GCSE English Language and Literature
This GCSE is literacy from end to end. Learners analyse seen and unseen poetry, prose, drama and non-fiction, write extended critical essays and creative literary and non-fiction pieces, and are assessed on a recorded presentation and on group and paired discussions, with accuracy of grammar, punctuation and spelling built into AO2, which is half of every award. Numeracy is light: learners must read non-continuous texts such as infographics and data in the non-fiction anthology, and the biggest thing Key Stage 3 should build is confident, evidence-led analytical writing about unseen texts, drafted and proofread to a high standard of accuracy.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Level 1 and Level 2
- First taught
- September 2025
- Amount of literacy work
- High
- Amount of numeracy work
- Low
- Specification
- Open the specification
How this qualification is assessed
- Unit 1: Context and Meaning (Single and Double Award): Written examination 1 hour 30 minutes, 60 marks, 30% of the Single Award, 15% of the Double Award
- Unit 2: Belonging (Single and Double Award): NEA approximately 7 hours, 60 marks, 20% of the Single Award, 10% of the Double Award
- Unit 3: Influence and Power (Single and Double Award): NEA approximately 5 hours 55 minutes, 50 marks, 20% of the Single Award, 10% of the Double Award
- Unit 4a: Motivations (Single Award only): Written examination 1 hour 30 minutes, 60 marks, 30% of the Single Award
- Unit 4b: Motivations (Double Award only): Written examination 1 hour 30 minutes, 60 marks, 20% of the Double Award
- Unit 5: Continuity and Change (Double Award only): NEA approximately 8 hours, 60 marks, 20% of the Double Award
- Unit 6: Connections (Double Award only): Written examination 1 hour 30 minutes, 80 marks, 25% of the Double Award
Skills that use Interpreting data
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Reading data in non-continuous texts
Each theme of the non-fiction anthology includes two non-continuous texts, and the Unit 3 group discussion must refer to at least one. Appendix A ties Units 2, 3 and 6 to the statistics strand, so learners may need to read figures, charts and infographics and judge how data is used to persuade.
Numeracy: Interpreting data
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils read a charity infographic about plastic waste and write two sentences saying which figure is most shocking and why the designer made it the largest.
- Year 8
- Pupils compare a bar chart in a campaign leaflet with the words around it and write a paragraph on how the numbers are used to persuade the reader.
- Year 9
- Pupils find one misleading feature in a newspaper graph, such as a scale not starting at zero, and use it as evidence in a group discussion on how the text influences its audience.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit 3, Task A, Section 3.2, page 35 (also Section 3.1 amplification, page 18; Appendix A, page 44)
“at least one of the texts referenced in the discussion must be non-continuous.”
Progression step 3
I can extract and interpret information from an increasing range of diagrams, timetables and graphs (including pie charts).
I can draw conclusions from data and recognise that some conclusions may be misleading or uncertain.
Progression step 4
I can interpret graphs that describe real-life situations, including those used in the media, recognising that some graphs may be misleading.
I can interpret mathematical information; drawing inferences from graphs, diagrams and data, including discussion on limitations of data.
Progression step 5
I can interpret graphs that describe real-life situations, including those used in the media, recognising that some graphs may be misleading.
I can draw conclusions from data and recognise that some conclusions may be misleading or uncertain.
Good to know
- Single Award is Units 1, 2, 3 and 4a. Double Award is Units 1, 2, 3, 4b, 5 and 6 (page 7), so Double Award learners sit one more written examination (Unit 6, 80 marks) and one more NEA with a paired discussion (Unit 5).
- There is no separate SPaG mark. Accuracy sits inside AO2 iv, "accurate punctuation and spelling" (page 32), and AO2 is 50% of both the Single and Double Award (page 33).
- AO2 weighting by unit in the Single Award: Unit 1 9%, Unit 2 10%, Unit 3 16%, Unit 4a 15% (page 33). In the Double Award it is 4.5%, 5%, 8%, 10% (Unit 4b), 10% (Unit 5) and 12.5% (Unit 6).
- Unit 3 Task B "will assess AO2 only" and "The suggested length is 400-500 words"; the work "must be a written text designed to be spoken" (page 36).
- Suggested lengths: Unit 2 Task A "750-1000 words" (page 34); Unit 5 Task A "1000 -1500 words" (page 36).
- Oracy: Unit 3 group discussion of "6-10 minutes" with "3-4 learners" (page 35); Unit 5 paired discussion of "5-8 minutes" (page 37). Oracy "must be audio recorded or audio-visually recorded" and audio only recordings need the candidate's page of notes uploaded (page 34).
- NEA written work "may be handwritten and scanned, or completed digitally" (page 34). Units 1, 4a, 4b and 6 are each a written examination of 1 hour 30 minutes (pages 5 to 6).
- Unit 1 poetry study must include "sonnet, elegy, ballad and blank verse" from the 19th and 20th centuries (page 13).
- Watching performances of the Shakespeare play "must not be a substitute for studying the whole text" (page 37).
- The specification does not mention dictionaries or calculators for any unit.
Links with other qualifications
Appendix A (page 44) links Units 2, 3 and 6 to the numeracy statistics strand, so History, Geography and Science work on reading charts in media sources directly supports the non-continuous texts learners meet here.
Source: WJEC GCSE English Language and Literature (Single and Double Award) specification, Version 5, teaching from 2025, for award from 2027, © WJEC CBAC Ltd. 2024.