NTC GTLE Chief Examiners Report on Literacy

NTC GTLE Chief Examiners Report on Literacy

Scroll down and explore the various Literacy Reports by the Chief Examiner

REPORT ON LITERACY (2021 GTLE 1)

STRUCTURE OF THE PAPER

The paper consisted of two main parts. These were part A and part B. Part A was a multiplechoice test, comprising thirty questions answered for 30 marks. Part B consisted of Comprehension and Essay writing tests. The total mark for the comprehension test was 10, while that of the Essay Writing test was 20. Candidates were required to answer all the questions within one hour twenty-five minutes.

GENERAL COMMENTS

A total number of 15,377 took part in the examination.

500 scripts were analysed to establish the pattern of the candidates’ performance.

The highest score mark was 47.5%, while the lowest mark was 9%.

The mean mark scored was 27.74%

The performance of the candidates compared unfavourably with that of the previous year.

The mean mark of the previous examination was 34.05, while that of this year’s was 27.74

MULTIPLE TEST CHOICE KNOWLEDGE

This section comprised thirty multiple choice test items testing the students’ knowledge in the rudiments of English grammar and proficiency in the use of the language.

The topics which were covered included:

1. Arrangement of Adjective
2. Concord

• Conditional sentences

1. Idiomatic expression V. Prepositions
2. Question Tags

• Relative pronouns
• Reported speech

1. Synonyms and antonyms
2. Voice
   • Just like the previous examination, the test exposed the candidates’ poor grasp of English grammar.
   • A worrying consistent trend is most of the candidates’ inability to answer questions on conditional sentence.
   • In the two previous examinations, only 7% of the candidates could correctly answer the question on conditional sentence.

The question was:

• If Kwame ___________ rich, he would take his children to a good school. had been B. is C. was D.  were.

In the current paper also, the same 7% could correctly answer the question:

• If Kwame were rich, he _____________ his children to a good school.

1. Will have taken B. will take      C. would have taken D. would take

PART B

This part had two sections: sections one and two. Section one was made up of a comprehension passage, while section two was composition writing.

SECTION ONE COMPREHENSION (UNDERSTANDING)

This part tested the candidates’ level of understanding text.

It was the section where most candidates performed poorly.

It was evidenced that most of the candidates found it difficult to understand the passage.

Answers to the questions showed that many candidates also lacked the ability to infer or pick information from a given text.

This is a negative trend which has been observed and needs to be addressed.

• Most of the candidates, through the vocabulary questions, showed that their stock of vocabulary was limited.
• Though the words they were asked to provide the meaning did not require inferences, yet some of the candidates did not perform well.

The words were: utter, terror, swiftly, glided

The candidates’ poor grasp of English grammar was evident again as only 14.7% of the candidates could identify in a lazy way as a prepositional phrase.

SECTION 2 ESSAY WRITING (APPLICATION)

• In this section, the candidates were required to write an essay of 250 words on the topic below:
• Schools have reopened for the new academic year. As a teacher, discuss three measures you have put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in your school. Most of the candidates understood the topic and wrote exactly on it. There were, however, others who either wrote very poor essays or could not write at all.

The candidates were conversant with the appropriate registers associated with COVID-19, but some of them had no idea about how these words are spelt.

WEAKNESSES OF THE CANDIDATES

The weaknesses observed include:

• Poor expression because of wrong concord, poor use of punctuation marks, and wrong use of tense
• Poor knowledge of the basic rules of English grammar.
• There were others who displayed lack of appropriate vocabulary items, and this hindered their ability to express themselves clearly and meaningfully

POOR SPELLINGS

Common mistakes that ran through most of the scripts were:

1. *Nois mask                         instead of                    Nose mask
2. *Hand saniteze instead of                    Hand sanitizers
3. *Veronice backet instead of                    Veronica bucket
4. *Meses                                     instead of                    Measures
5. *Noise max                         instead of                    Nose mask
6. *Handketchef                      instead of                    handkerchief
7. *Rounding water instead of                    running water
8. *Dis plaindemic             instead of                    This pandemic
9. *Blasket                                     instead of                    Bucket
10. *Tisshew                                     instead of                    Tissue
11. *Timometer                        instead of                    thermometer

POOR ESSAY WRITING

Some of the candidates wrote very poor or unintelligible. 

