- This booklet provides an overview of the support, guidance and resources available to those teaching the WJEC GCE English Language specification across our suite of websites. |
Our AS/A level English language specification fosters learners’ independence as they explore English language in a variety of contexts. It provides learners with opportunities to develop a wide and deep knowledge of the systems of the English language and of issues relating to language and its uses.
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Access a collection of interactive units that bring together a number of elements including general data, exam questions, their marking schemes and examiner comments, which will lead you through a review of exam questions.
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Look at these different chunks of an essay and think about how they could be organised into the different paragraphs. Decide which paragraph each chunk of text belongs with and then on the second screen order the text in each paragraph and give the paragraphs titles to create a coherent essay. You can then compare your essay with the suggested response.
Suggested response, introduction.
To begin with Text A is an extract of the novel Vanity Fair, focusing on the life and adventures of its protagonist, Becky Sharp, a woman struggling to move up in the world and striving to manipulate the society that regards her with disdain for her lower-born origins. Text B is a poem by Katherine Tynan, detailing the importance of the role of women in the concept of having a home, and Text C is a speech by Hillary Clinton, attacking the limitations and assumed inferiority of women in the apparently patriarchal American society of the 90s.
Firstly, all three texts present women as being the centre of a home or household. In Text A the author uses the syndetic of past participles, “she played and sang for him, made him good drinks…steeped his soul in comfort” to illustrate just how much Becky Sharp has to do for her husband, and that she has to fulfil all of the domestic tasks of the household to keep him happy. Similarly, Text B uses the parallelism of the declaratives “I am the pillars of the house” and “I am the house from floor to roof” to suggest that women are pivotal to the formation of somewhere to call home and the metaphor that they are physically part of it seems to emphasise how central they are to a household, and how much relies on them. In comparison, in Text C, the speaker uses the asyndetic listing of present participles “giving birth, (.) raising children (.) cooking meals (.) washing clothes (.) cleaning houses” to encompass the expected domestic duties that a woman completes. This implies how dependent the running of the household is on the woman, a wife and mother with a very big list of expectations. All three texts highlight the role of women in the home and how vital it is.
Another point is that Text A presents women as being quite powerful in the way that Becky Sharp seems to effortlessly manipulate and mould her oblivious husband, shown by the declarative “that veteran rake, Radon Crawley, found himself converted into a very happy and submissive married man”. The use of the archaic abstract noun “veteran rake” contrasts heavily with the premodifying adjectives “happy” and “submissive”, combined with the intensifier “very”, suggests the dramatic change to his character and persona and the use of the dynamic verb “found” and the reflexive pronoun “himself” creates the sense that he had no control over this transformation, that it was entirely by his wife’s hand. Similarly, in Text B, the poet uses the parallelism of the declarative “I am the fire upon the hearth”, “I am the light of the good sun” and “I am the heat that warms the earth” to imply a similar kind of power and the tripling of the abstract nouns “fire”, “light” and “heat” in the semantic field of warmth and flame suggests that a woman powers the world around her, and is responsible for such fundamental roles. Fire also has connotations of being dangerous, and perhaps the poet is also linking to this. In contrast, Text C puts forward the idea that women are beaten down and powerless, with the declaratives “denied the right to go to school”, “forced into prostitution”, “barred from bank lending offices” and “banned from the ballot box”. In particular, the use of the emphasis on the alliterative past participles “barred” and “banned”, a prosodic feature, emphasises how wrong Clinton thinks this is and how it strips women of power. Also the use of the past participles “denied” and “forced” suggests how little control women have over their lives, i.e. how powerless they are, and that they have no choice in their actions. To conclude, Text A and B seem to suggest women have a quiet power, whereas Text C attacks women’s lack of power and control of their lives and the world around them.
In addition, as both Text A and B are in written “mode”, they are designed to utilise imagery and rhetoric, the words carefully chosen to have the most impact, but contrastingly Text C is in spoken mode, which conveys spontaneity and perhaps better imparts Clinton’s outrage over the treatment of women in America.
