‘I don’t know what to put’ (English gcse)

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DD age 14 is getting usually 2 out of 10 when answering English exam paper questions. Very short almost token answers and ‘doesn’t know what else to write’

She is typically a grade 6-8 in other subjects but a 3 in English.

There may be dyslexia or dyspraxia to contend with.

What techniques could she apply to plan a stronger answer.

We are thinking brainstorming, spider diagram or who what when where why how and I know it takes practice. She is skeptical and maybe has lost confidence.

Should she try and practice this or is there a better method to generate sufficient content for a good answer in English papers?

Thanks to anyone who can help

Can you give us a tiny bit more information?
Language or Literature?
Exam Board?

Reading between the lines it sounds like a Lit issue? If so, which texts?

I'm a fan of Who, What, etc. But sometimes I get better traction with students by turning them into 'text detectives'. So they need to state a theory, identify the clues they used, and explain why the clues are significant.

Might be a start?

For analysing Literature I use 'METAL' with my pupils:

Make a valid point - "Lady Macbeth is presented as cunning"

Exemplify with a quote - "Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it"

Technique (identify) - This use of the simile...

Explain - Suggests to us that Lady Macbeth is instructing her husband to hide his true feelings. You could reference the fact she is a woman telling a man what to do as significant, and the Biblical significance of the serpent etc.

Link - Link your explanation back to your meaning. This shows she is cunning as she is aware they need to make Duncan feel totally at ease in order to carry out their plan

These are exactly what I was hoping for and are definitely better than my initial ideas. Thank you.

The year end exam was language and literature combined so I can’t say one or the other. I’m trying to get the questions to look at myself … but only have the answers (low point answers at that!)

Has she watched any of the Mr Bruff tutorials on YouTube. He looks at each individual question for each paper and exam board and shows you exactly how to answer each.

Ah no probably not heard of Mr Bruff, tried a bit of bbc bite size but it is over facing when you don’t know what to focus on. I’ll suggest we have a look together.

School are aware of the problem and have placed in the ‘extra help’ set for next year but their previous interventions have not prevented an annual downward trend of marks. I have been unsure how to help (and somewhat unwelcome by dd) and keen not to make things worse/confuse the issue.

Now though I think I can support practice of elongating and detailing answers as she is keen to get into 6th form and won’t be accepted without a 5 in English language minimum but ideally literature too. She is pleased I am asking experts on the internet 😊

I think she agrees with the plan for a method and practice.

She reads many many books so it’s unexpected that Literature could be is a stumbling block.

DS had similar struggles with English. Predicted grades 7-9 in everything but was getting 3-4 in English in every test and his mocks.

School were no help - he just didn't get it!

So we paid for a tutor once a week and she managed to get him up to grade 5/6 in the actual exams. She basically taught him how to pass the exam.

Fascinating she reads a lot and finds it difficult (hod of English)

What does she read? Can she discuss the texts in detail - if so it’s an exam technique issue
english Lang has very specific requirements and the CGP guides are actually decent as is the Oxford revise

One thing that can help with understanding what is being asked for is reviewing model answers - identify the points the answerer made, and what makes answer A better than answer B.

Convert a model answer to a plan, then try to copy that plan structure for other questions.

Does she do ok in other essay subjects/sections of exams?

Some people don't write things they consider to be obvious, so seeing how others answer may help correct this. It can be quite dull going through the stages of an answer, it doesn't hurt to acknowledge this!

I was always rubbish at English Lang and lit.
But if someone had said this to me I'd have got it I think!
Makes so much sense reading it.

I am glad it helps a little. If you're OK with the Victorian language, there are quite a few passages in the Sherlock Holmes stories where Holmes does EXACTLY what English students need to do. Especially at the beginning of stories, where he makes a seemingly outrageous claim to Watson then demonstrates how he arrived at that. conclusion. Great fun for us Sherlock fans :)

We used a formulaic approach for DD1 who has dyspraxia for Eng Lang.

Eg 'how does the author use language for effect...'

1. What effect across the whole piece? Eg scared, mysterious etc.
2. Go through text finding words/phrases that give that effect. Hint try changing them, does the effect change?
3. How many marks? Find the right number of examples across the piece. Can you name them, eg alliteration or whatever?
4. Write it up.

Each question has a very clear thing it is looking for. They can revise that. Should be able to say 'q3 looking for X, answer structure is ABC'

That sounds interesting too @TeenToTwenties thank you.

I think these structures are really going to help. We tried Metal last night @bouncingblob and ended up with something that looked like a proper academic sounding full answer. I was very pleased! I could see dd was surprised and quite encouraged that we got such a full answer.

We were asked how about a written article about Home Alone 2 - How did the writer persuade us HA2 was a good film.

Dd was totally able to identify the mechanisms used, statement, quotes, similie etc and also able to give example of their use. Big tick!

Where she struggleg was her impression of the whole piece and the starting ‘claim’. She got hung up on the fact that the writing was rambling and ‘he’s probably never seen the film’. And disagreeing with the writers opinion to the point of ‘this question is impossible because he hasn’t persuaded me I don’t think he has really watched it’.

That aside we also used a spider diagram together with much help from me to try to split the text into three cohesive sections because we were also asked to add three subheadings to the text and we got there in the end. We were then asked to bullet point the content of each section and I don’t think we nailed that part.

We will try the detective idea tonight maybe in the same question or maybe on something less contentious 😉

Here's a screenshot of something I was using in 2018. Might help? Bear in mind that Context (AO3) is only assessed for some literature texts ...

Sorry, here is is ...

You’re descriptions sounds like me at A level. I could argue my ideas with the teacher but not put in on paper.

I would start with asking her to explain it to you and you jotting down the ideas as a spider diagram as you go.

Speak to her teacher about the structures for answers. This is very important.

Also try getting her to write her answers on a white board for now. It worked with one of my students who was too scared to start answering the question.

Where she struggleg was her impression of the whole piece and the starting ‘claim’. She got hung up on the fact that the writing was rambling and ‘he’s probably never seen the film’. And disagreeing with the writers opinion to the point of ‘this question is impossible because he hasn’t persuaded me I don’t think he has really watched it’.

A workaround might be to talk about what the writer is TRYING to do: whether or not they succeed is another matter.

EG:
In this passage the writer is trying to create a tense and unsettling atmosphere.
or
The writer's intention in this extract seems to be to persuade us that reading books isn't 'cool'.

Then you can go into the process of explaining which tools and techniques they used to TRY to achieve this.
HTH 😀