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Scheme of work – Cambridge IGCSE® World Literature (0408)
Unit 6: Empathic response
Recommended prior knowledge
Students should have experience of responding creatively to prose and drama texts prior to their Cambridge IGCSE studies.
Context
This unit relates to the compulsory Empathic Response element of the coursework portfolio. This gives students the opportunity to engage more imaginatively with a
text by assuming a suitable voice for a specific character from a play or prose fiction text. This unit should be read in conjunction with relevant sections from the
units on Prose and Drama.
Students must produce a response of between 600 and 1000 words. They are discouraged from writing longer empathic pieces, as these can become rambling and
the ‘voice’ not sustained.
Outline
Assessment Objective 4 (demonstrate empathy, through re-creation of a character’s voice and thoughts) is assessed uniquely in this element of the syllabus.
Responses are marked using the Empathic Response assessment criteria in the syllabus.
Specific learning objectives for the empathic response are listed below, and should be read in conjunction with the relevant learning objectives in the Prose or Drama
units.
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Learning objectives
Suggested teaching activities
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The learning objectives below should
be read in conjunction with relevant
learning objectives in the Prose or
Drama units.
1. Introduction
and 4
a. build confidence in developing an
informed personal response to a
character in a prose or drama text
b. sustain an engagingly convincing
voice for the character and
prescribed moment
c. root the response recognisably in
the world of the text
d. plan, re-draft and refine an
extended piece of writing, acting on
advice after the first draft
e. work within the discipline of the
word limits
f. use transferable Language skills to
produce polished final drafts
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Empathic tasks provide an enjoyable and creative way of getting
students to engage with the detail of their prose or drama texts. For
a successful empathic response, students need to demonstrate in
their writing well-informed judgements about characters and what
motivates them. This requires a detailed grasp of what characters
do and say, and what other characters say and think about them.
Tasks must be set which allow students to meet the assessment
criteria. Examples of empathic tasks can be found on past 0486
Literature (English) questions on set prose and drama texts. [Note
that empathic questions are not set in the 0408 Set Texts
examination paper.]
Cambridge IGCSE World Literature (0408)
Learning resources
Recent past papers (0486) and mark
schemes – Cambridge Teacher Support
website
Empathic Response assessment criteria –
in the syllabus
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Learning objectives
Suggested teaching activities
Learning resources
2. Initial creative responses to characters
Regular hot-seating activities can provide immediate feedback to
teachers about how well the students know their text and their
chosen character’s role in it. Hot-seating is really the speaking
equivalent of written empathic tasks. Both require students to get
into the skin of a character at a specified moment in the text. Hotseating is useful as a preliminary activity, as it provides the
opportunity to interrogate the mind-set and motives of a character.
Prior to the speaking activity, it is helpful to provide some time for
students to write down initial ideas that can then be built on or
challenged in the hot-seating itself.
Whilst more general role-play and other drama-focused activities can
also lead to an enhanced understanding of character, it is important
that the following is recognised. Empathic responses must be
rooted in the imagined world of the play; questions never invite
Language-style explorations which go beyond the recognisable
world of the text.
Film versions of plays or novels can enhance an understanding of
character. Students will need to be aware of any differences
between the film version and original text.
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DVD of texts (where available)
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Learning objectives
Suggested teaching activities
Learning resources
3. Early written exercises: developing a suitable writing style
Hot-seating work leads naturally to written work. Early exercises
should perhaps require a couple of paragraphs only, aiming above
all else to capture an authentic voice for a particular character and
moment in the play. At this stage, students should practise their
skills on a character who will not feature in their final assignment.
Cambridge IGCSE Literature in English,
2011 – Unit 6 on ‘Developing effective
writing skills’.
Students can work in small groups. Each student reads out their
response, and others note down strengths, but also weaknesses
such as:
factual inaccuracies
confusion about the moment prescribed in the question
false notes created by words or expression the character would
not use
4. Framing students’ empathic tasks
Whilst teachers may have taught a particular text as the Empathic
text, it is advisable to let students select the character whose voice
they wish to capture and also the particular moment in the text. This
encourages independence as well as creativity. For Lorraine
Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, for example, students could choose
a relevant moment from the play for Mama, Walter, Ruth, Beneatha,
Lindner etc.
Students might be encouraged to submit a proposal which sets out:
the character
the moment
a few bullet points indicating key thoughts for the character at
this moment
This would allow teachers to gauge whether the proposal is viable
and enable them to advise students accordingly.
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Learning objectives
Suggested teaching activities
Learning resources
5. Writing the first draft
Convincing and informed personal responses to empathic tasks
should demonstrate:
detailed knowledge evident in a wide range of echoes from the
text
sustained insight into the character and viewpoint at the moment
specified in the question
the assumption of a clearly recognisable voice.
Exemplar empathic responses on characters from texts they are
familiar with can help to focus on key requirements, particularly if the
responses are judged against the relevant assessment criteria.
Exemplar empathic responses
Empathic Response assessment criteria
6. Teacher feedback
Teachers give ‘general guidance’ about first drafts. This might, for
example, point out the need for more textual detail to root the
response convincingly in the world of the text. They might be
advised to remove false notes which detract from the ‘voice’.
Teachers ‘should not mark, correct or edit draft assignment material’.
Feedback could take two forms:
individual feedback
feedback to the group
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Learning objectives
Suggested teaching activities
Learning resources
6. Re-drafting
Students should seek to improve their first drafts by checking that
their understanding of the moment is secure. They should look for
any false notes and amend the wording accordingly. They should
check that they have not infringed the word limits. Assignments
longer than 1000 words must not be submitted.
In order to be sure of the authenticity of the final piece of work,
teachers may wish to have the re-drafting and final presentation of
the assignment also done under their direct supervision. The
syllabus states: ‘It is the Centre’s responsibility to make sure all
Coursework is the candidate’s original work.’
Students should avoid small fonts if word-processing or narrow-lined
paper if writing by hand. They should leave sufficiently wide margins
in which teachers can make their comments.
Each assignment should clearly indicate candidate name and
number, and also the full wording of the coursework task (and not an
abbreviation or approximation of it).
Link with language
Whilst marks are not deducted for language errors, it is in a student’s
interests to proof-read written work carefully for accuracy and for
clarity of expression. This will allow students to practise skills that
will be assessed in Language and that will be important in postCambridge IGCSE study.
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