GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE J360

1. GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE J360

2. The Assessment Objectives: what they are and where they go. • AO1: Respond to Texts critically and imaginatively; select and evaluate relevant textual detail to illustrate and support interpretations. • A664, A662, A664. • AO2: Explain how language, structure and form contribute to writers’ presentation of themes, ideas and settings. • A662, A663, A664.

3. Assessment Objectives: continued….. • AO3: Make comparisons and explain links between texts, evaluating writers’ different ways of expressing meaning and achieving effects. • A661: ONLY!

4. Assessment Objectives finally…. • AO4:- Relate texts to their social, cultural and historical contexts; explain how texts have been influential and significant to self and other readers in different contexts and at different times. • A663 ONLY!

5. Preparing for the exam: Know your text – you will not have time in the exam to keep referring to your clean copy of the play. Revise pre-taught material but be prepared to adapt it to focus on the question set. Remember that you are studying the original text, not a filmed or stage version of it. However, you should refer to the ‘audience’ not the reader in your responses.

6. Choice of questions In the exam you will have the choice between the ‘extract based’ question and a general question. Choose your question carefully – do the one that you feel most confident about. Only answer ONE question – remember the extract is only set for the first question.

7. Extract Based Questions • In an extract based question, you must stay focused on the extract set - devote the majority of your answer to discussing, quoting from and commenting on the extract itself. • References to the wider text should be firmly rooted in your comments on the extract. • You must quote from the extract briefly and frequently to support your points. • You must answer the question set – do not just write a general analysis of the passage.

8. Extract based Questions • Do not spend much time putting the extract ‘in context’, but do so briefly in your opening paragraph. • Devote at least two thirds of your answer to discussing, quoting from and commenting on the extract itself. • Begin your essay by briefly locating the extract in the context of the whole play and establish the dramatic context for the characters and audience. • Pay close attention to the build up of dramatic detail in the extract.

9. General/Discursive Questions • You must focus on the question set – make sure you understand what it is asking. • You must select relevant sections of the play to look at – how well you do this will have an impact on your mark. • You must use brief and frequent quotes to support your points. • Show a sharp awareness of audience response at key moments. • Conclude strongly but don’t repeat points in your conclusion.

10. Don’t...... • Produce generalised answers, failing to look at the extract, or act as though you don’t know the rest of the play. • Fail to quote. • Ignore the question. • Only comment on one part of the play in a general question. • Ignore one strand in a two-stranded question. • Completely lose focus on the question. • Include pre-taught material with no relevance to the question set.

11. DO: structure your answer TASK Understand, respond, evaluate, personalise     Analyse the detail Consider context and overview LANGUAGE  TEXT

12. A663 – Prose from Different Cultures There are TWO Assessment Objectives: AO2 Explain how language, structure and form contribute to writers’ presentation of ideas, themes and settings. You must incorporate comments on how the playwright uses language and structure to enhance/explore character, themes and ideas in the play.

13. A663 – Prose from Different Cultures • AO4 Relate texts to their social, cultural and historical contexts; explain how texts have been influential and significant to self and other readers in different contexts and at different times. • You must explore the cultural setting of the text. How different readers may respond to the text over time, what the writer’s attitude is, and how the setting of the text influences the events and characters.

14. Weightings of AO3 & AO4 AO4 has a higher weighting in the mark scheme than AO3. This means that you must make sure that you include many references to the cultural context of the text in your exam response. We are now going to consider how you can do this effectively.

15. What is AO4? AO4: relate texts to their social, cultural and historical contexts; explain how texts have been influential and significant to self and to other readers in different contexts and at different times

16. PRACTICALITIES • AO4 ‘quality’ is required, rather than just ‘coverage’ - examiners don’t want ‘bolted on’ information. • FOCUS and RELEVANCE are key – only include references to cultural context in your comments on the question set, as relevant to that question. • AS APPROPRIATE TO TEXT AND TASK • The key terms are ‘relate’ and ‘explain’ - not just ‘know about’.

17. SOWHAT IS ‘CONTEXT’? ‘Context’ = exploring the SETTING of a text • How is the setting significant in the narrative of the text? • How does the setting relate to the ‘real world’? • How do these things influence the way we respond to the text?

18. do things happen as they do are characters like they are because of when/ where the story takes place? SETTING and THE NARRATIVEIn the text, to what extent: Consider (eg): • Time / Period • Place • Culture / Community In a ‘different cultures’ text, any or all of these may be unfamiliar to the reader You couldn’t teach a Different Cultures text without addressing this unfamiliarity:the ‘context’.

19. SETTING AND THE ‘REAL WORLD’ Setting becomes ‘context’: • when we link the setting in the text and a setting in the ‘real’ world • when we start to explore the relationship between them. To do this, we need some knowledge from outside the text: the social . . . cultural . . . historical . . . CONTEXT of the text

20. EXPLORING SETTING ? help us to understand make us think more carefully about alter our view of … etc the characters their relationships what happens …etc How does exploring / understanding ‘context’: These are the areas A663 tasks will tackle.

