O/L Literature
Literature is not a memory subject either. It asks you to read closely, choose evidence, explain an effect and build an argument — and every one of those can be taught.
Every text, set out the same way
Students lose time hunting for information, because every book and every website arranges its notes differently. On RCF English, every poem, short story, play and novel is set out in the same fifteen sections, in the same order.
Once you have used one text page, you know exactly where to look in all the others. Everything belonging to one text — its summary, its themes, its quotations, its questions and its answers — stays together on that text's own page.
The fifteen sections
This is the order used on every text page on this site.
Introduction
What the text is, and what to look out for.
Author or playwright
Who wrote it. Facts only, never invented.
Background
When and where it was written, and what a reader needs to know.
Summary or plot
What happens, in order.
Characters
Who they are, what they want, and how they change.
Themes
The ideas about life the text explores.
Literary or dramatic techniques
How the writer achieves the effects.
Important quotations
Short, accurate, with what each one is useful for.
Context questions
Short questions on a given extract.
Concise context answers
Model answers of the right length.
Essay questions
Full questions of the kind asked in the paper.
Developed model answers
Full answers with notes explaining why they work.
Common student mistakes
The errors made most often on this text.
Revision exercises
Activities to check what has actually stayed.
Related past-paper questions
Where this text has been examined before.
By genre
Poetry
How to read a poem, and the poems set out in the fifteen sections.
Short Stories
Plot, character, narration and the way a short story turns.
Drama
Reading a play as performance, not only as text.
Novels
Handling a long text without drowning in detail.
Answering questions
Context Questions
Short questions on an extract, and how long each answer should be.
Essay Questions
Reading the question, planning, and building an argument.
How to Develop an Answer
Point, evidence, explanation, effect, link — the structure behind every good answer.
Model Answers
Full answers with notes.
How Teachers Can Mark Answers
For teachers: marking so that the student learns from the mark.
Common Student Mistakes
Story-telling instead of answering, and the other habitual faults.
Syllabus, guides and papers to download
Grade 11 Appreciation of English Literary Texts, Self Study Pack 2020
Ministry of Education, Sri Lanka
Linked from Google Drive
Appreciation of English Literary Texts, Teacher's Guide
National Institute of Education, Sri Lanka
NIE publication, linked not rehosted
G.C.E. O/L 2019 Appreciation of English Literary Texts (Subject 46)
Department of Examinations, Sri Lanka
Department of Examinations paper, linked not rehosted
G.C.E. O/L 2019 Appreciation of English Literary Texts, Marking Scheme
Department of Examinations, Sri Lanka
Department of Examinations document, linked not rehosted
G.C.E. O/L 2018 Appreciation of English Literary Texts (Subject 46)
Department of Examinations, Sri Lanka
Department of Examinations paper, linked not rehosted
G.C.E. O/L 2018 Appreciation of English Literary Texts, Marking Scheme
Department of Examinations, Sri Lanka
Department of Examinations document, linked not rehosted
G.C.E. O/L 2017 Appreciation of English Literary Texts (Subject 46)
Department of Examinations, Sri Lanka
Department of Examinations paper, linked not rehosted
G.C.E. O/L 2016 Appreciation of English Literary Texts, Marking Scheme
Department of Examinations, Sri Lanka
Department of Examinations document, linked not rehosted
O/L English and English Literature Support Papers, with Answers
English and Foreign Languages Branch, Ministry of Education, Sri Lanka
Ministry of Education publication, distributed free to schools. Linked, not rehosted.
O/L Literature: Five Sample School Based Assessment Plans
RCF English
RCF English material, free to use
Copyright and literary texts
RCF English does not reproduce complete copyrighted poems, stories, plays or novels. What you will find here is original study material — summaries, analysis, themes, character notes, questions and model answers — with short quotations used for study and criticism.
You will still need your prescribed book. Read the Copyright and Resource Policy.
Find related books
RCF Publications produces literature study guides for O/L English Literature, with summaries, analysis, questions and model answers.
Twilight of a Crane: Full Study Guide with Model AnswersSee it in RCF Publications