English A1 15 minute Oral Commentary: Part 2 Detailed Study

How to structure the commentary:

20 minutes preparation: during which you read and annotate the 40 line extract and make a
brief, 4-part plan that will allow you to structure your oral response as follows:

1. Introduction: 2 minutes
• Place extract in context within the whole work/body of work studied e.g.
This extract is located in the opening scene of the play, at a point where Shakespeare introduces us
to…

Roethke’s poem ‘The Storm’ is a description of nature, but he also focuses on the person within
nature, who is affected by it.

• Very brief relevant social/historical background e.g

It is important to remember that the social context of this drama is patriarchal, which means…

Primo Levi worked as a chemist all his life, even during his incarceration in Auschwitz. This story, like
all the other sin The Periodic Table links a chemical element to a human characteristic.

• Summative introduction: an overview of what the passage deals with in terms of plot
development, setting and character. e.g
In this extract we are able to observe a dynamic confrontation between…This establishes the characters
as… The genre of comedy demands that this conflict should be resolved…

In the extract Levi describes the acute relationship a manual worker has with a smelting furnace. The
story vividly reveals the main character as he adapts to the changes in the machine.

2. Detailed Analysis: 8-9 minutes

• Focus on: Language and literary features / devices etc. (For Much Ado see ‘How To
Study a Drama Text’). All analysis should be supported by specific reference to the
extract. Don’t generalise. Don’t miss parts out. Use this guide: MAKE POINT + GIVE
EVIDENCE/QUOTATION + ANALYSIS

3. Conclusion: 1-2 minutes

• Personal response / conclusion. Approach this by referring to the most interesting /
remarkable / engaging / entertaining qualities of the extract. e.g.
This extract typifies the remarkable wit the playwright empowers his male and female protagonists with,
ensuring a sparking verbal battle that has entertained theatre audiences for hundreds of years. Most
entertaining…

The extract is most engaging at the moment when Lanza is panicked by the machines’ unusual behaviour:
the reader can see that at that moment something ‘new’ is discovered in his character that has lain
dormant

4. Responding to the examiner’s clarifying questions: 3 minutes

• An opportunity to elaborate on aspects of your commentary that the examiner identifies
as lacking adequate detail and attention, or areas that you have overlooked.
• The examiner is not trying to catch you out here but to give you an opportunity to gain
marks.

Finally: the expectation for the oral is that you have: prepared for the oral by careful review of
the works; an insightful understanding of the extract from class study; an ability to cross-
reference the extract to the whole work; a repertoire of literacy terminology ; practised speaking
in an articulate and concise way.
Mr A Thirkell / Mr D Sherlock 02/11/2007
The English Faculty BIS Jakarta