Furthermore, both Texts B and C create the sense that motherhood is an essential part of a woman’s identity. In Text B, the poet continues the metaphor of a woman (mother) as a fire in the hearth, with the declarative “at me the children warm their hands; I am their light of love alive”, and this enjambment conveys the utter reliance of children on their mother. Throughout the poem, the repetition of the first person personal singular pronoun “I” and the primary verb “am” connotes a sense of certainty and the alliterative abstract nouns “light” and “love” with the third person possessive determiner “their” and the post-modifying adjective alive suggests that their mother is the only thing that matters to a child, and the extended metaphor of a woman as a shining light suggests that she is a force of energy, illuminating the household and providing life to children. In a spiritual sense, it’s as though they worship her. Similarly, in Text C Clinton uses the declarative utterances “giving birth”, “raising children” and “watching their children succumb to malnutrition” to imply that one of the greatest injustices a woman can have done to her by society is to watch her child suffer. The present participles “giving” and “raising” with the concrete nouns “birth” and “children” suggests the responsibility a mother has for her child, and that it is part of who a woman is and what she does.
In contrast to this, Text A presents women as deceivers, conveying the impression that all wives lie and deception is essential for maintaining a good marriage. In short, that creating a façade to show to their husband and the world is an almost essential part of a woman’s identity. This is shown by the declaratives “the best women are hypocrites” and “a good housewife is of necessity a humbug”, in which the premodifying superlative adjective “best” and the plural concrete noun “normal” imply that this applies to all women, and the combination of the archaic abstract noun “humbling” and the abstract noun “necessity” suggests how vital this is to a woman’s persona, that it is an ugly but factual truth. Deceit is a natural part of marriage and women are seemingly built to create a charade of a “good wife”.
Neuroscience is a rapidly growing area of research due to improvements to technology and a desire to know about the brain and how it influences our personality.
However there is an issue about whether the information gained is acceptable in terms of ethical implications, meaning that due to the condition of the people involved in research and also because of how this new evidence is being used there is debate about whether there could be potentially harmful repercussions.
Capacity for consent is an issue because the participants that are involved in neurological research have an impaired capacity to give fully informed consent.
There is an issue of changing capacity to consent because neurological diseases can rapidly deteriorate, this potentially means that it is impossible to gain full valid consent because a person’s want for being involved in the research may change at some point and once they are involved in the research they may feel they cannot withdraw from the study.
There are 850,000 people living in the UK with dementia, meaning that it could be considered to be unethical to not conduct this research as there is a real need for a cure to be found.
It would be economically beneficial for a cure to be found as it costs the government £26 billion a year to fund the treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.
There are ethical guidelines in place by the charity Alzheimer UK to ensure that as little harm as possible comes to the participants.
There could be ethical implications of using neuroscience as evidence in court for explanations of criminals’ behaviour, such as using PET scans as justification for why they committed murder.
There has been a rise in the number of cases using this evidence to potentially gain reduced sentences, such as in the Peter Jordan Chiesa case where he was convicted for the lesser offence of second degree murder for killing 2 of his neighbours, as he had evidence showing damage to his prefrontal cortex, temporal lobes and cerebellum.
There is worry that juries are being swayed by this evidence because it is scientific making them believe that it is credible even though this evidence does not fully establish cause and effect as there is no way to know whether these changes occurred before, during or after the crime was committed.
The authors of the bioethics report concluded that the gradual introduction of neuro-scientific evidence and concepts after they are validated, well understood and interpreted accurately could potentially be highly valuable.
There is concern that the increased research into neuroscience has promoted a rise in neural modification and cognitive enhancers.
Research into the long term side effects of these drugs is limited, such as Ritalin has been associated with mental health problems, that people are disturbing the system of their brains in ways that has never been done before.
Battleday (2015) who has reviewed the evidence into modafinil and concluded that it could improve decision making and problem solving as well as that there were few side effects and no addictive qualities.
Strict regulations and vast quantities of research needs to take place to ensure that people’s safety is maintained and if the side effects are so great then the drugs need to stop being so readily available especially to students whose brains are still developing.
The benefits of neuroscience research outweigh the ethical implications because the research increases the possibility of a cure for neurological disease, such as dementia and Alzheimer’s being discovered.
Ethical implications of neuroscience evidence being used in the legal system and the development of neural modifiers are worrying, meaning that until the correct procedures are in place to control these areas, these domains need to be effectively restricted.
This section includes recent A-Level English Language past papers from WJEC. You can download each of the WJEC A-Level English Language past papers and marking schemes by clicking the links below.
