2023/2024 WAEC Syllabus for English Language (By Section)

WAEC syllabus, like any other syllabus is a written document containing the order for which a course should be taught and the areas of Concentration for which students will be assessed on the course.

Thus, the WAEC syllabus for English Language contains the area of concern where a student should expect questions to be gotten from. It also contains the objectives, notes, and formats for the English language examination.

This means that every question you will see on the examination sheet will be derived from context in the syllabus. Thus, be sure to read through everything, as long as the topic is in the syllabus. For the 2023/2024 WAEC syllabus for English Language, this is what you expect.

The examination will be in three forms, meaning three papers. While Papers 1 and 2 will be taken at one sitting, paper 3 will test candidates’ knowledge of Oral English. There will be two alternatives for this paper:  Candidates in Ghana, The Gambia and Sierra Leone will be tested in listening comprehension and those in Nigeria and Liberia will take a paper on a test of oral.

Paper 1

PAPER 1: (For candidates in The Gambia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Liberia only)

LEXIS AND STRUCTURE

LEXIS

• Building and Building Construction;
• Agriculture
• Fishing
• Stock exchange
• Health
• Environment
• Culture, Institutions and Ceremonies
• Law and Order
• Motor Vehicles and Travelling
• Government and Administration
• Sports
• Religion
• Science and Technology
• Animal husbandry
• Idioms, i.e. idiomatic expressions and collocations (e.g. ‘hook, line and sinker, ‘every Tom, Dick and Harry” etc.) the total meaning of which cannot be arrived at simply by consideration of the dictionary meanings of the words in the structures in which they appear.
• Structural elements of English e.g. sequence of tenses, matching of pronouns with their antecedents, correct use of prepositions etc.
• Figurative Usage

STRUCTURE

• Tense, number, degree, etc patterns
• The patterns in which different categories of words regularly combine to form groups and these groups, in turn, combine to form sentences;
• The use of structural words e.g. conjunctions, determiners, prepositions, etc.

Paper 2

PAPER 2: (For all candidates)

The paper will be divided into three sections: Sections A, B and C. Candidates will be required to spend 2 hours on this paper.

Section A

SECTION A: ESSAY WRITING (50 marks)

This section will test candidates writing abilities in the following areas;

• Letter;
• Speech;
• Narration;
• Description;
• Argument/Debate;
• Report;
• Article;
• Exposition;
• Creative Writing.

The minimum length will be 450 words.

Section B

SECTION B: COMPREHENSION (20 marks)

Candidates will be tested on;

• Ability to give appropriate equivalents for selected words or phrases;
• Understand the factual content;
• Make inferences from the content of the passage;
• Understand the use of English expressions that reveal/reflect sentiments/emotions/attitudes;
• Identify and label basic grammatical structures, words, phrases or clauses and explain their functions as they appear in the context;
• Identify and explain basic literary terms and expressions;
• Recast phrases or sentences into grammatical alternatives.
• The passage will be chosen from a wide variety of sources all of which should be suitable for this level of examination in terms of theme and interest.
• The passage will be written in modern English that should be within the experience of candidates.
• The comprehension test will include at least four questions based on (ii) above.

Section C

SECTION C: SUMMARY (30 marks)

This will include a prose passage and candidates will be marked based on the following;

• Extract relevant information;
• Summarize the points demanded in clear concise English, avoiding repetition and redundancy;
• Present a summary of specific aspects or portions of the passage.
• The passage will be selected from a wide variety of suitable sources, including excerpts from narratives, dialogues, and expositions of social, cultural, economic, and political issues in any part of the world.

Part 3

PAPER 3: ORAL ENGLISH (30 marks)

Listening Comprehension Test: (For candidates in Ghana, The Gambia, and Sierra Leone)

This will be made up of sixty multiple choice objective questions on:

Consonants, consonant clusters, vowels, diphthongs, stress and intonation patterns, dialogues and narratives.

Section 1: Test of word-final voiced-voiceless consonants in isolated words mainly, but other features such as consonant clusters may also be tested.

Section 2: Test of vowel quality in isolated words.

Section 3: Test of vowel quality and consonant contrasts in isolated words.

Section 4: One of three options below will be used in different years:

• Test of vowel and/or consonant contrasts in sentence contexts;
• Test of vowel and consonant contrasts in isolated words- to be selected from a list of at least four-word contrasts;
• Test of vowel and consonant contrasts through rhymes.

Section 5: Test of rhymes

Section 6: Test of comprehension of emphatic stress

Section 7: Test of understanding of the content of longer dialogues and narratives

NOTE: CD players will be used for the administration of this Listening Comprehension Test.

Features To Be Tested

CONSONANTS

Single Consonants – Candidates should be able to recognize and produce all significant sound contrasts in the consonantal system of English. For the guidance of candidates, a few examples of such contrasts are given below.

