Passage will be about 120 – 150 words.
(ii) Only context and objective questions will be set on the Shakespearean text. The context
questions will test such items as theme, characterization, style and structure in the
Shakespearean play. No essay question will be based on the recommended text.
PAPER 2 - African and Non-African Drama and Poetry
This paper will be made up of the Drama and Poetry components of the syllabus. It
will be divided into four sections (A, B,C and D) and candidates will be required to
answer four questions; one question must be answered from each of the four sections.
The sections are as follows:
Section A : African Drama,
Section B : Non-African Drama,
Section C : African Poetry,
Section D : Non-African Poetry.
(a) Questions on Drama will test candidates’ detailed knowledge of the plays as works of
art meant for the stage.
(b) Questions on Poetry will test candidates’ ability to recognize the means through which
a poet communicates his feelings and ideas.
(c) There will be two essay questions on each prescribed text and candidates will be
expected to answer only one question from each text.
PAPER 3 – African and Non-African Prose
This paper will be divided into two sections as follows:
Section A : African Prose,
Section B : Non-African prose.
Two questions will be set on each of the novels recommended for study. Candidates will be
required to answer one question only from each section.
NOTE
(a) The context questions will test such areas as theme, characterization, setting etc.
(b) The questions on Drama will test candidates’ detailed knowledge of the plays as works
of art meant for the stage.
(c) The questions on Poetry will test candidates’ ability to recognize the various means
through which a poet communicates his feelings and ideas.
(d) The questions on Prose will test candidates’ firm grasp of the structure of the work and
the various means by which the writer dramatizes the experiences to make the work
seem real.
(e) For Papers 2 and 3, there will be two essay questions on each prescribed text and
candidates will be expected to answer only one question from each prescribed text in
the sections as contained in the rubrics.
(f) No essay questions will be set on the compulsory Shakespearean text recommended for
study. Only context and objective questions will be set on the text.
LIST OF SELECTED/SET BOOKS FOR THE WEST AFRICAN SENIOR SCHOOL
CERTIFICATE LITERATURE-IN-ENGLISH EXAMINATION (WASSCE) FOR THE
YEARS 2003 – 2005
PAPER 1 : Compulsory context and objective questions will be set on
(a) Literary Appreciation
(b) William Shakespeare : Merchant of Venice
PAPER 2 : Drama And Poetry
SECTION A : AFRICAN DRAMA
One of the following texts should be studied:
(i) Wole Soyinka : The Lion and the Jewel
(ii) James Ngugi : The Black Hermit
SECTION B : NON-AFRICAN DRAMA
One of the following texts should be studied:
(i) Richard B. Sheridan : The Rivals
(ii) T.S. Eliot : Murder in the Cathedral
SECTION C: AFRICAN POETRY
The following poems are to be studied :
(i) Lenrie Peters : “We have come home”
(ii) J. P. Clark : “Abiku”
(iii) Kwesi Brew : “The executioner’s dream”
WEST AFRICAN SENIOR SCHOOL CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION
LITERATURE-IN-ENGLISH
(iv) Syl. Cheney Coker : “Freetown”
(v) Niyi Osundare : “Ours to plough, not to plunder”
(vi) Jared Angira : “No coffin, no grave”.
RECOMMENDED POETRY ANTHOLOGIES CONTAINING THE SET POEMS
(a) Poems of Black Africa, edited by Wole Soyinka;
Heinemann’s African Writers Series.
(b) A Selection of African Poetry;
Introduced and Annotated by K. E. Senanu and T. Vincent (Longman)
(c) Images and Impressions, K. Ogungbesan and D. Woolger (ed)
Oxford University Press.
(d) Poetry for Senior Secondary School;
edited by A.E. Eruvbetine, Munzali Jibril, Silas Nnamonu, Obi Maduakor
(Longman).
(e) Niyi Osundare : The Eye of the Earth (Poems);
Heinemman Frontline Series, Heinemann Educational Books, Nigeria Limited,
Ibadan, 1986.
(f) Poems from East Africa; edited by David Cook and David Rubadiri.
(g) Crossings: A Senior Poetry Anthology, Macmillan 1998, Selected and
Introduced by Annemarie Heywood.
(h) Any Anthology containing the recommended poems.
