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WAEC • English Language • Syllabus

WAEC English Language Syllabus for WASSCE 2027

The WAEC English Language syllabus is the list of topics WASSCE English Language questions are set from, with the exam body's notes on how far each topic goes. Use it as a revision checklist: pick a topic, read what it covers, then practise past questions on it until you can answer them in exam time.

Syllabus content © The West African Examinations Council. Source. Summaries marked “Our summary” are written by DeeepSolve.

WASSCE English Language exam scheme

Exam scheme

Papers
There will be three papers, Papers 1, 2 and 3, all of which must be taken. Papers 1 and 2 will be a composite paper to be taken at one sitting.
Paper 1
Will consist of eighty multiple choice questions, all of which should be answered within 1 hour for 40 marks.
Paper 2
Will consist of five essay topics and a passage each to test candidates' comprehension and summary skills. Candidates will be expected to write an essay on one of the topics and answer all the questions on the comprehension and summary passages. The paper will last 2 hours and carry 100 marks.
Paper 3
Will consist of sixty multiple choice items on Test of Orals for candidates in Nigeria and Liberia, and Listening Comprehension Test for candidates in the Gambia and Sierra Leone. All the questions should be answered in 45 minutes for 30 marks.

Lexis

Our summary: The vocabulary part of Paper 1: words from everyday life and many fields of work, idioms, figurative language and word meanings.

Vocabulary of fields of human activity

Our summary: Everyday words and the general words people use about common areas of life such as farming, health, law, sport and travel.

Contents

  • In addition to items testing knowledge of the vocabulary of everyday usage (i.e. home, social relationships, and common core school subjects), questions will be set to test candidates' ability in the use of the general vocabulary associated with the following fields of human activity:
  • 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
  • Advertising
  • Human Internal Body system and function

Notes

  • The term 'general' vocabulary refers to those words and usage of words normally associated with the fields of human activity in A1 above which are generally known, used and understood by most educated people who, while not engaged in that field of activity, may have occasion to read, speak or write about it. Thus, for example, in the vocabulary of transportation by road, one would expect knowledge of terms such as 'pedestrian bridge' and 'traffic signs' which most educated people understand, but not 'berm' or 'camber' which are specialized.

Sense relations

Our summary: Choosing words that are nearest or opposite in meaning, and telling apart words that look or sound alike.

Contents

  • Sense relations in the use of lexical itemsWAEC note: e.g. synonyms, antonyms and homonyms.

Notes

  • All items will be phrased in such a way as to test the use and understanding of the required lexis, rather than dictionary definitions and explanations. In practice, the test of lexis will be so designed as to explore, not merely the extent of the candidates' vocabulary but more importantly their ability to respond to sense relations in the use of lexical items e.g. synonyms, antonyms and homonyms.

Idioms

Our summary: Fixed expressions whose meaning is more than the meaning of their separate words.

Contents

  • 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

Our summary: Grammar points tested inside vocabulary items, such as tense sequence, pronoun agreement and prepositions.

Contents

  • Structural elements of EnglishWAEC note: e.g. sequence of tenses, matching of pronouns with their antecedents, correct use of prepositions etc.

Figurative usage

Our summary: Recognising when words are used figuratively rather than literally, and what they then mean.

Contents

  • Figurative usage

Notes

  • In the test of figurative language, candidates will be expected to recognize when an expression is used figuratively and not only when it is used literally.

Structure

Our summary: The grammar part of Paper 1: how words change form, how they combine into phrases and sentences, and the small words that join them.

Changes in word forms

Our summary: How words change their form to show number, tense, degree and similar meanings.

Contents

  • The patterns of changes in word-forms which indicate number, tense, degree, etc.

Word groups and sentence patterns

Our summary: How different kinds of words combine into groups, and how those groups build sentences.

Contents

  • The patterns in which different categories of words regularly combine to form groups and these groups in turn combine to form sentences.

Structural words

Our summary: Using linking and pointing words such as conjunctions, determiners and prepositions correctly.

Contents

  • The use of structural wordsWAEC note: e.g. conjunctions, determiners, prepositions, etc.

Essay writing, comprehension and summary

Our summary: Paper 2: writing one essay, answering questions on a reading passage, and summarising another passage.

Essay writing

Our summary: Writing one essay of at least 450 words in a set form such as a letter, speech, story, report or argument.

