Zimbabwe Form 4 Curriculum - English Language

This course covers the core components of the English Language curriculum for Form 4 students in Zimbabwe, focusing on developing listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. The curriculum emphasizes a communicative-functional approach, encouraging learners to use English effectively in various contexts.

Curriculum Structure

The curriculum is structured around four macro-skills:

• Listening/Observing: This includes listening comprehension, following oral instructions, engaging in conversations, and purposeful listening (dictation, directed listening, selective listening). Skills developed in Form 4 include inference, note-taking, evaluation, and understanding complex directions.
• Speaking/Signing: This involves pronunciation, using appropriate registers (formal, informal, telephone conversations, expressing gratitude, condolences, complaints, etc.), giving descriptions, participating in debates, and delivering speeches (both prepared and impromptu). Form 4 focuses on intonation and stress patterns, tone and mood, triphthongs, and discussing topical issues.
• Reading/Signing: This encompasses intensive reading (recall questions, skimming, scanning, inference, note-making, summary writing, and evaluation) and extensive reading (summary, character identification, setting, themes, plot, and referencing). Form 4 emphasizes characterization, plot analysis, setting, style, themes, and using various reference sources.
• Writing/Brailing: This includes aspects of composition writing (sentence construction, paragraphing, registers, linking devices, discourse markers, figurative language, and amplification of notes), free composition (narrative, descriptive, creative, informative, argumentative, and discursive), and guided composition (letters, reports, speeches, articles, memos, and curriculum vitae).

Supporting Language Structures

The curriculum also covers supporting language structures, which are integrated into the teaching of the four macro-skills. These include:

• Nouns: Types, plural forms, opposites, prefixes, suffixes, gender, and noun formation.
• Verbs: Tenses, subject-verb agreement, sequence of tenses, auxiliaries, modals, phrasal verbs, and active/passive voice.
• Pronouns: Personal, relative, possessive, and reflexive.
• Adjectives: Formation, comparatives, superlatives, opposites, prefixes, suffixes, order of adjectives, and non-gradable adjectives.
• Adverbs: Formation, adverbials of manner, time, place, and reason, and adverbial phrases and clauses.
• Spelling and Word Formation: Consonant-vowel combinations, prefixes, suffixes, derivative words, homonyms, homophones, and homographs.
• Sentence Construction: Simple, compound, and complex sentences, conjunctions, punctuation, phrases, clauses, discourse markers, and sentence modifiers.
• Direct and Indirect Speech: Punctuation and switching between direct and indirect speech.

Assessment

Assessment is divided into continuous assessment (30%) and summative assessment (70%). Continuous assessment includes speaking, listening, reading, writing, and project work. Summative assessment consists of two written papers:

• Paper 1 (Composition): 50 marks, 1 hour 30 minutes. Includes free and guided composition questions.
• Paper 2 (Comprehension, Summary, and Supporting Language Structures): 50 marks, 2 hours. Includes comprehension questions, summary writing, and questions on supporting language structures based on a given passage.

Resources

Textbooks: A Practical Approach to English Form 4*

• Past Exam Papers: ZIMSEC past exam papers are available online.