HØGSKOLEN I SØR-TRØNDELAG Avdeling for lærer- og tolkeutdanning

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1 HØGSKOLEN I SØR-TRØNDELAG Avdeling for lærer- og tolkeutdanning Course code(s): LGU53003 Course name: English Study points (ECTS): 30 Exam date: May 6 Duration/hours: 6 hrs Language: Contact person: (contact details on the day of the exam) The exam consists of: (number of tasks/questions and number of pages, incl. front page) Attachments: (number of pages) English Ingunn Ofte, tel Option A or option B, each with 7 tasks, 6 pages None Examination support material: English-English dictionary, 5 A4 pages of notes Other information: Please read the Written Examination Instructions (on the top of the next page) carefully before you start. Candidates who sit for the entire duration of the exam can keep the sheet with the exam tasks/questions. The result will be made available on Studweb as soon as the examiner has submitted the examination results, no later than 15 workdays after the exam date. Good luck!

2 Written Examination Instructions: You must choose either Option A or Option B and answer all the questions listed under that option. You may not select individual questions from both options. Short answer questions must be between ½ and 1 page. The essay question must be between 4-5 pages. You must begin each question on a new page. OPTION A: Short answer questions (50%): 1. Received Pronunciation is an outdated accent that learners of English, as well as their teachers, do not need to know about. Discuss. 2. Henry James novella The Turn of the Screw (1898) was an early example of the psychological horror genre. List the specific ways in which James sustained a sense of suspense throughout the story and how these elements influenced the story s ending. 3. Below is an activity one teacher uses to teach the Simple Past Tense to 5 th graders. What do you think about this activity? What beliefs about teaching grammar does it reflect? Be sure to refer to teaching grammar vs. teaching grammaring. Describe at least two alternative activities you can use to teach grammar. Write the correct past forms of the verbs: 1. Yesterday I (REMAIN) in the house. I (COOK) dinner and (DO) some housework. 2. I (REST), (READ) books, (WATCH) television and (GO) to sleep. 3. I (BE) at school most of the day. I (STUDY). 4. I (GO) to work in the morning and I (GO) to school in the afternoon. 5. I (teach) yesterday. I teach at school two days a week.

3 4. One of the most commonly recurring symbols in William Shakespeare s Macbeth (1611) is blood. It appears in the play as actual blood through violent acts, or as metaphorical blood regarding family and kingship. Describe Shakespeare s use of the symbol in the play referencing at least two scenes in which blood is a central element. 5. Briefly discuss some of the negative effects the potato famine had on Ireland and its population, and how/why they affected felt well into the 1900 s. Then, consider whether you think this aspect of Irish history is a relevant topic for the 10 th grade classroom in relation to the following competence aim: explain features of history and geography in Great Britain and the USA. Argue, and explain your answer. 6. Beginning with the following description as a starting point, describe how Okonkwo from Chinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart (1959) is characterized: Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and of the force of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo s fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself (12). Long answer question (50%): PART A: In classic communicative language teaching, grammar was not the central point of instruction (Richards, 2006). In fact, in many communicative language classrooms, grammar was not taught at all. What do you think about this belief? What do you think is the best way to approach grammar teaching to young language learners (grades 5-10)? PART B: Design two short activities to teach a specific grammar point to a class of 6 th graders. Choose from the following activity types: Textual enhancement Interactional feedback Consciousness-raising activities Implicit grammar-focused tasks Collaborative output tasks Grammar through discourse State the grammar point that you focus on in the activities. Be sure to write a specific learning objective for each of the activities, show step-by-step procedures, and list all materials needed to complete the activities.