SECTION D : NON-AFRICAN POETRY
The following poems are to be studied:
(i) Robert Frost : “Two look at Two”
(ii) William Soutar : “Elegy written in a Country Church-yard”
(iii) W. Owen : “A Valediction : Forbidding Mourning”
(iv) A. E. Houseman : “Is my team ploughing?
(v) Alfred Tennyson : “Ulysses”
(vi) Percy Shelley : “Ode to the West Wind”.
RECOMMENDED POETRY ANTHOLOGIES CONTAINING THE SET POEMS
(a) K. Ogungbesan and d. Woolger : Images and Impressions
(OUP Ibadan)
(b) M. Wollman : Ten Twentieth Century Poets
(Harrap’s English Classics)
(c) Annemarie Heywood : Crossings : A Senior Poetry Anthology,
Macmillan, 1998.
(d) Any Poetry Anthology containing the recommended poems.
PAPER 3: PROSE
SECTION A : AFRICAN PROSE
One of the following texts should be studies:
(i) Chinua Achebe : Anthills of the Savannah
(ii) Ayi Kwei Armah : The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born
SECTION B : NON AFRICAN PROSE
One of the following texts should be studied:
(i) Thomas Hardy : Tess of the D’Urbervilles
(ii) Daniel Defoe : Robinson Crusoe
RECOMMENDED REFERENCE BOOKS
S. H. Burton: - African Poetry in English (An introduction to practical criticism)
C.J.H. Chacksfield (Macmillan)
Isidore Okpewho - The Heritage of African Poetry (Longman)
Ian Milligan - The Novel in English, An Introduction (Mctheun)
Michael Etherton - The Development of African Drama (Metheun)
Elizabeth Gunner: - A Handbook for Teaching African Literature
Obi Maduakor - Introduction to Poetry
Andrian A. Roscoe - Mother is God – A study in West African Literature
R. N. Egudu - The Study of Poetry (University Press Ltd.)
F. S. Clafimihan and - Comprehensive Approach to English Literature
C. O. Williams Evans Brothers (Nig. Publishers Limited)
M. J. Murphy - Understanding Unseens; An Introduction to English Poetry and
the English Novel for Overseas Students (G. Allen and Unwin
Ltd.)
Lewis Nkosi - Tusks and Masks (Themes and Styles of African Literature).
Eustance Palmer - An Introduction to the African Novel
Eustance Palmer - Studies on English Novel (A.U.P.)
E N. Obiechina - Culture, Tradition and Society in the West African Novel
(Cambridge)
Okike Educational - Edited by Chinua Achebe
Suppement
Annamarie Heywood - Crossings: A Senior Poetry Anthology
Figuerda, John (ed) - An Anthology of African and Carribean Writing in English
(Heinemann Educational Books). London, 1982
Godwin, Ken - Understanding African Poetry: A Study of Ten Poets
(Heinemann) London 1982
Angmer, Charles - Contemporary Literature in Ghana 1911 – 1996 A Critical
Evaluation, (Woeli Publication), Accra, 1996.
Priebe R, et al, - Ghanaian Literature (Greenwood). New York, 1983
Roscoe, Adrian - A Study in West African Literature (Cambridge University
Press) London, 1971
Ogungbesan, - New West African Literature (Heinemann), London, 1979
Kolawole (ed)
Robert Fraser- West African Poetry: A Critical History (Cambridge
University Press) London .
Taiwo, Oladele - An Introduction to West African Literature (Thomas Nelson
and sons Ltd. Lagos, 1985
Chinweizu, - Towards the Decolonization of African Fiction and
Onwuch Okwa, Poetry and their Critics (K.P.I.) London, 1980
Mbabuike (eds)
Dathorne, O. R. - African Literature in the Twentieth Century (Heinemann)
London
Gunner, Elizabeth - A Handbook for Teaching African Literature (Heinemann).
London, 1987
Irele, Abiola - The African Experience in Literature and Ideology
(Heinemann). London, 1981
Lindfors, Bernth - Black African Literature in English – 1987 – 1991.
(Hans Zell). London 1995
Jones, Eldred - African Literature Today : Retrospect and Prospect
Durosimi (Heinemann) London. 1979.
Osundare, Niyi - The Eye of the Earth (Poems) Heinemann Frontline Series
Heinemann Educational Books (Nig.) Limited Ibadan (1986).
Like MyPortalNg on Facebook!