STRENGTH OF THE CANDIDATES

1. Some of the candidates made judicious use of the English language and displayed a remarkable degree of knowledge of the formal features of the essay they wrote.
2. Some of the candidates seemed to be adept at answering questions on the comprehension and multiple-choice questions of the paper as their works in these parts were good
3. Some candidates used appropriate vocabulary to write acceptable sentences in their essays.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Students should be encouraged to read widely on variety of topics to enrich their stock of vocabulary.
2. Teachers should teach thoroughly the grammar of English language so as to improve on sentence construction of the candidates.
3. Students should be taught paragraph development, and encouraged to be creative in essay writing
4. Workshops should be organized for English language teachers especially those at the basic and second cycle schools to update their knowledge in content and pedagogy.

The paper was in two parts: A and B. Part A was a multiple-choice test, which consisted of thirty questions to be answered for 30 marks.

Part B consisted of Comprehension and Essay writing tests.

The total mark for the Comprehension test was 10, while that of the Essay was 20.

Candidates were required to answer all the questions within one hour twenty-fiveminutes.

GENERAL COMMENTS

• A total number of nine thousand, four hundred and sixty-nine (9,469) candidates took part in the examination.
• Five hundred scripts were analysed to establish the pattern of the candidates’ performance.
• The highest score mark was 47, while the lowest mark was 5. The mean mark scored was 29
• There were no consistent differences between the performance of the candidates this year and that of the previous years

MULTIPLE TEST CHOICE KNOWLEDGE

• This section was made up of thirty multiple choice test items testing the students’ knowledge in the rudiments of English grammar and proficiency in the use of the language.
• The competencies that were tested included the following:

1. Arrangement of Adjective
2. Subject Verb Agreement

• Conditional sentences

1. Idiomatic expression Prepositions
2. Question Tags

• Relative pronouns
• Reported speech

1. Synonyms and antonyms
2. Voice
3. Identifying errors in passages

The candidates’ performance was generally not encouraging. Their performance reflected their incompetency in the areas they  were examined. The competency areas they performed poorly were:

• Identifying the meaning of idiomatic expression
• Identifying errors in a passage
• The correct use of tense.
• Subject Verb Agreement

However, the candidates performed well in

• finding words that are nearly opposite in meaning to other words
• the use of conditional sentence type three.
• 93% of the candidate had it correct.
• But the candidates performed poorly in conditional sentence type two in the two previous examinations.
• Only 7% of the candidates had question under it correctly.

PART B

This part had two sections: sections one and two. Section one was made up of a comprehension passage, while section two was composition writing.

SECTION ONE

COMPREHENSION (UNDERSTANDING)

This part tested the candidates’ level of understanding a text. The performance of the candidates in this year’s comprehension was very good. 88% of the candidates scored at least half of the total marks in this section, while 67% and 54% obtained the same marks in the two previous examinations.

SECTION 2: ESSAY WRITING

(Application)

In this section, the candidates were required to write an essay of 200 words on the topic below:

Virtual (online) teaching and learning has come to stay. Describe three challenges you encountered in using virtual (online) mode of teaching and learning in your institution.

Most of the candidates understood the topic but few could write good essays. There were, however, others who did not write the essay at all. The candidates could use appropriate registers associated with online learning, but some of them could not spell the words correctly.

WEAKNESS OF THE CANDIDATES

The weaknesses observed include:

1. Poor expression because of wrong concord, poor use of punctuation marks, and wrong use of tense
2. Poor knowledge of the basic rules of English grammar.
3. There were others who displayed lack of appropriate vocabulary items, and this hindered their ability to express themselves clearly and meaningfully.

 SPELLING MISTAKES

Common mistakes that were observed included the following:

5. Poor expressions:

Examples

1. The poor network encountered so many challenges to us. ii. When you go to our villages which are lack of light… iii. Virtual is person who cannot see iv. Lack of inadequate
2. First of almost vi. First of all lizzyless has been comes one of the online learning

vii. between teaching and learning in our institution viii. Some of the words on the video and internet are too smallest to see or varifly. Ix. Fruad, some of the fruad people taken an advantage to telling the studients that they     have apor dito dito for them.

