Here is how to excel in oral narratives

Questions on oral narratives usually come in Paper One or Paper Two. It is therefore important that a candidate is conversant with the topic.

An oral narrative is a form (genre) of oral literature. It refers to a prose account of people, events and places, which may be fa ctual or fictional. An oral narrative is passed from generation to generation through word of mouth. It is also referred to as a “tale”, “folktale” or “story”.

A student should be able to classify the given oral narrative. Narratives fall under different categories. A good student should be able to justify why the narrative falls in a specific category. Each category has features that identify it. Examples include myths, legends, aetiological narratives, ogre/monster narratives, trickster narratives, dilemma stories.

Myths are stories which deal with origins. In these stories, there is a supernatural being involved. For example stories which deal with the origin of death or the origin of a group of people.

Aetiological narratives are stories that explain the origin of certain phenomena. They are also referred to as “why” or explanatory narratives. For example “Why the hen scratches the ground.”

LEGENDS

Legends are stories which discuss historical events and people. They talk about heroes and heroines in the community.

Stories that have ogres/monsters can be classified as ogre narratives. The ogres are either mentioned in these stories or they are also characters in the story.
In a trickster narrative, a character plays tricks (deceit) on other characters.

DILEMMA NARRATIVES
Dilemma narratives are stories in which a character or a group is faced with two or more choices, usually of a moral nature, none of which is easy to make.

The student should be able to identify the unique features of an oral narrative. Narratives have certain features that are common. For example, there are certain methods of introducing or ending an oral narrative. These are referred to as opening and closing formula respectively. Other features include, use of songs, repetition, dialogue, fantasy. Narratives also have a moral lesson. The student should be able to identify these features. For each identification, a good student must give an illustration.

In this question, students usually have problems in giving the character traits of different characters in the story. Most students fail questions on character trait because they give traits using the negative form. Avoid using the word “not” when giving traits. For example, a student who writes: ‘the Hare is not hard working” does not get a mark. That is not a character trait. Indicate what a character is – “the Hare is lazy.” This should be accompanied by illustrations from the narrative. Adjectives are normally used to describe characters.

Another problematic area in this question is in giving of moral lessons. Students who give moral lessons in the negative do not score. For example, it is wrong for a student to indicate that the moral lesson of a story is: “we should not be disobedient.” This should be stated as, “we should obey our parents, etc”, depending on the story.

Do not use the word “not” to state a moral lesson. The word “not” can only be used if the moral lesson is stated in form of a proverb that contains the word. For example, the moral lesson we get from the story is, “all that glitters is not gold.”

Students also have problems in identifying the social and economic activities in the narrative. A social activity is an activity that brings the people together e.g. wedding, worshipping. Economic activities are activities from which a group of people can earn a living e.g. farming, hunting, gathering fruits, trading. The student must identify the activity and give illustrations from the narrative.

STATING THE ACTIVITY

Most students fail because they do not state the activity. Such students state that the people are for example farmers, traders, hunters. These are not activities. We use verbs to indicate activities e.g. farming, trading, hunting.

Students should know that an oral narrative is meant to be performed. A good student should therefore know aspects of performance that are lost when an oral narrative is written down.

These are aspects that cannot be presented in writing. They include:

Use of tonal variation

Use of appropriate facial expression

Appropriate use of gestures

Use of mimicry-imitation of the speech of various characters in the narrative

Above all, the student must understand the narrative in order to give the required details.

Common questions in oral narratives

a) Classify the narrative above. Here the candidate should justify why the narrative falls in a specific category. Each category has features that identify it.

b) With illustrations, give three features typical of oral narratives employed in this narrative. Some of the features unique to oral narratives are:

i) Opening formula. Oral narratives have a particular way in which they are introduced. The most common ones are- ‘Once upon a time’ and ‘Long long ago’.

The opening formula has particular functions:

It announces the coming of a narrative

It attracts the attention of the audience

It identifies the narrator

It separates the world of reality from that of imagination. This feature takes the audience/listeners to the world of imagination.

ii) Closing formula. Oral narratives also end in a particular way. Most narratives end with the words “That’s the end of my story” or “My story ends there.”

The closing formula also has particular functions:

It announces the end of the narrative.

It releases the audience from concentration

It gives cue to the next narrator

It clears the way for the next activity or the next narrative.

iii) Use of dialogue. Dialogue refers to the presentation of speech in the actual words of the characters. Dialogue makes the narrative real and dramatic. It makes the narrative interesting.
c) Contrast the character traits of the Hare and the Elephant, just for example. It can be other characters. The Elephant can be portrayed as gullible/foolish or easily convinced while the Hare is portrayed as witty.
d) State one proverb which reflects the message conveyed in this narrative. Explain its relevance. Here the student is expected to understand the message being put across in the narrative and summarise this message using a proverb. He or she should therefore understand proverbs as forms of oral literature and their use. For instance, in a story where we are told that the Leopard was sly, while the Hare was cunning and witty, we can therefore use the proverb- “Set a thief to catch a thief” or Brain encounters brain” if the Leopard outwits the Hare.

e) Identify and illustrate one social activity that is practised by the community from which this story was collected. A social activity is an activity that brings people together. It promotes social relationship among the people. The people come together to do something common. In some oral narratives, for instance, you can have sporting as an activity. The animals can come together for high-jump competition.

f) Imagine you have been asked to carry out a field study to collect oral narratives in your community. Explain two dramatic features you are likely to observe during the performance by your informant. During a field study, the researcher is able to see a live performance. When oral literature material is recorded in writing, certain dramatic features are lost. These features cannot be put in writing. The candidate is therefore expected to say what it is that the researcher will be able to observe during field study. They include the following:

TONAL VARIATION

Tonal variation. The different characters in the story, say Leopard, Hare, and Elephant use different tones.

Use of gestures and body movements. The various characters use different body movements and gestures. This cannot be represented in writing.

Facial expressions. These expressions can only be observed during a live performance. They cannot be represented in writing.