Initial                                        Medial                                                 Final

They  –  Day                       Buzzes    –         Buses                           Boat     –         Both

Ship  –   Chip                      Parcel     –         Partial                         Breathe   –        Breed

Fan  –    Van                         Sopping   –        Sobbing                     Wash      –         Watch

Pit   –     Fit                         Written       –         Ridden                       Leaf      –         Leave

Pit  –     Bit                         Anger   –         Anchor                               Cup      –         Cub

Tuck – Duck                       Faces      –        Phrases                             Cart      –         Card

Card – Guard                      Prices     –        Prizes                                     Gear – Jeer

Consonant Clusters – Candidates should be able to produce and recognize consonant clusters which may occur both initially and finally in a syllable. They should also be able to recognize and produce consonant sounds in a consonant cluster in the right order. For the guidance of candidates, a few examples are given below.

Initial                                                                                Final

Play           –         Pray                                         Rains       –         Range

Sting          –         String                                       Felt       –          Felled

Scheme      –          Scream                                    Sent      –          Send

Crime         –         Climb                                       Nest      –          Next

Flee       –                Free                                         Ask       –         axe

Three          –        Tree                                           Lift       –         Lived

True            –       Drew                                         Missed       –      Mixed

Blight         –         Bright                                        Seats    –         Seeds

Tread          –         Thread                                       Hens     –         Hence

Drift           –         Thrift                                          Lisp       –         Lips

Glade         –         Grade                                           Coast    –         Coats

Vowels

• Pure Vowels
• Diphthongs
• Triphthongs

Candidates should be able to recognize and produce all the significant sound contrasts in the vowel system of English. For the guidance of candidates, a few examples of such contrasts are given below.

Seat      –           Sit

Sit        –           Set

Peck     –           Pack

Pack     –           Park

Cart      –           Cat

Load     –           Lord

Pair      –           Purr

Park     –           Port

Hard     –           Heard

Word    –           Ward

Let        –           Late

Cheer    –           Chair

Pet       –           Pat                   –           Part      –           Pate

Hat       –           Heart                –           Height  –           Hate     –           Hut

Caught   –           Cot                   –           Cut       –           Curt

Pool     –           Pull                  –           Pole

Bird      –           Bed                  –           Bared

But       –           Bat

Stress

Word Stress

Word Stress – Candidates should be able to contrast stressed and unstressed syllables in words which are not otherwise distinguished.

In addition, they should be aware of the possibility of shifting stress from one syllable to another in different derivations of the same word with the consequent change in vowel quality.

For the guidance of candidates, a few examples of changing word stress are given below.

‘increase          (noun)              in’crease          (verb)

‘import “                                   im’port “

‘rebel  “                                      re’bel “

‘convict “                                 con’vict“

‘extract “                                   ex’tract “

‘record “                                    re’cord“

‘subject “                                  sub’ject “

Sentence Stress

Sentence Stress – Candidates should be aware that stress in sentences in English tends to occur at regular intervals in time. English is therefore called a stress-timed language.

They should also be aware that in most sentences unless some sort of emphasis is introduced, only nouns, main verbs (not auxiliaries), adjectives and adverbs are stressed.

Final pronouns should not be stressed unless some kind of contrast is intended: relative pronouns should not be stressed, nor should possessive pronouns.

Thus, for example, the following sentences should be stressed as indicated:

• He ‘went to the town and ‘bought some ‘oranges.
• I ‘told him to ‘go to the ‘station to ‘ask when the train would ‘leave.
• Did you ‘ask him?
• I ‘read it but I did not understand it.
• They ar’rived yesterday.
• I ‘fetched his ‘book.

NOTE: There are a few words in English that are pronounced differently depending on whether or not they are stressed in the sentence. These are usually called strong and weak forms.

Emphatic Stress

Emphatic stress – Candidates should be aware of the use of emphatic stress, most commonly to indicate a contrast, which is realized partly as a change in pitch within the intonational pattern.

This falling pitch illustrated below is one of the common ways of indicating this:

• He borrowed ‘my newspaper. (i.e. not hers)
• He’ borrowed my newspaper. (i.e. he did not steal it)
• He borrowed my ‘newspaper.(i.e. not my book)
• ‘He borrowed my newspaper.(i.e. not someone else’s)

Intonation

Falling Pattern

• They ar’rived to’day. –           Statement
• ‘Where did he ‘go? –           WH question
• ‘Come ‘here! –           Command

Rising Pattern

• Did he ‘see the ‘principal? – Yes/No question
• When the ‘train arrived. –          Incomplete
• They arrived to’day? –                 Question

Oral English

Test Of Orals (For candidates in Nigeria and Liberia)

The test will cover the following areas:

• Vowels – pure vowels and diphthongs;
• Consonants and clusters;
• Rhymes;
• Word stress/Syllable Structure;
• Emphatic Stress/Intonation Patterns;
• Phonetic Symbols.

What’s your take on this? We believe this article was helpful, if yes, don’t hesitate to share this information with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and other Social Platforms.