Contents

  • Letter
  • Speech
  • Narration
  • Description
  • Argument/debate
  • Report
  • Article
  • Exposition
  • Creative writing

Notes

  • Section A of Paper 2 (50 marks). Candidates will be required to spend 50 minutes on this section. There will be five questions in all and candidates will be required to answer only one question.
  • The questions will test candidates' ability to communicate in writing. The topics will demand the kinds of writing listed above.
  • Marks will be awarded for: (i) Content: relevance of ideas to the topic; (ii) Organization: formal features (where applicable), good paragraphing, appropriate emphasis and arrangement of ideas; (iii) Expression: effective control of vocabulary and sentence structure; (iv) Mechanical Accuracy: correct grammar, punctuation, spelling etc.
  • The minimum length will be 450 words.

Comprehension

Our summary: Reading a passage closely and answering questions on its facts, meaning, tone, grammar and word choice.

Contents

  • Find 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

Notes

  • Section B of Paper 2 (20 marks). Candidates will be required to spend 30 minutes on this section. The section will consist of one passage of at least three hundred and fifty (350) words. Candidates will be required to answer all the questions on the passage.
  • 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 understanding the factual content.

Summary

Our summary: Picking out the points a question asks for from a long passage and stating them briefly in clear English.

Contents

  • 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

Notes

  • Section C of Paper 2 (30 marks). Candidates will be required to spend 40 minutes on this section. The section will consist of one prose passage of about five hundred (500) words.
  • 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.

Oral English

Our summary: Paper 3: the sounds of English, where stress falls in words and sentences, intonation, rhymes and phonetic symbols.

Vowels

Our summary: Telling apart and pronouncing English vowel sounds: pure vowels, diphthongs and triphthongs.

Contents

  • 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.
  • Examples of vowel contrastsWAEC note: 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.

Consonants

Our summary: Telling apart and pronouncing English consonant sounds, alone and in clusters, at the start, middle and end of words.

Contents

  • Single consonantsWAEC note: 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.
  • Single consonants, initialWAEC note: they – day; ship – chip; fan – van; pit – fit; pit – bit; tuck – duck; card – guard; gear – jeer.
  • Single consonants, medialWAEC note: buzzes – buses; parcel – partial; sopping – sobbing; written – ridden; anger – anchor; faces – phrases; prices – prizes.
  • Single consonants, finalWAEC note: boat – both; breathe – breed; wash – watch; leaf – leave; cup – cub; cart – card.
  • Consonant clustersWAEC note: 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 the consonant sounds in a consonant cluster in the right order. For the guidance of candidates, a few examples are given below.
  • Consonant clusters, initialWAEC note: play – pray; sting – string; scheme – scream; crime – climb; flee – free; three – tree; true – drew; blight – bright; tread – thread; drift – thrift; glade – grade.
  • Consonant clusters, finalWAEC note: rains – range; felt – felled; sent – send; nest – next; ask – axe; lift – lived; missed – mixed; seats – seeds; hens – hence; lisp – lips; coast – coats; marks – masks.

Word stress

Our summary: Which syllable of a word is stressed, and how stress can move between related words such as a noun and a verb.

Contents

  • Word stressWAEC note: 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 consequent change in vowel quality. For the guidance of candidates, a few examples of changing word stress are given below.
  • Examples of changing word stress (noun – verb)WAEC note: ˈincrease – inˈcrease; ˈimport – imˈport; ˈrebel – reˈbel; ˈconvict – conˈvict; ˈextract – exˈtract; ˈrecord – reˈcord; ˈsubject – subˈject.
  • Syllable structure

Sentence stress

Our summary: Which words carry stress in an ordinary English sentence, and the strong and weak forms of small words.

Contents

  • Sentence stressWAEC note: 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 ˈwent to the town and ˈbought some ˈoranges.
  • I ˈtold him to ˈgo to the ˈstation to ˈask when the train would ˈleave.
  • Did you ˈask him?
  • I ˈread it but I did not understand it.
  • They arˈrived yesterday.
  • I ˈfetched his ˈbook.

Notes

  • 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

Our summary: Stressing one word in a sentence to show a contrast, and what each choice of stressed word means.

Contents

  • Emphatic stressWAEC note: 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 ˈmy newspaper.WAEC note: i.e. not hers
  • He ˈborrowed my newspaper.WAEC note: i.e. he did not steal it
  • He borrowed my ˈnewspaper.WAEC note: i.e. not my book
  • ˈHe borrowed my newspaper.WAEC note: i.e. not someone else's

Intonation

Our summary: The rise and fall of the voice in statements, questions and commands, and what each pattern signals.

