GCSE Curriculum
At GCSE, English becomes two subjects:
English Literature and English Language.
You will get two separate GCSE grades and qualifications at the end of Year 11.
We will be using the AQA exam board for both the Literature and Language GCSE courses.
Both subjects are graded from 9 to 1. 9 being the highest grade. 4 is considered a pass (equivalent to a C in the previous grading system).
English Literature
The English Literature course will test the following skills:
Comprehension skills: how well can you infer information about plot, character, events and settings?
● Critical Reading: how well do you consider different ways of interpreting a text?
● Does the historical context of a text help you come to your own informed opinion?
● Analytical skills: how well can you analyse how writers use language, form and structure. Comparison skills: how well do you compare and contrast texts that you have studied.
Over the course of year 10 and 11, you will study the following texts in full:
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Conflict Poetry Anthology by Various Poets
(When your son needs the copy of these texts the school will sell them, at a discounted price, through the School Gateway system. You will be informed when your son needs these texts.)
You will sit 2 exam papers in GCSE English Literature at the end of the course:
Exam Paper 1: Shakespeare and 19th Century novel (A Christmas Carol) •
written exam: 1 hour 45 minutes
• 64 marks
• 40% of Lit GCSE
Section A: Shakespeare: students will answer one question on their play of choice. They will be required to write in detail about an extract from the play and then to write about the play as a whole.
Section B: The 19th-century novel: students will answer one question on their novel of choice. They will be required to write in detail about an extract from the novel and then to write about the novel as a whole.
Exam Paper 2: Modern Text (An Inspector Calls) and Poetry
• written exam: 2 hour 15 minutes
• 96 marks
• 60% of Lit GCSE
Section A: Modern texts: students will answer one essay question from a choice of two on their studied modern prose or drama text.
Section B: Poetry: students will answer one comparative question on one named poem printed on the paper and one other poem from their chosen anthology cluster.
Section C: Unseen poetry: Students will answer one question on one unseen poem and one question comparing two unseen poems.
English Language
The English Language course develops your reading and writing skills.
The final exams will test:
● Your ability to retrieve information from a range of different texts.
● Your ability to comment on the overall structure of a text
● Your ability to analyse a writer’s use of language.
● Your ability to compare the content of two different texts.
● The overall structure of your writing: how well you can plan and paragraph.
● Your ability to use different types of sentences.
● The breadth of your vocabulary
● Your accuracy with spelling and grammar.
You will sit 2 exams in GCSE English language at the end of the course.
There are two papers which ask you to look at different types of text.
Paper 1 asks you to read and comment on an extract of fiction and write a piece of descriptive or narrative writing.
Paper 2 asks you to read and comment on extracts from non-fiction texts(20/21st Century and the 19th Century) and write to present your viewpoint on a topic.
There are two papers which ask you to look at different types of text.
Paper 1 asks you to read and comment on an extract of fiction and write a piece of descriptive or narrative writing.
Paper 2 asks you to read and comment on an extract from non-fiction text and write to present your viewpoint on a topic.
How is it assessed? written exam: 1 hour 45 minutes 80 marks 50% of GCSE
Exam Paper 2: Non-Fiction Texts What's assessed?
Section A: Reading one non-fiction text and one literary non-fiction text(19th Century)
Section B: Writing - writing to present a viewpoint
How is it assessed? written exam: 1 hour 45 minutes 80 marks 50% of GCSE
Top Tip
Both the Literature and the Language GCSEs encompass ideas about what writers want and need readers to feel.
Speaking and Listening
Speaking and listening component:
Speaking and Listening is graded against a scale of 5-1, where 5 is the highest and 1 is the lowest grade available. The grade for Speaking and Listening is not a separate GCSE subject grade but represents an integral part of the overall assessment of GCSE English or English Language.
What will be examined for both Literature and Language?
Reading:
❏ Identify and interpret explicit and implicit information
❏ Summarise/synthesise information
❏ Use evidence -quotes/interpretations
❏ How writers use language for impact
❏ How writers use structure for impact
❏ Use subject terminology correctly
❏ To make relevant links between the meaning of a text and the context(historical time) they were written in
❏ Compare writers ideas across two or more texts
❏ Maintain a critical and informed formal written response in your writing.
Writing: should be-
❏ Clear
❏ Controlled and accurate
❏ Imaginative(for creative tasks)
❏ In a appropriate style, tone and register(for different forms, purposes and audiences)
❏ Organise information, ideas using structurally correct and accurate grammatical features
❏ Writing should have coherence and cohesion
❏ Use a wide range of vocabulary
❏ Use a wide range of sentence structures for impact
❏ Using a wide range of appropriate punctuation
❏ Accurate use of spelling
Speaking and listening
❏ To be able to demonstrate that you have listened to your English teacher and classmates when asked a question
❏ Participate in discussion
❏ Listen and be able to respond
❏ Form an opinion
❏ Articulate points using evidence
❏ Demonstrate presentation skills in a formal setting
❏ Use spoken Standard English effectively in speeches and presentations.
Useful Study Guides
Some suggested study guides for the GCSE English Language exams:
(these are all available from Amazon UK and many can be purchased second hand).
We have no plans, as yet, to sell these guides in school.