Notebook Overview

The CSEC Literature Syllabus assesses four critical skills, each delineated below:

1. Description: This skill gauges the aptitude to succinctly outline pertinent content.
2. Analysis: This entails the proficiency to dissect, select, and elucidate the significance of relevant details.
3. Synthesis: This skill involves the ability to amalgamate and condense information from diverse sections of a text into a new and cohesive form, catering to the specific requirements of a given question.
4. Communication of Informed Opinions: Students are expected to articulate well-structured, analytical responses, both orally and in writing, employing the vocabulary of literary criticism.

Furthermore, students should demonstrate competence in the following areas:

5. Recognition of Writers’ Craft: The capacity to discern the techniques employed by writers in shaping language, characters, and behavior.
6. Response to Literature: Proficiency in engaging with West Indian and other Literatures in English, encompassing novels, short stories, poems, and plays. Students are required to conduct rational and sensitive appraisals of value judgments, states of consciousness, and other concepts explored in literature, and relate these insights to everyday living.

In summary, students are expected to:

1. Demonstrate the ability to describe or outline relevant content.
2. Analyze by breaking down, selecting, and commenting on significant details.
3. Synthesize by appropriately selecting and organizing relevant information from different sources to respond coherently to specific questions.
4. Fluently write about literary works using the language of literary criticism.
5. Recognize the writer’s use of literary techniques and devices to effectively convey issues, thoughts, and observations.
6. Respond to various issues and ideas explored in literature, showcasing an understanding of how these reflections connect with and elucidate aspects of everyday life.

It is crucial to note that essays will be evaluated based on these skills. Therefore, students are expected to demonstrate excellent comprehension of the texts, profound insights into the issues at hand, and the adept selection of pertinent details to address the questions. Additionally, their work should exhibit a well-organized structure, logically developed arguments, and clarity of language, supported by evidence from the texts. The evaluation of students’ work will adhere to these established parameters.