NABTEB Syllabus for Literature-in-English 2025

Literature is one of the core subjects in the upcoming NABTEB examinations, especially for arts students. If you have registered for Literature-in-English and are already preparing for the exam, it is important to streamline your studies to focus on the right topics. NABTEB has released the official syllabus, which outlines all the key topics and texts that will feature in the examination. This syllabus is a valuable tool guiding your study efforts and ensuring you are well-prepared for what to expect.

In this post, you will find the official NABTEB Syllabus for Literature-in-English, along with a comprehensive list of recommended literary texts and reference books to aid your preparation. Make sure to check it out and use it to direct your focus to the right areas for optimal results in your upcoming exams.

Table of Contents

NABTEB Literature-in-English Examination Structure

Here is how the examination is structured.

PAPER I

50 objective questions based on:-

General literary principles
Literary appreciation and techniques
Contextual questions on Africa and Non-African drama set books
Unseen prose and poetry passages

PAPER 2: DRAMA AND POETRY

SECTION A: AFRICAN DRAMA

One text to be studied

SECTION B: NON-AFRICAN DRAMA

One text to be studied

SECTION C: AFRICAN POETRY

Various traditional and modern African poetry to be studied

SECTION D: NON-AFRICAN POETRY

Various classical and modern non-African poetry to be studied

PAPER 3: PROSE

SECTION A: AFRICAN PROSE

One text to be studied

SECTION B: NON-AFRICAN PROSE

One text to be studied

You will find a list of literary texts to be studied below in this post.

NABTEB Syllabus for Literature-in-English

Here is the syllabus for the English Literature paper.

Topic/Objective	Contents
1. Comprehension	I. Identify new words and expressions from any given text. ii. Read and answer questions on a given literary material. 1.1 Suitable passages from selected literary texts to be read at a given speed of 100 words per minute. 1.2 Selected suitable literary materials of an appropriate level with new words. 1.3 Carefully design questions relating to the selected text.
2. Literary Appreciation	i. Appreciate figurative expressions, imagery, and style in literary texts. ii. Identify qualities of a good text. 2.1 Qualities of a good text: (a) Language (b) Theme (c) Plot (d) Characterization (e) Setting 2.2 Selected unseen passages of appropriate level of complexity in which many figurative expressions are appreciated. 2.3 Questions designed to lead students to discover characters and incidents in literary text. 2.4 Qualities of suitable material: (i) language (ii) print (iii) illustration (iv) styles
3. Literature	i. To identify different types of literary genres. ii. To identify elements of prose literature. iii. To identify elements of drama. IV. Identify figures of speech and literary styles in any given literary piece. 3.1 Literary Genres: (a) prose (b) poetry (c) drama 3.2 (i) Incident (ii) Characters (iii) Plots (iv) Theme 3.3 Style: e.g., flashback, play-within-play, plot, setting, mode of narration, said, etc. 3.4 Figures of speech: (i) simile (ii) metaphor (iii) climax (iv) personification, etc.
4. Appreciation	Write your simple literary pieces. 4.1 Beauty of a text: such as atmosphere, i.e., the feeling, figurative expressions, etc. 4.2 Short explanation of the text. Complex interpretation and relation with real-life situations.

Check below to see the literature and recommended texts for this paper.

NABTEB English Language Literature Texts

Category	Title	Author
African Drama	The Trials of Brother Jero	Wole Soyinka
	Sizwe Bansi is Dead	Athol Fugard
Non-African Drama	The Merchant of Venice	William Shakespeare
	The Taming of the Shrew	George Bernard Shaw
African Poetry	My Song Bursts	Traditional
	Salute to the Elephant	Traditional
	Nightfall in Soweto	Oswald Mtshali
	Building the Nation	Henry Barlow
	An African Thunderstorm	David Rubadiri
	Ours to Plough, not to Plunder	Niyi Osundare
Non-African Poetry	Ode to a Nightingale	John Keats
	A Red, Red Rose	Robert Burns
	Death Be Not Proud	John Donne
	Journey of the Magi	T.S. Eliot
	A Poison Tree	William Blake
	Ulysses	Alfred Tennyson
African Prose	Slave Wife	Buchi Emecheta
	Weep Not, Child	Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
Non-African Prose	A Christmas Carol	Charles Dickens
	King Solomon’s Mines	Sir Rider Haggard

Recommended Reference Books and Anthologies (APA Style)

Ford, B. (Ed.). (n.d.). The Pelican guide to English literature (Vols. 1–7). Pelican Books.
Hayward, J. (Ed.). (n.d.). The Penguin book of English verse. Penguin.
Obiechina, E. N. (n.d.). Culture, tradition, and society in the West African novel. Cambridge University Press.
Omonode, B. (n.d.). Introduction to literature. University of Benin Press.
Osundare, N. (1986). The eye of the Earth. Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books Nigeria Limited.
Palmer, E. (n.d.). An introduction to the African novel. Heinemann Educational Books.
Sehanu, K. E., & Vincent, T. (Eds.). (n.d.). A selection of African poetry (Annotated). Longman.