4 OPTION B: Short answer questions (50%): 1. What is the role of output and interaction in second language acquisition? Do you think that output and interaction are enough to acquire a new language? Why or why not? What other ingredients are needed? 2. What is the INTO-THROUGH-BEYOND approach to lesson planning? List the benefits of this approach, describe each of the stages, and provide an example of an activity you could use in each stage. 3. Are written Standard British English and written Standard American English becoming more similar or more different? Justify your answer and give in total three examples. 4. What does the American Dream entail, in your opinion? Do you think the dream holds the same today as it did 100 years ago? You should use examples from our discussion on social class and religion in your answer. In what ways is this topic relevant for a 10 th grade classroom, in relation to the following goal in the Knowledge Promotion: The pupils shall be able to discuss and elaborate on the way people live and how they socialize in Great Britain, USA, and other English-speaking countries and Norway. 5. In Orson Scott Card s Ender s Game (1985), Ender, the protagonist, kills two children in self-defense. Briefly describe these two episodes and how Ender explains his actions to the reader, then reflect on what these episodes say about children and violence. 6. Briefly discuss the following passages from Jeanette Winterson s Lighthousekeeping (2004). What does it say about the novel as a whole? We re told not to privilege one story above another. All the stories must be told. Well, maybe that s true, maybe all stories are worth hearing, but not all stories are worth telling [ ] And I did, and the stories I want to tell you will light up part of my life, and leave the rest in darkness. You don t need to know everything. There is no everything. The stories themselves make the meaning (134).

5 Long answer question (50%): The two plays we discussed in class this year, William Shakespeare s Macbeth (1611) and Arthur Miller s Crucible (1952) are connected in surprising ways. Both plays include witchcraft as a metaphor for how the supernatural introduces fear, guilt, hysteria and paranoia into society. Not surprisingly, both plays assign the source of this evil to the female characters. While Shakespeare s play formalizes the supernatural through the actions of the Witches and Lady Macbeth, the supernatural in Miller s play emerges more subtly as suspicion that results in accusation, and ultimately, hysteria. However, both plays confront the social destruction resulting from guilt and paranoia. Additionally, both plays share many images and themes such as dead babies, corruption, illness, and ambition, and two manipulative female characters: Lady Macbeth and Abigail. Using specific examples from each text, or the many themes and images that they have in common, write an essay in which you discuss the role of the supernatural in each play and how it leads to the collapse of each play s society. You may consider how a character s fear, guilt, hysteria, and paranoia influences this collapse, but you should connect the themes to the ending of each play. Exact quotations are not necessary, but you should reference events from each play and your understanding of the appearances of the theme or image in that event. As a starting point, consider the following passages from each play: Arthur Miller s Crucible (1952): Parris: Now, Goody Ann, they only thought that were a witch, and I am certain there be no element of witchcraft here. Putnam: No Witchcraft! Now look you, Mr. Parris- Parris: Thomas, Thomas, I pray you, leap not to witchcraft. I know that you you least of all, Thomas, would ever wish so disastrous a charge laid upon me. We cannot leap to witchcraft. They will howl me out of Salem for such corruption in my house. Putnam: (at the moment he is intent upon getting Parris, for whom he has only contempt, to move toward the abyss) Mr. Parris, I have taken your part in all contention here, and I would continue; but I cannot if you hold back in this. There are hurtful, vengeful spirits layin hands on these children. [ ] Mrs. Putnam: Revered Parris, I have laid seven babies unbaptized in the earth. Believe me, sir, you never saw more hearty babies born. And yet, each would wither in my arms the very night of their birth. I have spoken nothin, but my heart has clamoured intimations. And now, this year, my Ruth, my only---i see her turning strange. A secret

6 child she has become this year, and shrivels like a sucking mouth were pullin on her life too. And so I thought to send her to your Tituba. Parris: To Tituba! What may Tituba---? Mrs. Putnam: Tituba knows how to speak to the dead, Mr. Parris. Parris: Goody Ann, it is a formidable sin to conjure up the dead! Mrs. Putnam: I take it on my soul, but who else may surely tell us what person murdered by babies? Parris: Woman! Mrs. Putnam: They were murdered, Mr. Parris! And mark this proof! Mark it! Last night my Ruth were ever so close to their little spirits; I know it, sir. For how else is she struck dumb now except some power of darkness would stop her mouth? It is a marvellous sign, Mr. Parris. (Act One, 15-16) Shakespeare s Macbeth (1611): The raven himself is hoarse That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan Under my battlements. Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood; Stop up the access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts, And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers, Wherever in your sightless substances You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, To cry 'Hold, hold!' (Act I, Scene 5)