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 Questioning
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Group and paired discussion of texts
Unit 3 Task A is a recorded group discussion of 6 to 10 minutes for 3 to 4 learners on linked non-fiction texts. The Double Award adds Unit 5 Task B, a paired discussion of 5 to 8 minutes comparing poems from different periods, so learners must listen, build on others' points and support views with evidence.
Literacy: Questioning, Listening as part of collaborative talk, Collaborative talk
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils discuss in groups of four whether a character in their class novel was right to act as they did, each using the stems I agree because or I see it differently because.
- Year 8
- Pupils hold a six minute group discussion on two short non-fiction texts about the same issue, with one pupil observing and tallying questions asked and evidence used.
- Year 9
- Pupils record an eight minute group discussion comparing how two speeches try to influence their audience, then listen back and each set one target for their next discussion.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit 3, Section 3.2, page 19 (also Section 3.2, pages 35 and 37)
“engage constructively with different texts, ideas and viewpoints”
Progression step 3
I can ask and answer questions, building on and developing the ideas of others in group discussions.
I can listen in order to show agreement and disagreement in collaborative discussion and situations.
Progression step 4
I can sustain a convincing point of view, anticipating and responding to other perspectives.
I can listen to and respond to others with questions, comments and suggestions in order to develop collaborative talk and reach compromise/consensus.
Progression step 5
I can use a range of options and strategies to enable the group to progress and reach consensus.
I can respond to others' points of view using a range of techniques, e.g. rhetorical questions, gestures.
I can respond with confidence and sensitivity to the ideas of others in different collaborative situations, reflecting on information and ideas and asking relevant questions.
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.