WASSCE Candidates’ Weaknesses In Twi (Akwapem) And Remedies | Extract From Chief Examiners Report Towards WASSCE 2023 Twi (Akwapem)
Teachers preparing students for any examination are always worried about the potential weaknesses in answers that their students will provide during the examination. Fortunately, the main examining body, the West Africa Examination Council always provide WASSCE candidates’ weaknesses in Twi (Akwapem) during the last held examinations.
WAEC Summary of 2021 WASSCE In Twi (Akwapem) Paper One (1)
A. SUMMARY OF CANDIDATES’ STRENGTH
- a) Many candidates complied with the required length of the composition ie not fewer than 500 words.
- b) Many candidates exhibited clear understanding of the rubrics and wrote good composition on the chosen topics.
- c) Many candidates expressed themselves intelligibly in the language using appropriate registers and various literary devices in appropriate contexts.
- d) Many candidates performed creditably in the translation.
B. SUMMARY OF CANDIDATES’ WEAKNESSES
- a) Mechanical accuracy was generally poor.
- b) Generally, candidates’ performance in the comprehension was poor.
- c) A few candidates performed abysmally in the phonology and syntax especially questions (7) and (9).
C. SUGGESTED REMEDIES
- a) There should be a lot of vocabulary exercises including spelling, dictation and punctuation, aiming at assisting students to overcome their handicap in mechanical accuracy.
- b) There should be many exercises in translation.
- c) Lessons in translation should be geared towards meaning-based translation to enhance students’ communication competence.
- d) Reading comprehension exercises should focus much more on inference, application, analysis, grammatical function and literary devices questions rather than recall.
- e) The teaching and learning of phonology and syntax should be intensified.
WAEC Summary of 2020 WASSCE In Twi (Akwapem) Paper One (1)
A. SUMMARY OF CANDIDATES’ STRENGTHS
(1) Some candidates had good control over the language. They used proverbs and idiomatic expressions in their essay writings.
(2) It was realized that, generally, a good number of candidates were able to write the required number of words on selected topics on the essay writing test. A few also went further to use contemporary expressions to enhance the beauty of their essays.
(3) Regarding the translation, most candidates were able to translate the English text better into Akuapem Twi this time around.
B. SUMMARY OF CANDIDATES’ WEAKNESSES
(1) The first weakness observed was poor spelling. This has been a major problem with candidates over the years. Every year, reference is made to how poor spelling makes candidates score low marks for mechanical accuracy. But it seems nothing is being done to improve students’ spelling. For example, words that are supposed to be single entities were separated while words that are supposed to be separate units were written as one word.
(2) The second weakness of some candidates was that they started writing their essays very well but, in the middle, lifted some portions of the comprehension passage and added conclusions.
(3) Finally, it was observed that some candidates could not read and understand the comprehension passage based on the answers they provided.
C. SUGGESTED REMEDIES
(1) More spelling drills and vocabulary building activities could be used to help improve candidates’ spelling. Candidates should also be given more essay writing exercises to assist them in the correct spelling and use of words.
(2) They should also be educated to desist from copying portions of the comprehension passage as part of their essays.
(3) Finally, teachers should use the Directed Reading Activity (DRA) method where they put questions on the board and give students a passage and make them read to the end of the paragraph where they can find the answer to a question. This will assist students to read and understand comprehension passages.
WAEC Summary of 2021 WASSCE In Twi (Akwapem) Paper Two (2)
A. SUMMARY OF CANDIDATE’S STRENGTHS
1) Most of the candidates performed very well in the Oral Literature components of the paper.
2) A few candidates could discuss the points they gave in answer to the questions as demanded by some of the questions and were rewarded accordingly.
3) With respect to the Written Literature, the majority of the candidates were able to state the theme of the poem as well as the literary devices in them.
4) Some of the candidates’ work was extraordinary. They gave mature and coherent responses.
B. SUMMARY OF CANDIDATES’ WEAKNESSES
1) Most of the candidates failed to explain their points as demanded by some of the questions. The candidates could not differentiate between the expression “kyerɛ” (state\mention) and “kyerekyerɛ” (Discuss). Hence they stated the points while they were expected to explain. This shortcoming made most of the candidates lose marks.
2) Some of the candidates answered more than the required number of questions. As a result, they answered two questions from the same section when they were expected to answer only one. The resultant effect was that they could not answer other questions as expected due to lack of time.
C. SUGGESTED REMEDIES
(1) Teachers should teach students techniques of answering questions and give them exercises to test their knowledge.
(2) Teachers are entreated to continue teaching their students the techniques of poetry appreciation.
They should then give them more exercises to practice, mark them and thereafter discuss their shortcomings so as to overcome the challenge.
(3) Teachers should motivate their students to buy the set books and encourage them to develop the love for Written Literature.
(4) Teachers should advise their candidates to study the questions carefully before they attempt answering them so that they will be able to meet the demands of the questions they select.
WAEC Summary of 2020 WASSCE In Twi (Akwapem) Paper Two (2)
A. SUMMARY OF CANDIDATES’ STRENGTHS
(1) Overall, candidates exhibited strength in Customs and Institutions. Most of them were able to give good proverbs and their meanings. The duties of the chief were also well answered.
(2) In written Literature, most of them were able to state literary devices in Q.7
B. SUMMARY OF CANDIDATES’ WEAKNESSES
(1) Stating of thethemes of the giving poems was problematic, candidates copied lines in the poem and used them as themes, instead of fishing out what the poem is about.
(2) Candidates in answering questions from the Prose added irrelevant materials which were not related to the question.
(3) Candidates did not elaborate pointsraised. They just stated the points and did not give any explanation thereby losing some marks.
See also: WASSCE results: WAEC released latest errors to avoid
SUGGESTED REMEDIES
(1) Subject teachers are advised to take the teaching of literary appreciation seriously.
(2) In Literature, any point raised must be explained for the examiner to know what exactly the candidate is talking about.
(3) Candidates must make good use of the time allocated for the paper by giving detailed or elaborated answers
It is the hope of our team that candidates will perform better when teachers and candidates go through this summary of strengths, WASECE candidates’ weaknesses in Twi (Akwapem) and remedies and apply same
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