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JAMB Literature in English Syllabus 2023/2024 | Read and Download PDF

JAMB Syllabus for Literature 2023 PDF. The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB has released the 2023 JAMB Literature in English syllabus to help Jamb candidates prepare for the 2023 JAMB examination.

JAMB Literature syllabus

The JAMB Literature syllabus is provided to make the students know the areas of focus and things to expect in the upcoming JAMB examination

Why JAMB Gives Literature Syllabus to its Candidate

The following are the reasons why the Unified Tertiary and Matriculation Examination Board provides Literature in English syllabus to its candidates.

  • Stimulate and sustain their interest in Literature in English;
  • Create an awareness of the general principles of Literature and functions of language;
  • Appreciate literary works of all genres and across all cultures;
  • Apply the knowledge of Literature in English to the analysis of social, political and economic events in the society.

JAMB Literature Syllabus 2023

DRAMA

Topics/Contents/Notes:

1. Types:

  • Tragedy
  • Comedy
  • Tragicomedy
  • Melodrama
  • Farce
  • Opera etc.

2. Dramatic Techniques

  • Characterization
  • Dialogue
  • Flashback
  • Mime
  • Costume
  • Music/Dance
  • Decor/scenery
  • Acts/Scenes
  • Soliloquy/aside
  • Lighting etc.

3. Interpretation of the Prescribed Texts

  • Theme
  • Plot
  • Socio-political context
  • Setting

Objectives:

Candidates should be able to:

  • Identify the various types of drama;
  • Analyse the contents of the various types of drama;
  • Compare and contrast the features of different dramatic types;
  • Demonstrate adequate knowledge of dramatic techniques used in each prescribed text;
  • Differentiate between styles of selected playwrights;
  • Determine the theme of any prescribed text;
  • Identify the plot of the play;
  • Apply the lessons of the play to everyday living
  • Identify the spatial and temporal setting of the play.

PROSE

Topics/Contents/Notes:

1. Types:

  •  Fiction
    – Novel
    – Novella/Novelette
    – Short story
  • Non-fiction
    – Biography
    – Autobiography
    – Memoir
  • Faction: combination of fact and fiction

2. Narrative Techniques/Devices:

  • Point of view
    – Omniscent/Third Person
    – First Person
  • Characterisation
    – Round, flat, foil, hero, antihero, etc
  • Language

3. Textual Analysis

  • Theme
  • Plot
  • Setting (Temporal/Spatial)
  • Socio-political context

Objectives: 

Candidates should be able to:

  • Differentiate between types of prose;
  • Identify the category that each prescribed text belongs to;
  • Analyse the components of each type of prose;
  • Identify the narrative techniques used in each of the prescribed texts;
  • Determine an author’s narrative style;
  • Distinguish between one type of character from another;
  • Determine the thematic pre-occupation of the author of the prescribed text;
  • Indicate the plot of the novel; identify the temporal and spatial setting of the novel.
  • Identify the temporal and spatial setting of the novel
  • Relate the prescribed text to real life situations.

POETRY

Topics/Contents/Notes:

1. Types:

  • Sonnet
  • Ode
  • Lyrics
  • Elegy
  • Ballad
  • Panegyric
  • Epic
  • Blank Verse, etc.

2. Poetic devices

  • Structure
  • Imagery
  • Sound(Rhyme/Rhythm, repetition, pun, onomatopoeia, etc.)
  • Diction
  • Persona

3. Appreciation

  • Thematic preoccupation
  • Socio-political relevance
  • Style.

Objectives:

Candidates should be able to:

  • Identify different types of poetry;
  • Compare and contrast the features of different poetic types:
  • Determine the devices used by various poets;
  • Show how poetic devices are used for aesthetic effect in each poem;
  • Deduce the poet’s preoccupation from the poem;
  • Appraise poetry as an art with moral values;
  • Apply the lessons from the poem to real life situations.

GENERAL LITERARY PRINCIPLES

Topics/Contents/Notes:

  • Literary terms:
    foreshadowing, suspense, theatre, monologue, dialogue, soliloquy, symbolism, protagonist, antagonist, figures of speech, satire, stream of consciousness, synecdoche, metonymy, etc, in addition to those listed above under the different genres.
  • Literary principles
    i. Direct imitation in play;
    ii. Versification in drama and poetry;
    iii. Narration of people’s experiences;
    iv. Achievement of aesthetic value, etc.
  • Relationship between literary terms and principles.

Objectives:

Candidates should be able to:

  • Identify literary terms in drama, prose and poetry;
  • Identify the general principles of Literature;
  • Differentiate between literary terms and principles;
  • Use literary terms appropriately.

LITERARY APPRECIATION

Topics/Contents/Notes:

  • Unseen passages/extracts from Drama, Prose and Poetry.

Objectives:

Candidates should be able to:

  • Determine literary devices used in a given passage/extract;
  • Provide a meaningful inter-pretation of the given passage/extract;
  • Relate the extract to true life experiences.

