ENGLISH - What You Will Learn

Key Stage 4

At Key Stage 4 English and English Literature are statutory subjects and must be taken at examination level. This page contains details of the course.

Number of lessons per week: 4 lessons (4 hours)

Qualification: 2 x General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE)

Examining board: AQA

Further information and full course specification: English AQA website, Literature AQA website

This page:
» Aims
» Assessment objectives
» Subject content
» Scheme of assessment

Aims

English

This specification reflects the aims of the National Curriculum Order for English and is concerned with the development of candidates’:

• Speaking and Listening, including their ability to formulate, clarify and express their ideas; adapt their speech to a widening range of circumstances and demands; listen, understand and respond appropriately to others; where appropriate, use the vocabulary and grammar of spoken standard English; and take part in drama activities.
• Reading, including their ability to read accurately and fluently; understand, respond to and enjoy literature of increasing complexity drawn from the English literary heritage and from different cultures and traditions; and analyse and evaluate a wide range of texts.
• Ability to construct and convey meaning in written standard English, including: the use of compositional skills to develop ideas and communicate meaning to a reader; the development of a wide range of vocabulary
  and an effective style; organising and structuring sentences grammatically and whole texts coherently; the development of essential presentational skills which include accurate punctuation, correct spelling and legible handwriting; and showing a wide variety of forms for different purposes.

Literature

A course based on this specification should provide students with opportunities to explore their literary interests and encourage them to:

• Develop the ability to read, understand and respond to a wide range of literary texts, appreciate the ways in which authors achieve their effects and develop the skills necessary for literary study;
• Develop awareness of social, historical and cultural contexts and influences in the study of literature;
• Develop the ability to construct and convey meaning in speech and writing, matching style to audience and purpose.

Assessment objectives

English

Speaking and Listening

Candidates are required to demonstrate their ability to:

• Communicate clearly and imaginatively, structuring and sustaining their talk and adapting it to different situations, using standard English appropriately;
• Participate in discussion by both speaking and listening, judging the nature and purposes of contributions and the roles of participants;
• Adopt roles and communicate with audiences using a range of techniques.

Reading

Candidates are required to demonstrate their ability to:

• Read, with insight and engagement, making appropriate references to texts and developing and sustaining
  interpretations of them;
• Distinguish between fact and opinion and evaluate how information is presented;
• Follow an argument, identifying implications and recognising inconsistencies;
• Select material appropriate to their purpose, collate material from different sources, and make cross references;
• Understand and evaluate how writers use linguistic, structural and presentational devices to achieve their effects, and comment on ways language varies and changes.

Writing

Candidates are required to demonstrate their ability to:

• Communicate clearly and imaginatively, using and adapting forms for different readers and purposes;
• Urganise ideas into sentences, paragraphs and whole texts using a variety of linguistic and structural features;
• Use a range of sentence structures effectively with accurate punctuation and spelling.

Literature

Candidates are required to demonstrate their ability to:

• Respond to texts critically, sensitively and in detail, selecting appropriate ways to convey their response, using textual evidence as appropriate;
• Explore how language, structure and forms contribute to the meanings of texts, considering different approaches to texts and alternative interpretations;
• Explore relationships and comparisons between texts, selecting and evaluating relevant material;
• Relate texts to their social, cultural and historical contexts and literary traditions.

Subject content

English

Speaking and Listening

The range of Speaking and Listening assessed must include talk to:

• Explain, describe, narrate.
• Explore, analyse, imagine.
• Discuss, argue, persuade.

by means of a group discussion, a drama focused activity and an extended individual piece.

Reading

The range of Reading assessed must cover aspects of the requirements exemplified in the programme of study for Reading in Key Stages 3 and 4 in English in the National Curriculum. In England a specification must cover prose, poetry and drama texts including:

• A play by Shakespeare.
• Work from the English Literary Heritage by at least one major writer with a well-established critical reputation.
• Texts from different cultures and traditions.

The range of Reading must also include:

• Non-fiction texts
• Media texts

Writing

The range of Writing assessed must include, in a variety of forms and genres, writing to:

• Explore, imagine, entertain.
• Inform, explain, describe.
• Argue, persuade, advise.
• Analyse, review, comment.

Literature

A course of study based on this specification must provide opportunity for the study of a substantial and diverse range of literary texts of sufficient substance and quality to merit serious consideration, most of which must be originally written in English (some works in translation may also be included).
Candidates must show evidence of assessment in the following six categories of literature:

• Prose published before 1914
• Prose published after 1914
• Poetry published before 1914
• Poetry published after 1914
• Drama published before 1914
• Drama published after 1914

Scheme of assessment

ENGLISH

The Scheme of Assessment comprises three components:

• Written Paper 1
• Written Paper 2
• Coursework

Written Paper 1 - 1¾ hours - 30% of the marks

Section A
Multi-part questions on reading of unseen non-fiction and media texts.

Section B
A choice of one from three or more questions testing writing which seeks to argue, persuade or advise.

Written Paper 2 - 1½ hours - 30% of the marks

Section A
Choice of 1 from 2 questions based on a cluster of poetry drawn from different cultures and traditions in the AQA Anthology.

Section B
A choice of one from three or more questions testing writing which seeks to inform, explain or describe.

Coursework - 40% of the marks

Speaking and Listening - 20%
Reading - Shakespeare* - 5%, Prose Study* - 5%
Writing - Media - 5%, Original Writing - 5%

* indicates a ‘cross-over’ response to GCSE English Literature Specification A.

LITERATURE

The Scheme of Assessment comprises two components:

• A written paper
• Coursework

Written Paper - 1¾ hours - 70% of the total marks

Section A - 30%
One question based on post-1914 prose.
There will be a choice of questions.

Section B - 40%
One question based on pre- and post-1914 poetry from the Anthology. There will be a choice of questions.

Coursework - 30% of the total marks

Three tasks
Drama (pre-1914) (Shakespeare*) 10%
Prose (pre-1914)* 10%
Drama (post-1914) 10%

* indicates a ‘cross-over’ piece i.e. can be used to meet the coursework requirements of both GCSE English Literature Specification A and English Specification A.

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