21/05/2024
It's time for some GCSE English Language 💪
Either side of half-term, students will sit English Language Paper 1 and English Language Paper 2, covering fiction and non-fiction reading and writing skills.
Both papers will test students' ability to explore and analyse texts through language and structural devices employed by writers to achieve desired effects on readers. In terms of the reading sections, the biggest piece of advice I can give students is to make sure that they fully read, understand and register the texts before attempting to answer the questions that follow. This simple protocol is often overlooked - but I can't stress how important it is to actually understand the texts you are answering questions on. Understand the texts and students should be able to apply the skills they have worked on (PETAL, PETE, PEED, etc.) to answer the questions in preparation for these sections of the exams.
The 40-mark writing sections are paramount to success - and make up a huge percentage of the overall papers. Students MUST allow themselves plenty of time (at least 45 minutes) to write their responses, with sufficient time spent re-reading and proofreading their work for spelling, punctuation and grammar.
In terms of creative writing, exam markers are looking to be 'wowed'. That means creating a piece of fiction that interests, engages and entertains the reader (the exam marker) from start to finish. In my opinion, good pieces of creative writing are fast-paced, have lots of drama / action and leave the readers questioning and predicting what's going to happen next. The aforementioned effects are achieved through using variety - a variety of different punctuation to impact meaning; a variety of exciting, ambitious vocabulary (particularly verbs, adjectives and adverbs) and a variety of different writing techniques (similes, metaphors, personification, etc.) and structural techniques (different paragraph lengths and different sentence types and lengths) to express meaning and keep the reader on the edge of their seat!
Exam boards are looking for students to showcase their writing adaptability when it comes to non-fiction writing. Exam markers are looking for students to appropriately adapt their tone, style and purpose (often to persuade and / or inform) to reach a desired audience (often a specific, intended readership) in the form of a specific layout and structure (usually a letter, a speech or a newspaper article). Yes, students still need to create a piece of writing that interests, engages and entertains the reader, and students will still be judged and marked on their use of punctuation, vocabulary, etc., but they need to do so in a different style of writing that needs new direction in the form of opinions, persuasion and information. Using the well-known acronym DAFOREST IP (a string of writing and structural techniques) should be employed to achieve success in this question!
I will repeat that doing well on both of these questions is paramount to success! Good luck 👊