Below are some of other challenges observed in the candidates’ essays:

Poor introduction

Poor use of transitional markers.

Poor construction

Poor spelling

Failure to write appropriate title.

Stating the topic sentences in fragments. Subject –verb agreement errors.

POOR INTRODUCTION

• Some candidates either did not or could not properly introduce their essays.

Example: “Good morning to Ghana Education Service in Ghana.”

• Quite a number of candidates wrote long introductions at the expense of the body of the essay. This affected them negatively.

POOR USE OF TRANSITIONAL MARKERS

• These markers are important in essay writing as they help to achieve both internal and external cohesion. But the candidates arbitrarily used them.

Examples:

• The first sentence of an essay began with:

In the nut shell’

• Beginning a middle paragraph with

‘to set the ball rolling’

POOR CONSTRUCTION

Examples:

• Zazu was overslept instead of Zazu overslept.
• You have to motivation people instead of You have to motivate people.
• You give he or she an a book instead of you give him or her a book.
• Students who mulpractice in examination instead of students who engage in malpractice during examination.
• Threely instead of thirdly

POOR SPELLING

1. *Quencequences           instead of    consequences
2. *Asentisim                     instead of     absenteeism
3. *Distory                         instead of  destroy
4. *Rule modles instead of  role models
5. *Bayase                           instead of bias
6. *Yaastic                          instead of  yardstick
7. *Carea                            instead of  carrier
8. *Palents                           nstead of  parents
9. *Trei                               instead of  try
10. *Pinalaled                   instead of  penalised
11. *Disciplane comitee instead of  disciplinary committee
12. *Law brekess                instead of law breakers
13. *Chelecely                     instead of  carelessly

      GENERAL OBSERVATION

• It was observed that in some instances many students gave the same answers to some questions.
• Collusion among the students or loose invigilation was highly expected. For instance, ‘tongue lashing’ as meaning of ‘scolding’ in the comprehension passage ran through the answers of most of the candidates. Also, similar points were given by most candidates in the essay writing.
• Notwithstanding the above challenges, there were some candidates who wrote good essays and deserve commendation.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Supervision and invigilation at the various centres should be strengthened in the future. The external supervisors posted to the various centres should ensure that invigilation is done effectively.
• Team leaders must report a day or two earlier to fine tune the marking scheme and hold their briefing session. This will not only help them to assist assistant examiners assigned to them but will also give them time to vet many scripts from each pack.
• Teachers must intensify the teaching of basic grammar. Students must be taught paragraph development CHAPTER NINE

REPORT ON LITERACY (2022 GTLE 1) STRUCTURE OF THE PAPER

The paper consisted of two main parts. These were part A and part B. Part A was a multiplechoice test, comprising thirty questions answered for 30 marks. Part B consisted of Comprehension and Essay writing tests. The total mark for the comprehension test was 10, while that for the Essay Writing test was 20. Candidates were required to answer all the questions within one hour and twenty-five minutes.

GENERAL COMMENTS ON THE PERFORMANCE

A total number of eleven thousand and sixty-six candidates took part in the examination. Five hundred scripts were analysed to establish the pattern of the candidates’ performance. The highest score mark was 52, while the lowest mark was 6. The mean mark scored was 30.62

The table below shows the candidates’ performance in the last three examination

OBSERVATIONS

1. It was observed that some of the candidates were oblivious to the difference in the order of the options of multiple-choice questions and therefore copied wrong answers from their colleagues.
2. Two candidates, for instance, scored two and three marks out of thirty. But when the other marking scheme was used to mark their scripts, they scored twentyfour and twenty-one respectively. iii. The candidate who scored two marks initially had fourteen answers correct but changed them for the wrong options.
3. It was also observed that a candidate performed poorly in the comprehension and the essay sections by obtaining one mark from each section, but the person could obtain twenty-eight marks out of thirty from the multiple-choice questions.