21. THE CONTEXT OF THE READER . . . explain how texts have been influential and significant to self and to other readers in different contexts and at different times For example - • how/why a text may influence views/ attitudes/ circumstances • how/why responses to a text may change over time • how/why a text may provoke different reactions in different readers Any relevant response to these aspects WILL be credited If there is no reference to these aspects, the whole mark range will still be accessible – for example, they may not have been relevant to the extract or question set

22. LINKING TEXT AND CONTEXT You need to learn how to: • select from your contextual knowledge what isrelevant • explain how the contextual material helps to shape the text itself • explore how the contextual material helps to shapethe way we respond to the text • integrate all this into a response to the task set ‘Bolt-on background’ is not what examiners are looking for. Never begin with an introduction about the cultural context of the text – your understanding of this element must be fully integrated into your response.

23. THE TASK AO4 in the questions

24. The Texts The specification prescribes the TEXT to be studied: • a prose text ‘from Different Cultures’ • so, by definition, setting and ‘context’ will be significant • and any reading / teaching / study can’t help but address these aspects

25. AO4 Preparation (ii) The Exam Board does NOT prescribe the ‘CONTEXT’ to be studied. Your teacher will guide you to relevant ‘context’ as it arises in the novel. So, as events happen, you will learn about how the cultural context of the text has determined or influenced the events and characters.

26. AO4 Preparation (iii) So, for example in Of Mice and Men, the specification does not prescribe: • the Great Depression of the 1930s • the ‘American Dream’ • the experience of black Americans • …etc BUT Any / all of these might be helpful – if used constructively. Ask - at key points, what ‘context’ will help to ‘open up’ the text to the reader ? . . . if it helps when reading, it should help when answering an exam question

27. Exam Questions – the P T R structure A663 questions will: • PROMPT an exploration P • of a specific TOPIC or issue in the textT • and of a way of RESPONDING to this R

28. So – generically - TOPICRESPONSE [something in the text] so [adjective]? PROMPT What makes (F) How does the writer make (H) • N.B. – there will also be: • a reminder about AO2 – ‘LANGUAGE’ etc.

29. TASKS – an example of P T R The task asks the candidate: What makes the ENDING of the novel so POWERFUL and MOVING? The candidate asks him/herself: How does my KNOWLEDGE / UNDERSTANDING OF ‘CONTEXT’ help me to explain what makes the ENDING of this novel so POWERFUL and MOVING? The task also reminds the candidate about ‘language’ - eg at F tier: You should consider . . . • the words and phrases [the writer] uses

30. P T R PROMPTS

31. P T R TOPICS and RESPONSES TOPICSRESPONSES

32. A Summary of the Importance of AO4 • You couldn’t learn a Different Cultures text without addressing . . . the ‘context’ • What ‘context’ will help to ‘open up’ the text to the reader? • AO4 performance willdirectly affect outcomes • Key terms are ‘relate’ and ‘explain’ - not just ‘know about’ • ‘Bolt-on background’will not gain credit

33. DON’T underestimate - AO4 has teeth • DON’T overload - a little AO4 can go a long way • DO ask - how does ‘context’ help understanding / affect response ? • DO emphasise - keep it relevant to the task

34. Some Simple Examples from “Of Mice and Men”. • pp6-8: Lennie and his pockets: what we learn about him and his relationship with George. • pp23-25: the boss’s reaction to them. • pp56-58: livin off the fatta the lan’. • pp75-77: the truth about Crooks. • Pp86-88: Curley’s wife and her dreams.

35. Over to you:- Find some more examples which put a moment/ character/ conversation in the novel first and the context second.

36. Passage-based Questions There are two common problems: • Lack of focus on the passage • Lack of focus on the question AVOID: • An introduction about the author, historical or cultural setting/background. • Excessive detail when putting the passage in the context of the rest of the novel. • Detailed reference to the rest of novel outside the passage.

37. Passage-based questions continued.... DO: • Read the question carefully and focus on the key words – highlight them. • Quote briefly and frequently from the passage to support your points. • Refer briefly to other points in the novel, tethering your comments firmly to the passage. • Think carefully about your point – don’t just include pre-taught points unless you have made them relevant to your response.

38. General/Discursive Essay • Make sure that you have understood the demands of the title. • Choose the sections of the novel that you look at carefully, ensuring that they are the most relevant moments. • Include brief, frequent quotations to keep your answer firmly rooted in the text. • Make sure that references to cultural context are fully integrated into your comments, not bolted on.

39. If you have time: or later, read the following scripts and commentaries • Scripts A & B Higher Tier • Scripts B & C Foundation Tier.

40. Questions? Good Luck in A663