English National 5 Scottish Text - Anne Donovan ‘Away In A Manger’
Commentary on final question (marking guidance)
The question asks the candidate to discuss, with reference to Away in a Manger, and at least one other story by Anne Donovan, how any one theme is explored. We are given a guide to possible thematic references for all of the Donovan selections in the Expected Answer column. In this case, we’re dealing with the primary text, Away in a Manger, while the secondary text is Dear Santa.
Some candidates will opt for a multi-story approach, which is absolutely fine. Equally, a focus on one additional story is also fine.
Candidates can answer using a mini-essay approach or a bullet - point approach and, again, full marks can be gained either way.They can even use a hybrid approach.
How Marks Are Distributed
Commonality (2)
Refers to the linkbetween the extract and another text(s) in the group.i.e. to what they have in common.
So, in this case, identify the theme. Parent/child relationships. (1) mark.
Then, to gain the second mark,the candidate must offer some development of this basic statement of commonality.
So, if a candidate wrote, ‘The common theme in both stories is adult-child relationships,’ he or she would only be awarded one mark. If he or she went on to make a comment about an aspect of these relationships, or how they are similar/different, then the second mark could be given.
The next area we have to consider is the:
Primary text/extract. There are 2marks available here for candidates to respond to the extract as a whole.
TheSecondary text(s)/elsewhere in a longer text carry the final 4 marks available for this 8 mark question.
Could you now referto the Additional Guidance on page 47 of the MIs.
Relevant refto technique/idea/feature/text (quotation) + comment=2. ie. (1+1). If either element is missing, award 1.For those of you who are newto this, an oblique just means ‘or’. It gives candidates different ways to approach the question.
So, a suggested approach is:
1 Commonality. (2)Identification of theme (1) some comment/explanation (1)
2 Primary text. (2) Text+comment.
3 Secondary text. (4) Text+comment twice.
Commonality could also come at the end or in the middle of a candidate’s response as we’ll see in an exemplar.
Turning now to the script, we find thatthe candidate has chosen to focus on “Dear Santa” in her response. This script is an example of one which requires the marker to do a bit of reading first in order to establish the area of commonality identified by the candidate.
We find it at the top of p13 on the second page: “both stories feature a parent/child relationship”, which gains one mark (1). The candidate then goes on to describe the relationships in Dear Santa, explaining that “Alison and her mum do not have a close relationship as Alison believes her mum does not love her”, but, in Away in a Manger, “Amy and Sandra have a closer relationship. Amy loves her mum and Sandra loves Amy” which is more than enough to gain the second mark for establishing the area of commonality(1). (2/2)
Going back to the beginning of the response, the candidate makes a valid comment about the relationship between Alison and her mum: “The story is about a young girl who believes her mum doesn’t love her” which gains a mark. (1)She then supports this with an appropriate reference: “Ma mammy disnae love me” which gains a further mark (1).However, the candidate goes on to develop her analysis with a further relevant comment: “Alison believes her mum loves her sister Katie more and therefore Alison is jealous of Katie”, which gains a third mark. (1) This candidate is thorough, and her comment that “There is no evidence that her mum doesn’t love her, but there is signs that her mum does prefer Katie, but perhaps this is just the way her mum is”, which is quite a perceptive comment about the nature of family relationships and gains the final mark available for this part of the question.(1)(4/4) (6/6)
We need to go on to the third paragraph on p13 to award the final marks for this question. Although the candidate’s initial comment about the relationship has already been referred to justify the second mark in her identification of the common theme, it can also gain a mark here as a valid comment about the nature of Sandra’s and Amy’s relationship. (1)
However, the candidate makes a more developed point about their relationship stating “Sandra wants to protect Amy from the harsh reality of life” (1) and supports this with a valid reference to the “homeless man”. (1) (2/2) (8/8)
In the rest of the script, the candidate has gone on to identify different areas of commonality, but this is not required as the candidate already has 8 marks.