PART A: MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST (KNOWLEDGE)

This section was made up of thirty multiple-choice test items testing the students’ knowledge of the rudiments of English grammar and proficiency in the use of the language. The competencies that were tested included the following:

1. Arrangement of Adjective
2. Subject Verb Agreement

• Conditional sentences

1. Idiomatic expression Prepositions
2. Question Tags

• Relative pronouns
• Reported speech

1. Synonyms and antonyms
2. Voice
3. Identifying errors in passages

The candidates’ performance in this section was relatively encouraging. A few students scored all the items in this section. But some candidates scored less than ten marks, with a candidate scoring only two out of the thirty items. The competency areas they performed well were:

1. The use of conjunctions
2. The appropriate use of a preposition

3. Finding the synonym of another word

Q 22.  Considering the agenda, the meeting would be prolonged.            extended (89% of the candidates had the answer correct.)

4. The use of “fixed expressions”.

Q 3. The president arrived no sooner ………. they had left.

            than (53% of the candidates had the answer correct)

However, the candidates did not perform well in questions one, which dealt with conditional sentence type two. Unfortunately, the candidates’ inability to answer questions on conditional sentence type two has been a consistent trend, at least in the past three examinations.

Q 1.           1. Kwame would throw a party for all his mates if he ………….

          the award. *won (Only 20% of the candidates had the answer correct.)

PART B

This part had two sections: sections one and two. Section one comprised a comprehension passage, while section two was composition writing.

SECTION ONE: COMPREHENSION (UNDERSTANDING)

This part tested the candidates’ level of understanding a text. Like the previous examination, the performance of the candidates in comprehension was very good. Most of the candidates scored at least half of the total marks in this section, with an appreciable number of candidates scoring hundred percent in this year. However, some of the candidates scored zero.

SECTION 2: ESSAY WRITING (APPLICATION)

In this section, the candidates were required to write an essay of 200 words on the topic below:

There are many unemployed graduates in the community where you lived. Write a letter to your Member of Parliament discussing one cause of the problem and suggesting two ways of addressing it.

Most of the candidates understood the topic but a few could write good essays. Like in the previous examinations, there were others who did not write the essay at all. The candidates could use appropriate registers associated with the topic, but some of them could not spell many common words correctly.

WEAKNESS OF THE CANDIDATES

The weaknesses observed include the following.

1. Most of the students demonstrated that they knew next to nothing about the formal features of formal letters
2. The essay written by some of the candidates was a combination of features of debate writing and letter writing.
3. Some candidates wrote long-winding sentences, thereby making their essays difficult to understand.
4. Some candidates used sentence fragments to raise essay points.
5. The use of the verb ‘to be’ without a subject was a common feature in the essays. For example “…am writing …” instead of “I am”,

“…is difficult …..” instead of ‘It is difficult”

6. Spelling mistakes. Some common mistakes that were observed include the following:
   1. *recuiretment instead of                  recruitment
   2. *tialraing             instead of                    tailoring
   3. *capendarine           instead of                    carpentry
   4. *droba                      instead of                    driver
   5. *hournabie/honable instead of             honourable
   6. *consequency          instead of                    constituency
   7. *firstley             instead of                    firstly
   8. *concending             instead of                    concerning
   9. *vuluateers             instead of                    volunteers
   10. *yurse feuntfy          instead of                    yours faithfully
7. Poor or unintelligible essays.

STRENGTH OF THE CANDIDATES

1. A good number of the candidates displayed a remarkable degree of knowledge of the features of formal letters.
2. Majority of the candidates answered questions on the comprehension and multiplechoice questions of the paper very well.
3. Some candidates used the appropriate vocabulary/register to write acceptable sentences in their essays.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. The teaching of conditional sentences, especially type two, should be stressed.
2. The features of formal letters should be taught well.
3. The teaching of paragraph structure and connectives used by writers to introduce, emphasize, or restate the crucial points in the passage is recommended.
4. The features of the various essay topics should be emphasized and when to use each should be clearly distinguished.
5. The candidates’ weaknesses, strengths, and Chief Examiners’ recommendations components of the reports should be made available to prospective candidates at the NTC website.

Source; NTC GTLE Chief Examiners Report