This presentation is based on the information provided through a CIE webinar that was conducted by HELEN TONER. It will help you to teacher or attempt paper 2 of English language (1123)

1. GCE O’ LEVEL
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
SYLLABUS CODE 1123
PAPER 2
By Saima Abedi

2. PAPER 2: READING
 1 hour 45 minutes
 50 marks
 This paper has two sections and
candidates answer on the
question paper.

3. ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVES
 R1 Understand explicit meanings, through literal,
quotation and vocabulary questions. (Passage 2)
 R2 Understand implicit meanings and nuances of
language, through inferential, own words and
questions on writer’s craft. (Passage 2)
 R3 Scan and analyse text, by identifying and
summarising required information, such as
similarities and differences, or advantages and
disadvantages, or problems and solutions, or causes and
effects, or actions and consequences. (Passage 1)
 R4 Identify and respond to main ideas of a text, such as
follow a sequence or argument, identify conclusion,
distinguish fact from opinion, and give a personal response
to a theme in a text. (Passage 1)

4. SECTION 1: READING FOR IDEAS
(25 MARKS)
• Candidates scan a factual communication (or
communications) of approximately 700 words
• They identify and note down required information –
e.g. similarities and differences, or causes and
effects, or advantages and disadvantages, or
problems and solutions, or actions and
consequences.
• 15 marks are allocated for content points.
• Candidates use these notes to write a summary of
160 words (10 words will be already given). 5 marks
are allocated for language and 5 for own words.
 These will be short answer questions worth 5 marks.

5. Passage 1 (Factual/ Discursive)
1a) Note Making
• Write at least 15 content points excluding the given examples.
• The student may write more than 15.
• Accept own words or lifting. However, own words are not
recommended as they may cause confusion while writing the
summary (which should in own words).
•Accept sentences or note form. However if they are sentences,
they should not be entirely verbatim lift. Details should be deleted.

6. •If written in phrase than the point should be sensible
e.g. Extermination carried out. X
Extermination carried out for reward.
• If point is made in the wrong box OR out of the box, do not
award the mark.
• If more than one content point appears under a single bullet
point award each content point if correctly made.

7. •If content point being made depends on information
contained in another bullet point, withhold the mark unless
clear contextual link is made between two adjacent points, for
example, because / so / etc.
• Points should be in order but if not in sequence, they are
acceptable.
•Spelling and grammatical errors are not penalised here.

8. 1b) Summary Writing
•Use notes to compose a piece of formal, continuous prose.
Students may write the summary in one or two paragraphs.
•Use of OWN WORDS is mandatory.
•In USE OF ENGLISH, serious errors are penalized.
• At least 15 points should be used to compose the summary.
For example:
Wrong verb forms.
Serious tense errors.
Serious errors of sentence structure, especially in setting up subordination.
Omission or obvious misuse of prepositions.
Wholesale misunderstanding over the meanings of words used.
Serious errors of agreement.
Ingrained weakness of punctuation, i.e. the habitual comma replacing the
necessary full stop.
Mis-spellings of a minor nature. Count as a serious error when the form of the
word is severely mangled.
Obvious slips of repetition or omission.
Breakdown of sense.

9. Add the marks for OWN
WORDS and USE OF
ENGLISH together and
divide by two. Raise any
half marks to the nearest
whole number. Add this
mark to the
Content mark and show as
a total in the right-hand
margin.

10. Critical Skills
Short Question Answers:
• Write or distinguish Fact from Opinion
• Identify Conclusion (T/F or CT; Tick off the
correct answer; write the conclusion)
• Give Personal Knowledge/ Experience (Do
not quote any example from the passage)

11. • Candidates read a narrative passage (e.g. report,
article, story) of approximately 700 words.
• They then answer short answer questions testing
their ability to understand the language (both
explicit and implicit meanings).
Section 2: Reading for Meaning
(25 marks)

12. TYPES OF COMPREHENSION
QUESTIONS
Explicit Meaning
Questions
Implicit Meaning
Questions
Literal Inferential
Quotation
Vocabulary Writer’s craft
Own Words

13. Passage 2 (Narrative)
Explicit Questions
•Literal: The answer of such question is quite obvious. Furthermore, the key
word in the question directs you towards the answer.
•Quotation: A single word or phrase from the passage is to be extracted.
However, following instruction is very important here. A single word means
single word.
•Own Words: The reader needs to look for the keywords in the passage
and replace them using their synonyms. The number of marks tells the number
of key words to be found.
•Vocabulary: Eight words will be given; only five words’ meaning ought to be
written. Here, a synonym or description of that word within seven words is
required. Yet the meaning should be according to the context.

14. Implicit Questions
Inferential: The reader is expected to think about the ideas
given in the passage and drive a conclusion.
Writer’s Craft: Here the reader should mention the effect the
writer wants to create through his words.

15. Underlined- necessary to mention e.g. Mothers / females
(Bracket) - not necessary to mention e.g. (They are hungry because)
/ single slash- Another word/s e.g. cleared for palm oil plantations /
trees
// double slash- Another option e.g. Their food (source) is destroyed //
they have no / less food
Marking Scheme Codes:

16. Question & Answer
Session