Study this course in Learn

Practice opens in your NABTEB workspace after you sign in. Questions and lecture notes stay there.

Practice this course Open lecture notes

Official rules, eligibility, and dates stay on the NABTEB guide.

course outline

PAPER I
- General literary principles
- Literary Appreciation and Techniques
- Contextual questions on Africa and Non-Africa drama set books
- Unseen Prose and Poetry Passages
PAPER 2: DRAMA AND POETRY
PAPER 3 - PROSE
- SECTION A: AFRICAN PROSE
- SECTION B: NON-AFRICAN PROSE
RECOMMENDED REFERENCE BOOKS AND ANTHOLOGIES
- A Section of African Poetry, introduced and annotated by K.E. Sehanu and T. Vincent (Longman)).
- The Penguin Book of English Verse, edited by John Hayward (Pengiun).
- Any poetry Anthology containing the recommended poems.
- Eustace Palmer: An Introduction to the African Novel (HEB).
- E.N. Obiechina – Culture, Tradition and society in the West African Novel (Cambridge).
- Boris Ford – The Pelican Guide to English Literature: (7 volumes).
- Niyi Osundare: The Eye of the Earth (Poems)
- Ben Omonode: Introduction to Literature; University of Benin Press, Benin City.
1. Comprehension
- Identify new words and expressions from any given test
- Read and answer questions on a given literary material.
- Suitable passages from selected literary texts to be read at a given speed of 100 words per minutes.
- Selected suitable literary materials of appropriate level with new words.
- Carefully design questions relating to selected text.
- Literary materials should be taken from prose, poetry and drama texts.
2. Literary Appreciation
- Appreciate figurative expressions, imagery and style in literary texts.
- Identify qualities of a good text.
- Qualities of a good text: Language, Theme, Plot, Characterisation, Setting.
- Selected unseen passages of appropriate level of complexity in which many figurative expressions are appreciated.
- Questions designed to lead students to discover characters and incidents in literary text.
- Qualities of suitable material: Language, Print, Illustration, Styles.
- Figures of Speech should be discussed extensively.
3. Literature
- To identify different types of literary genres.
- To identify elements of prose literature.
- To identify elements of drama
- Identify figures of speech and literary styles in any given literary piece.
- Literary Genres: prose, Poetry, drama.
- Elements of Prose: Incident, characters, plots, theme.
- Style: e.g. flashback, play-within-play, plot, setting, mode of narration, aside etc.
- Figures of speech: simile, metaphor, climax, personification etc.
- Literary styles common to the different literary genres should be highlighted.
4. Appreciation
- Write own simple literary pieces
- Beauty of a text: such as atmosphere i.e. the feeling, figurative expressions etc.
- Short explanation on the text. Complex interpretation and relation with real-life situations.
- Trainees should be encouraged to write poems, short stories and short drama pieces to be put on stage.

Topics

SECTION A: AFRICAN DRAMA
One of the following texts should be studied: Wole Soyinka: The Trials of Brother Jero, Athol Fugard: Sizwe Bambi is Dead.
SECTION B: NON-AFRICAN DRAMA
One of the following texts should be studied: Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice, George B. Shaw: The Taming of the Shrew.
SECTION C: AFRICAN POETRY
The following poems should be studied: Traditional: 'My Song Bursts', Traditional: Salute to the Elephant, Oswald Mitshali: ‘Night fall in Soweto', Henry Barlow: ‘Building the Nation.’, David Rubadiri: ‘ An African Thunderstorm', Niyi Osundare: ‘Ours to plough not to plunder’.
SECTION D: NON-AFRICAN POETRY
The following poems should be studied: John Kents: ‘Ode to Nightingale', Robert Burns: 'Red Red Rose', John Donne: ‘Death be not Proud', T.S. Eliot: 'Journey of the Magi', William Blake: ‘A poison Tree', Alfred Tennyson: ‘Ulysses’.
SECTION A: AFRICAN PROSE
One of the following texts should be studied: Buchi Emecheta: Slave Wife, Ngugiwa thiong'o : Weep Not Child.
SECTION B: NON-AFRICAN PROSE
One of the following texts should be studied: Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol, Sir Rider Haggard: King Solomon's Mines.
2. Literary Appreciation
Involves understanding figurative language, textual elements, and the characteristics of effective literary works.
3. Literature
Covers the identification of literary genres, elements of prose and drama, and various figures of speech and literary styles.
4. Appreciation
Focuses on creative writing and understanding the aesthetic qualities of texts, including interpretation and real-life connections.

Literature-in-English

NABTEB

course outline

Topics

SECTION A: AFRICAN DRAMA

SECTION B: NON-AFRICAN DRAMA

SECTION C: AFRICAN POETRY

SECTION D: NON-AFRICAN POETRY

SECTION A: AFRICAN PROSE

SECTION B: NON-AFRICAN PROSE

2. Literary Appreciation

3. Literature

4. Appreciation