Functional English – CBSE Board Syllabus – HSC – Higher Secondary Education Website

Functional English – CBSE Board Syllabus.

Class 12th Std CBSE Syllabus

Aims and Objectives of the Functional English Course.

to enable the learner to acquire competence in different linguistic functions.
to reinforce the various sub skills related to reading, writing, listening and speaking.

The Approach to Functional English Curriculum.

A skill based communicative approach is recommended in Functional English with graded texts followed by learner centred activities.
It is recommended that teachers consciously take a back seat, playing the role of a manager, coordinator and facilitator.

Language Skills and their Objectives.

Approach to Reading.

The course aims at introducing variety in text type rather than having short stories and prose pieces. The emphasis will have to be to enlarge the vocabulary through word building skills and to impart training in reading for specific purposes.

Specific Objectives of Reading.

To develop specific study skills.

to refer to dictionaries, encyclopedia, thesaurus and academic reference material
to select and extract relevant information, using reading skills of skimming and scanning,
to understand the writer’s attitude and bias.
to comprehend the difference between what is said and what is implied.
to understand the language of propaganda and persuasion.
to differentiate between claims and realities, facts and opinions.
to form business opinions on the basis of latest trends available.
to comprehend technical language as required in computer related fields.
to arrive at personal conclusion and comment on a given text specifically.

to develop the ability to be original and creative in interpreting opinion.
to develop the ability to be logically persuasive in defending one’s opinion.

To develop literary skills as enumerated below :

to personally respond to literary texts.
to appreciate and analyze special features of languages that differentiate literary texts from non-literary ones
to explore and evaluate features of character, plot, setting etc.
to understand and appreciate the oral, mobile and visual elements of drama.
to identify the elements of style such as humour, pathos, satire and irony etc.

Speaking and Listening.

Speaking needs a very strong emphasis and is an important objective leading to professional competence. Hence testing of oral skills must be made an important component of the overall testing pattern.To this end, speaking & listening skills are overtly built into the material to guide the teachers in actualization of the skills.

Specific Objectives of Listening and Speaking or Conversation Skills (Aural/Oral).

to listen to lectures and talks and to be able to extract relevant and useful information for a specific purpose.
to listen to news bulletins and to develop the ability to discuss informally on a wide ranging issues like current national and international affairs, sports, business etc.
to respond in interviews and to participate in formal group discussions.
to make enquiries meaningfully and adequately and to respond to enquiries for the purpose of travelling within the country and abroad.
to listen to business news and to be able to extract relevant important information.
to develop the art of formal public speaking.

Writing Skills.

The course for two years has been graded in such a way that it leads the students towards acquiring advanced writing skills through integrated tasks that move from less linguistically challenging to more challenging ones. It has been planned on the premise that sub skills of writing should be taught in a context and more emphasis should be laid on teaching the process of writing.

Specific Objectives of Writing.

to write letters to friends, pen friends, relatives etc.
to write business letters and official ones.
to send telegrams, faxes, e-mails.
to open accounts in post offices and banks.
to fill in railway reservation slips.
to write on various issues to institutions seeking relevant information, lodge complaints, express thanks or tender apology.
to write applications, fill in application forms, prepare a personal bio-data for admission into colleges, universities, entrance tests and jobs.
to write informal reports as part of personal letters on functions, programmes and activities held in school (morning assembly, annual day, sports day etc.)
to write formal reports for school magazines or in local newspapers on the above events or occasions.
to write presentation of opinions, facts, arguments in the form of set speeches for debates.
to present papers for taking part in symposia.
to take down notes from talks and lectures and make notes from various resources for the purpose of developing the extracted ideas into sustained pieces of writing.
to write examination answers according to the requirement of various subjects.

Examination Specifications.

Class. 12th std CBSE Syllabus

One Paper 3 Hours Marks : 100

Unitwise Allocation.

Unit	Areas of Learning	Marks
1.	Advanced Reading Skills (Unseen Passages-two)*	20
2.	Effective Writing Skills	25
3.	Applied Grammar	20
4.	Literature	35

Formative and Summative assessment to be included in all skills.

SECTION A

Class. 12th Std CBSE Syllabus

Marks Periods

20 60

ADVANCED READING SKILLS.

Two unseen passages (including poems) with a variety of questions including 04 marks for vocabulary such as word formation and inferring meaning. The total range of the 2 passages including a poem or a stanza, should be around 650-1000 words.

1. 350-500 words in length (for note-making and summarising). [08]

2. 300-500 words in length (4 marks for word attack skills). [12]

The passages or poems could be of any one of the following types.

Factual passages e.g. illustrations, description, reports

Discursive passages involving opinion e.g. argumentative, persuasive

Literary passages e.g. poems, extracts from fiction, biography, autobiography, travelogue etc.

In the case of a poem, the text may be shorter than the prescribed word limit.

SECTION B

Class. 12th Std CBSE Syllabus

Marks Periods

25 60

EFFECTIVE WRITING SKILLS.

3. One out of two short writing tasks such as notices, advertisements, factual description of people arguing for or against topics, places and objects, drafting posters, accepting and declining invitations. (50-80 words). [05]

4. Writing one out of two letters of any of the following types based on given verbal/visual input.[10]

a) Official letters for making inquiries, suggesting changes-registering complaints asking for and giving information, placing orders and sending replies (80-100 words)

b) Letters to the editor on various social, national and international issues (125-150 words)

c) Application for a job including CV (Curriculum Vitae)/Resume.

5. One out of two long and sustained writing task such as writing a speech, a report or writing an article based on verbal/visual input (200 words). [10]

SECTION C

Class. 12th Std CBSE Syllabus

Marks Periods

20 30

APPLIED GRAMMAR.

Variety of questions, as listed below may be asked, involving the application of grammar items in context (i.e. not in isolated sentences). The grammar syllabus will be sampled each year. Grammar items such as modals, determiners, voice and tense forms have been dealt with in class XI. However, other items such as prepositions, verb forms, connectors which have been learnt earlier would also be included.

6. Reordering of words and sentences. [05]

7. Composing a dialogue based on the given input. [05]

8. Error correction in sentences. [05]

9. Drafting questions/questionnaires based on given input. [05]

SECTION D

Class. 12th Std CBSE Syllabus

Marks Periods

35 30

LITERATURE.

In the Literature Reader, questions will be asked to test comprehension at different levels and of different kinds local, global, interpretative, inferential, evaluative and extrapolatory.

10. One out of two extracts from different poems from the Literature. Reader, each followed by two or three questions to test local and global comprehension of ideas and language used in the text. [07]

11. Two out of the three short answer questions based on different poems to test theme, setting and literary devices. It may or may not be based on an extract. (80-100 words). [08]

12. One out of two questions based on the play from the Literature. Reader to test comprehension and drawing/evaluating inferences. An extract may or may not be used (80-100 words). [05]

13. Two out of three short questions based on different prose texts from the Literature Reader to test global comprehension of usage & lexis and meaning (80-100 words). [08]

14. One out of two extended questions based on one of the prose texts in the Literature Reader to test global comprehension and for extrapolation beyond the text ( 100-125 words). [07]

English (Elective) – CBSE Board Syllabus

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