EXAMINATION
SPECIFICATIONS
English
Communicative
Code
No. 101
CLASS-IX
FROM THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2012 – 13
Note:
1. The total
weightage assigned to Summative Assessment (SA I & II) is 60%. The total
weightagwe assigned to Formative Assessment (FA1, 2, 3 & 4) is 40%. Out of
the 40% assigned to Formative Assessment, 10%weightage is assigned to
conversation skills (5% each in Term I &II) and 10% weightage to the
Reading Project (at least 1 Book is to be read in each term and the Project
will carry a weightage of 5% in each term)
2. The Summative
Assessment I and Summative Assessment II are for ninety marks each.
Ten marks of listening and speaking
test will be added to the 80 marks SummativeAssessment paper ie 80 + 10 = 90
marks in each semester.
The weighatge assigned to Summative Assessment I is 30% and the
weightage assigned to Summative Assessment II is 30%.
SECTION A: READING 15 Marks
Qs 1 & 2 The reading section
will have two unseen texts as shown below:
The word limit has been reduced from 1100 to 900. The total
length of the three passages will be between 800 - 900 words. There will be at
least 3 marks for assessing vocabulary. Care should be taken to cover all the
text types, ie discursive and literary while selecting the passages. A poem may
or may not be used as one of the three texts. Apart from a poem, prose literary
texts may include excerpts from authentic literature such as short story,
autobiography, biography, travelogue, novel etc. Whenever a poem or a
prose/literary text is used, the other two texts should be discursive. If a
poem is seleted then, the length of the poem may be between 14 to 25 lines.
SECTION B: WRITING 20 Marks
The writing section comprises four writing tasks as indicated
below.
Q. 3 A short composition
of about 50 words in the form of a
Notice, Message or Diary Entry. 3
Marks
Q. 4 A composition of
about 100 words in the form of Biographical sketch, Data Interpretation,
Dialogue
Writing or Description (People,
Objects or Events) 5 Marks
Questions 4 & 5 will assess students'
skill of expressing ideas in clear and grammatically correct English,
presenting ideas coherently and concisely, writing a clear description, a clear
account of events, expanding notes into a piece of writing, transcoding
information from one form to another or using a style appropriate for a notice,
message or diary entry.
Q. 5 An extended writing
task of about 120 words in the form of a Formal/Informal Letter or Email.
The long piece of writing will assess the use of appropriate style, language,
content and expression.
6
Marks
Q. 6 An extended writing
task of about 120 words in the form of an Article, Speech, Debte,
Newspaper/School Magazine Report or Story.
6
Marks
Students' skill in expressing ideas in clear and grammatically
correct English, planning, organising and presenting ideas coherently by
introducing, developing and concluding a topic, comparing and contrasting ideas
and arriving at a conclusion, presenting an argument with supporting examples, using an
appropriate style and format and expanding notes into longer pieces of writing
and creative expression of ideas will be assessed.
Qs 5 & 6 will make use of a visual/ verbal stimulus and one
of the questions will be thematically based on MCB.
Important Note on Format and Word
Limit:
• Format will not carry any separate marks and in most cases,
format will be given in the question paper.
• The word limit given is the suggested minimum word limit. No
candidate may be penalised for writing more or less than the suggested word
limit provided the topic is covered adequately. Stress should be on content,
expression, coherence and relevance of the content presented.
SECTION C: GRAMMAR 15 Marks
This section will assess Grammar items in context for 15
Marks. It will carry
5
questions of 3 marks each.
Questions 7 & 8 will have Multiple
Choice Questions. The test types for MCQs include the following:
• Gap filling
• Sentence completion / Dialogue
completion
Questions 9,10 & 11 will be based
on response supplied by students (Supply Type).
The test types will include the
following:
• Sentence reordering
• Editing / Omission
• Sentence transformation
Questions 7 to 11 will test grammar
items which have been dealt with in class IX. Different structures such as verb
forms, sentence structure, connectors, determiners, pronouns, prepositions,
clauses, phrases etc., can be tested through formative assessment over a period
of time. As far as the summative assessment is concerned, it will recycle
grammar items learnt over a period of time and will test them in context.
Tests types used will include gap-filling, cloze (gap filling
exercise with blanks at regular intervals), sentence completion, recording word
groups into sentences, editing, dialogue-completion and
sentence-transformation. The grammar syllabus will be sampled each year, with
marks allotted for:
Verbs forms
Sentence structures
Other areas
Note: Jumbled words in
reordering exercise to test syntax will involve sentences in a context. Each
sentence will be split into sense groups (not necessarily into single words)
and jumbled up.
