This section contains a brief statement for each of the strands to be covered in the Years 7 to 9 English Language syllabus. There are a total of six strands. Each of these strands is briefly explained below.
Listening is an important skill which involves attention and participation, both needed for effective communication. This course offers the opportunity for learners to exercise active listening skills in four sub strands: through listening for pleasure and relaxation; communication and interaction; information and comprehension; pronunciation and language usage. Through the different interactive activities, learners will enhance their ability to listen and respond effectively in situations that require interaction.
Speaking is a productive skill and requires learners to actively participate in the classroom as well as in the real life situation. The two sub strands include communication and interaction and public speaking. In each of these, learners will acquire appropriate skills and understanding so that they can become fluent and confident to communicate effectively in formal and informal situations about themselves and express their views in an appropriate manner in English. Through practice in the classroom and their exposure to the daily use of English, learners should be able to enrich their personal style in speaking and gain optimum satisfaction from their learning.
Reading is a receptive skill and involves the learners’ deep engagement with the text, decoding and responding to the message. The strand is divided into four sub strands and seeks to help learners in the following areas: develop skills and strategies which are essential for effective and meaningful reading; learn to value reading as a source of enjoyment and information for study and other useful purposes and build vocabulary to increase word power. Through the development of reading skills, learners will broaden their knowledge and become fluent, skilful and critical readers.
Writing is a skill that requires learners to synthesize their thoughts and communicate them to an audience using appropriate vocabulary and style. It is divided into two sub strands: first deals with strategies, conventions and grammar, and aims at improving the skills of the learners in writing through a better understanding of the conventions of the English language such as sentence structures, paragraphing, spelling, grammar, punctuation and handwriting. The second deals with the production of the different styles of writing (genres), and takes learners through skills in essay writing,…
Literature is a subset of reading and writing and it involves reading to gain access to other views, values, and perceptions of the world, people, and life in general. It also aims to assist in shaping or forming the learners’ own values and opinions of the world and their place within it. More specifically, learners will have an opportunity to discover a wide range of literature forms or texts such as: poetry, drama, novel, short story and a variety of non-fiction texts. These various text forms are means by which English skills can be practised and developed. Through discussion of themes, critical analysis,…
This component aims to equip learners with basic skills in research and study so that they can use them to become successful in their learning, both in English and other subjects This strand has two substrands: using the library or internet and research and study skills. In library skills learners will learn to use the library and its lay-out and the Dewey Decimal System used for the classification of books. Under research and study skills learners will…