Performance Standard for 2009

English Scholarship students will be expected to

• respond critically

• Demonstrate extensive knowledge of texts - refer to a range of different books, poems, plays, films and other written mediums and "know methods used in crafting them".
  
• Sustained critical response with "mature ideas and independent reflection" - be original and insightful with your main points and ideas.
  
• Ability to synthesise knowledge, understanding and argument - come up with your own opinion and argue it using collaborated evidence from texts you write about.

Key terms that need defining:

• critically: to "judge the truth/merit of a subject, careful evaluation and judgement of material used".
• synthesise: To form a truth or statement from collaborating information from other sources.

This is needed for performance descriptor 1: achieved with outstanding. Descriptor 2 is achieving scholarship. Descriptors 3 and 4 are fails.

According to the official "Scholarship Performance Standard" document from NZQA:

1 This standard is derived from English in the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1994) up to and including level 8.

2 The method of evidence collection is reading and writing by means of three essays. The student’s responses will derive from their understanding and experience across the written, oral and visual strands of the English curriculum.

3 Text is spoken, written and visual means of communication. (EINZC)

4 Demanding text and questions provide scope for the student to apply a high level of critical thinking. It is not necessarily the complexity of the text but how students respond that makes it demanding.

5 Respond critically is under-pinned by the essential metacognitive skills of interpretation, analysis and evaluation in EINZC, up to and including level 8. At Scholarship these skills are applied in contexts that require mature appreciation of more demanding text and questions. For example, a student may show the ability to: initiate an alternative reading or application of theory; take a fresh approach to accepted interpretations; challenge the reader’s understandings; apply or deconstruct theoretical models.

Knowledge of methods used in crafting will be demonstrated through critical thinking about common and specific conventions used in written, visual and oral texts, such as structure, style, layout, delivery techniques, figurative language, editing, method of narration, rhetorical devices, sound effects, dramatic techniques, characterisation, costume and scripting.

So what is involved in an English Scholarship Exam?

First of all there will be three papers or sections:
Section A: Close Reading of Unfamiliar Texts. A compare/contrast essay, most likely a piece of poetry vs a piece of prose.

Section B: Response to Language and Literature. Pick a genre to study, eg Shakespearean plays, New Zealand literature, short texts (though with this you must show a range of texts studied), film (but you may want to narrow to one or two genres within this), pre-twentieth century plays or post-colonial literature etc etc.

Section C: Response to Issues in Language and Literature. This is related to ideas that surround literature that we read. Culture, theoretical readings of texts, effect of the author, political and challenging etc. Ideas vs genres. Make sure you learn the difference between the two.

Marking System
Each essay is marked out of 8 points with a total of 24 points. Obviously the better your essay is, the higher your marks are, and the better your overall mark will be.
This means referring to a range of different ideas and materials. Exam questions will hopefully will be the next post.