Assessment of Literature in Catholic High School

As the lower secondary students are taking Language Arts, the assessment of Literature is done together with the assessment of their English. For the Literature component, the students are tested on literary devices (eg. irony) and their sensitivity towards words and phrases used in the texts. They are not required to write a full essay.

For their continuous assessment, the students will need to work on mini projects. For instance, for the March holidays, the students (Secondary 2s) are required to do a tabloid on Animal Farm to assess their understanding of the key events of the text, and also their organisation of their information. Of course, they will be graded on their creativity as well.

Another task for Term 2 is for the students to write and deliver a speech. This relates to the use of persuasive speeches in Animal Farm.

More of the tasks designed for the students are focused on general knowledge. For example, they will have to do a research presentation on Arab Spring. As mentioned in the previous post, the school hopes to use the Literature texts as a platform to expose the students to larger issues in the society, and not only focusing on the analysis of the Literature text.

As for the upper secondary students, since I am not involved in their level meetings for Literature, I am not too sure about the summative assessment tasks. However, from what I know, the formative assessment is rather conventional. This is because the students are no longer taking Language Arts, but instead, are taking Literature as a subject on its own. They will thus, be required to write full essays for their examinations and are prepared for the different components required in the GCE 'O' Level examination.