Formative Assessment

Possible Answers/Scoring Guide

“William Faulkner’s Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech”

 

Overall effect:  Gracious acceptance tempered by his belief that writers can help humanity to prevail.

Example of Sound Device

Contribution to the Speech

Alliteration—ding-dong of doom

 

Adds to his belief that humanity is doomed unless the writer reminds the human race that it can succeed.

Onomatopoeia—ding-dong

 

Contributes to the tone of the speech through an auditory signal.

Repetition—because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat.

Emphasizes the writer’s duty to help humanity to prevail.

Consonance—man is immortal simply…; clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last dead and dying evening…

Gives rhythm and emphasis and ensures his audience knows his belief.

Slang—“When will I be blown up?”

Emphasizes a very base fear of young writers in light of the time in which this speech was given.  Adds to the doom factor of the human race.

 

Formative Assessment Scoring Guide

3 points – Provides an example of a sound device used by the author of the selection.  Clearly explains how the sound device adds to the meaning and provides relevant text examples/details for support.

2 points – Provides an example of a sound device used by the author of the selection; partially explains how the

sound device adds to the meaning and provides text examples/details for support.

 

1 point – Provides an example but meaning is incorrect and/or no explanation is given.  Text examples/details do

Not clearly support the explanation or are not given

 

0 point – Other