Contents

  • IntonationWAEC note: Candidates should be made aware of the different forms that English intonation takes in relation to the grammar of the language and the attitudes conveyed by the speaker. There are two basic intonation patterns or tunes: the falling and rising patterns. They should also realize that whereas the normal place for the changing pitch in an intonation is the last stressed syllable of the utterance (as indicated below), placing the changing pitch elsewhere implies a contrast to the item on which this changing pitch falls.
  • Falling patternWAEC note: They arˈrived toˈday. (statement); ˈWhere did he ˈgo? (WH question); ˈCome ˈhere! (command)
  • Rising patternWAEC note: Did he ˈsee the ˈprincipal? (Yes/No question); When the ˈtrain arrived. (incomplete); They arrived toˈday? (question)

Notes

  • The two patterns indicated above may be combined in longer sentences, e.g. When the ˈtrain arˈrived, the passengers were on the platform.
  • Candidates should note, in addition, that any unstressed syllable following the last stressed syllable of the sentence is said on a low level pitch when the pattern is falling, but continues the rise if the pattern is rising. The same rule applies to tags following quoted speech.

Rhymes

Our summary: Recognising words whose final sounds rhyme, even when they are spelt differently.

Contents

  • Rhymes
  • Test of vowel and consonant contrasts through rhymes

Phonetic symbols

Our summary: Matching the symbols used to write English sounds to the sounds and the letters in words.

Contents

  • Phonetic symbols

More from the WAEC English Language syllabus

Preamble

  • This examination sets out to test the different basic skills of communicating in English using the mediums of speech and writing. The examination will test the receptive and productive abilities of candidates. These abilities will be demonstrated in the following forms: reading, comprehension, summary, vocabulary, lexis and structure, listening comprehension and recognition of different aspects of spoken English.

Aims and objectives

  • The objective of the syllabus is to measure the extent to which the aims of the teaching syllabuses of member countries have been realized in candidates' secondary school career. The examination sets out to examine candidates' ability to:
  • use correct English;
  • write about incidents in English that are appropriate to specified audiences and situations;
  • organize material in paragraphs that are chronologically, spatially and logically coherent;
  • control sentence structures accurately;
  • exhibit variety in the use of sentence patterns;
  • comply with the rules of grammar;
  • spell and punctuate correctly;
  • comprehend written and spoken English;
  • recognize implied meaning, tones and attitudes;
  • use an acceptable pronunciation that can be comprehended by others;
  • recognize the physical characteristics of English sounds and the letters that represent them;
  • pick out and summarize relevant information from set passages.

Paper 1 (The Gambia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Liberia)

  • This is an objective/multiple choice paper comprising eighty questions: forty lexical and forty structural questions. Each question will have four options lettered A to D.

Paper 2 (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.

Paper 3: Oral English

  • This paper 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 test of oral.
  • Test of Orals (Nigeria and Liberia): The test will also be of the multiple-choice objective type consisting of sixty questions on a wide range of areas or aspects of Orals as contained in the syllabus. The test will cover the following areas: 1. Vowels – pure vowels and diphthongs; 2. Consonants and clusters; 3. Rhymes; 4. Word stress/Syllable Structure; 5. Emphatic Stress/Intonation Patterns; 6. Phonetic Symbols.
  • Listening Comprehension Test (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.
  • Listening Comprehension, Section 1: Test of word final voiced-voiceless consonants in isolated words mainly, but other features such as consonant clusters may also be tested.
  • Listening Comprehension, Section 2: Test of vowel quality in isolated words.
  • Listening Comprehension, Section 3: Test of vowel quality and consonant contrasts in isolated words.
  • Listening Comprehension, Section 4: One of three options below will be used in different years: (i) test of vowel and/or consonant contrasts in sentence contexts; (ii) test of vowel and consonant contrasts in isolated words, to be selected from a list of at least four-word contrasts; (iii) test of vowel and consonant contrasts through rhymes.
  • Listening Comprehension, Section 5: Test of rhymes.
  • Listening Comprehension, Section 6: Test of comprehension of emphatic stress.
  • Listening Comprehension, Section 7: Test of understanding of the content of longer dialogues and narratives.
  • Listening Comprehension, note: CD players will be used for the administration of this Listening Comprehension Test.

Syllabus content © The West African Examinations Council. Taken from https://waecsyllabus.com/files/ssce/ENGLISH%20LANGUAGE.pdf (WASSCE (harmonised West African syllabus)).

DeeepSolve is an independent study platform and is not affiliated with WAEC. The topic lists, notes and exam scheme are the exam body's wording; “Our summary” lines are ours. If anything here differs from what WAEC publishes for your sitting, follow WAEC.