JAMB Literature Novel 2023

Drama:

African:

  •  Frank Ogodo Ogbeche : Harvest of Corruption

Non African:

  • William Shakespeare : Othello

Prose:
African:

  • Amma Darko : Faceless
  • Bayo Adebowale : Lonely Days

Non-African:

  • Richard Wright : Native Son

Poetry:

African:

  • Birago Diop : Vanity
  • Gbemisola Adeoti : Ambush
  • Gabriel Okara : Piano and Drums
  •  Gbanabam Hallowell : The Dining Table
  • Lenrie Peter : The Panic of Growing Older
  • Kofi Awoonor : The Anvil and the Hammer

Non African:

  • Alfred Tennyson : Crossing the Bar
  • George Herbert : The Pulley
  • William Blake : The School Boy
  • William Morris : The Proud King

JAMB Literature recommended Textbooks

  1. ANTHOLOGIES
    Gbemisola, A. (2005)Naked Soles, Ibadan: Kraft
    Hayward, J. (ed.) (1968) The Penguin Book of English Verse, London: Penguin
    Johnson, R. et al (eds.) (1996) New Poetry from Africa, Ibadan: UP Plc
    Kermode, F. et al (1964) Oxford Anthology of English Literature, Vol. II, London: OUP
    Nwoga D. (ed.) (1967) West African Verse, London: Longman
    Senanu, K. E. and Vincent, T. (eds.) (1993) A Selection of African Poetry, Lagos: Longman
    Soyinka, W. (ed.) (1987) Poems of Black Africa, Ibadan: Heinemann2. CRITICAL TEXTS
    Abrams, M. H. (1981) A Glossary of Literary Terms, (4th Edition) New York, Holt Rinehalt and Winston
    Emeaba, O. E. (1982) A Dictionary of Literature, Aba: Inteks Press
    Murphy, M. J. (1972) Understanding Unseen, An Introduction to English Poetry and English Novel for Overseas Students, George Allen and Unwin Ltd.

See: JAMB Syllabus for All Subjects

If you have any questions on JAMB Syllabus for Literature 2023, kindly drop your question in the comment box and we shall attend to you as soon as possible and please, remember to share this information by clicking the Facebook share button or any of the social media share buttons below.

Last Updated on January 16, 2023 by Admin

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153 thoughts on “JAMB Literature in English Syllabus 2023/2024 | Read and Download PDF”

  1. Pls what are the Prose,Drama and Poetry we are using for this year 2022 jamb.Is it the one of Harvest of corruption or the new literatures.Please help me out am confused

    Reply
  2. Am only scared and confused about the anthologies ?….they are too abundant

    Reply
  3. wow I’m also shocked but what can I do, I will have to study hard

    Reply
    • Actually I don’t know what is happening, are those people giving the guidelines or what, recently I search if they could typically assist

      Reply
  4. If i say that literature student are not crying as a result of confusion on which text to read then am a big. Abeg govt should come out public and clerify us.

    Reply
    • well i deeply appreciate literature because it. keep me busy

      Reply
  5. It’s okay ?, even though I jot got to know this tonight and my exam is tomorrow morning, God is at work ?

    Reply
  6. I can’t believe this I’ve been reading new texts and I just got to know we’re using the old texts. I’m having my paper tomorrow morning ☹️? may God help me!.

    Reply
  7. Please anyone who can get in touch with jamb should please do that it too late for us ongoing ss3 to study all those old text we should have been told since ss1 admin please ?
    This issue also occur in the previous WASSCE for private candidate they set the questions on the old exam focus and later cancelled literature in English which most candidate wasn’t informed and on their results there were absent on literature in English please admin I am begging again

    Reply
  8. I can’t believe this . I have spent all my time reading the 2021- 2025 syllabus only to see this now. This must be reversed or where will we start from.

    Reply
  9. What of those that wrote the mock exams,was it the previous exam focus they used

    Reply
  10. I dont understand this issue o,now im in a dilemma i dont know which one to follow or believe

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  11. I just hope this is true but what about those that have been studying 2021/2024 syllables?

    Reply
  12. Are the below really the text books for jamb exam 2021?
    Harvest of corruption, native son, Othello, faceless etc and the poetry these?
    Panic of growing older, dinning table, shall I compare etc? Knowing fully well these are the texts for 2016 upward

    Reply
  13. Ahahahahhaha am just seeing this and I have jamb In the next 7 days

    Reply
  14. Some people have started reading the new novels like invisible Man,mid night summer dream

    Reply
    • People like me, am just finding out that they haven’t changed the recommended text

      Reply
    • Like me am done with 2021-2025 syllabus ,we should have been told since ss1

      Reply
    • Please dear u mean that the old one is still the one to be used for this our current jamb exam starting this week

      Reply
  15. It will also help the outgoing SS3 student that are writing jamb too…..

    Because if the question was to be set from the new text majority of them won’t know what to write.

    Reply
  16. Why is jamb setting questions from the 2016-2020 set of texts and poems? Usually, every four years, new texts are issued to students but this year, students are made to answer questions from the books for 2016. This is unfair to the current SS3 students who have been studying the 2021-2024 set of texts and poems. What is the way forward?

    Reply
      • But we didn’t study these. We studied the new syllabus. Please Sir/Ma, can you redress the issue?

        Reply
    • Jamb this year is mostly for last year ss3 students who passed out from sec school
      So jamb is right by using the old texts because that’s what they used in their waec
      The current SSS3 should have known it’ll be the old texts
      I’m in Ss3 buh I read the old texts sha

      Reply
  17. I can not believe that I have to read the last set literature text. we should have been told this since SS1 but it not yet too late.

    Reply

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