Section D: LITERATURE 20 Marks
Q 12 will have the
following arrangement:
12 A: An extract from poetry with three questions based on
reference to context requiring the students to supply the answers.
3
Marks
12 B: An extract from a short story with three reference to
context questions requiring the students to supply the answers.
3
Marks
12 C: An extract from a play with three reference to context
questions requiring the students to supply the answers.
3
Marks
Q 13 Two out of three short
answer type questions based on prose, poetry and play of 3 marks each.
The
questions will not test recall but inference and evaluation.(30
- 40 words each)
6
Marks
Q 14 One out of two long
answer type questions to assess personal response to text (story, poem or play)
by going beyond the text/ poem/story or extract. Creativity, imagination and
extrapolation beyond the text and across two texts will also be assessed. (150
words)
5 Marks
Novel/Long Reading Text 10 Marks
Q 15 Type of Questions: Global
questions on theme and plot involving interpretation and
inference .
5 marks
Q16 One out of two character sketches
in 100 words.
5
marks
Prescribed Books/Materials
1. Interact in English - IX Main Course Book Revised edition
2. Interact in English - IX Literature Reader Revised edition
Published by CBSE
3. Interact in
English - IX Workbook Revised edition Delhi-110092
Note on assessing Writing Tasks.
Q.
3 Content : 2 marks
Expression : 1 mark (Accuracy & Fluency)
Total : 3 marks
Upto one mark may be deducted for spelling, punctuation and
grammar errors.
Q.
4 Content : 3 marks
Fluency : 1 mark
Accuracy : 1 mark
Total : 5 marks
Upto one mark may be deducted for spelling, punctuation and
grammar errors.
Q.
5 Content : 3 marks
Accuracy : 1.5 marks
Fluency : 1.5 marks
Total : 5 marks
Upto two marks may be deducted for spelling punctuation and
grammar errors.
Q.
6 Content : 3 marks
Accuracy : 1.5 marks
Fluency : 1.5 marks
Total : 6 marks
Upto two marks may be deducted for spelling, punctuation and
grammar errors.
Though marks have been allotted specifically for Content, they
should not be awarded in a mechanical manner. For instance, if a student has
merely mentioned the value points (content) as per the marking scheme, the
examiner should assess whether the content has been expressed/communicated in a
coherent and cohesive manner. It means content and expression are
perceived as interlinked aspects of writing.
Similarly in all the writing tasks credit should be given to
creativity in the realm of ideas and language use. What it means for the
examiner is that students who think differently and are able to use the
language with felicity in terms of structures as well as vocabulary should be
given due weightage. This need not necessarily be seen as leaning towards
subjectivity in marking. A proper balance of content, expression (accuracy,
fluency, cohesion and coherence) and creativity would encourage students to
aim for higher standards in written communication. Errors in spelling,
punctuation and grammar should be penalised to the extent of marks allotted for
Accuracy.
Grammar:
Grammar items mentioned in the syllabus will be taught and
assessed summatively as well as formatively over a period of time. There will
be no division of syllabus for Grammar in the summative of formative
assessments for the terms. However a suggested split - up of the Work Book for
the two terms is given to help teachers in planning their classroom teaching.
*NOTE ON WORKBOOK
The suggested split up of the units of the Workbook reflects a
distribution for the purpose of classroom teaching only.
Since grammar and usage is not to be tested discreetly, but in an integrated manner, the split up as shown above will not restrict questions in the grammar section of SA I and SA II question papers to the specific units shown in the split up of Workbook units. Grammar will be tested recycling grammar items learnt over a period of time in a comprehensive manner. Teachers may adapt this suggested distribution for classroom teaching making modifications according to their specific needs. Similarly Formative Assessment of grammar items may also be carried out in an integrated manner along with the skills of Reading, Writing, Speaking and listening as well as Literature.
Since grammar and usage is not to be tested discreetly, but in an integrated manner, the split up as shown above will not restrict questions in the grammar section of SA I and SA II question papers to the specific units shown in the split up of Workbook units. Grammar will be tested recycling grammar items learnt over a period of time in a comprehensive manner. Teachers may adapt this suggested distribution for classroom teaching making modifications according to their specific needs. Similarly Formative Assessment of grammar items may also be carried out in an integrated manner along with the skills of Reading, Writing, Speaking and listening as well as Literature.
Note:
1. Formative Assessment is assessment 'for' learning.
Thus schools may adapt the above break-up as per
their convenience.
2. All activities related to Formative Assessment such as
Language games, quizzes, projects, role plays, dramatization, script writing
etc must be done as 'in class' and 'in school' activities. In case, a field
survey or visit is taken up it must be under the direct supervision of the
teacher.