June 2022 New WJEC A-Level English Language Past Papers (2700U and 1700U)
(2700U10-1) AS Level Unit 1: Exploring Language Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
(2700U20-1): AS Level Unit 2: Language Issues and Original and Critical Writing Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
(1700U30-1) A2 Level Unit 3: Language over Time Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
(1700U40-1) A2 Level Unit 4: Spoken Texts and Creative Re-casting Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
June 2022 New WJEC A-Level English Language and Literature Past Papers (2710U and 1710U)
(2710U10-1): AS Level Unit 1: Comparative Analysis and Creative Writing Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
(2710U20-1): AS Level Unit 2: Drama and Non-Literary Texts Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
(1710U30-1): A2 Level Unit 3: Shakespeare Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
(1710U40-1): A2 Level Unit 4: Unseen Texts and Prose Study Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
June 2019 New WJEC A-Level English Language Past Papers (2700U and 1700U)
June 2019 New WJEC A-Level English Language and Literature Past Papers (2710U and 1710U)
June 2018 New WJEC A-Level English Language Past Papers (2700U and 1700U)
(2700U10-1) AS Level Unit 1: Exploring Language - Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
(2700U20-1): AS Level Unit 2: Language Issues and Original and Critical Writing - Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
(1700U30-1) A2 Level Unit 3: Language over Time - Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
(1700U40-1) A2 Level Unit 4: Spoken Texts and Creative Re-casting - Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
June 2018 New WJEC A-Level English Language and Literature Past Papers (2710U and 1710U)
(2710U10-1): AS Level Unit 1: Comparative Analysis and Creative Writing - Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
(2710U20-1): AS Level Unit 2: Drama and Non-Literary Texts - Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
(1710U30-1): A2 Level Unit 3: Shakespeare - Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
(1710U40-1): A2 Level Unit 4: Unseen Texts and Prose Study - Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
June 2016 New WJEC A-Level English Language Past Papers (2700U)
(2700U01) AS Level Unit 1: Exploring Language - Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
(2700U02): AS Level Unit 2: Language Issues and Original and Critical Writing - Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
June 2016 New WJEC A-Level English Language and Literature Past Papers (2710U)
(2710U01): AS Level Unit 1: Comparative Analysis and Creative Writing - Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
(2710U02): AS Level Unit 2: Drama and Non-Literary Texts - Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
June 2016 WJEC A-Level English Language Past Papers
LG1 (1151/01): Introduction to the Language of Texts - Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
LG4 (1154/01): Analysing and Evaluating Language Modes and Contexts - Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
June 2016 WJEC A-Level English Language and Literature Past Papers
LL1 (1161/01): Critical Reading of Literary and Non Literary Texts - Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
LL4 (1164/01): Comparative Textual Analysis and Review - Download Paper - Download Mark Scheme
English Language June 2015
Download Mark Scheme (For both papers)
LG1 (1151/01): Introduction to the Language of Texts - Download Past Paper
LG4 (1154/01): Analysing and Evaluating Language Modes and Contexts - Download Past Paper
English Language and Literature June 2015
LL1 (1161/01): Critical Reading of Literary and Non Literary Texts - Download Past Paper
LL4 (1164/01): Comparative Textual Analysis and Review - Download Past Paper
English Language June 2014
LG1: Introduction to the Language of Texts - Download Past Paper - Download Mark Scheme
LG4: Analysing and Evaluating Language Modes and Contexts - Download Past Paper - Download Mark Scheme
For more A-Level English Language past papers from other exam boards click here .
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VIDEO
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Past papers are possibly the most useful resource when carrying out revision. They enable you to gauge your subject knowledge and uncover your strengths and weaknesses, enabling you to understand what areas you need to devote more time to and conversely, what areas you can devote less time to.
This section includes recent GCSE English Language past papers from WJEC. You can download each of the WJEC GCSE English Language past papers and marking schemes by clicking the links below.
This briefing outlines the adaptations and key dates surrounding the summer 2021 exam series for WJEC GCSE English Language. You can watch the full briefing on YouTube and download the full PowerPoint presentationas well as the accompanying Q&A report.
WJEC GCSE English Language Past Papers are previous exam papers for the WJEC GCSE English Language qualification. These papers are used by students to practice and prepare for their exams.
Topic questions, past papers, model answers & revision notes for the WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Language specification.
Explain how language, structure and form contribute to writers’ presentation of ideas, themes and settings.
Our AS/A level English language specification fosters learners’ independence as they explore English language in a variety of contexts. It provides learners with opportunities to develop a wide and deep knowledge of the systems of the English language and of issues relating to language and its uses.
1. What are the components of a good essay? 2. What is the purpose of a literary essay? Discuss your answer before comparing your ideas with the suggestion. To respond to the stimulus provided with a well formed argument.
Decide which paragraph each chunk of text belongs with and then on the second screen order the text in each paragraph and give the paragraphs titles to create a coherent essay. You can then compare your essay with the suggested response.
This section includes recent A-Level English Language past papers from WJEC. You can download each of the WJEC A-Level English Language past papers and marking schemes by clicking the links below.