AS/A Level English Literature

CHANGES TO SET TEXTS

The GCE AS level English Literature specification and the A level English Literature specification were amended in December 2019 for teaching from September 2021, and assessment from summer 2022.

AS level Component 2 Section A has been amended to show that Dannie Abse: Welsh Retrospective (Seren) replaces Gillian Clarke: Making the Beds for the Dead (Carcanet).

A level Component 1 Section A has been amended to show that William Blake: Poems selected by Patti Smith (Vintage) replaces John Keats: Selected Poems (Penguin Classics).

Responses to the question on William Blake in the updated SAMs have recently been uploaded to the website. This text will be examined for the first time in summer 2022. Thank you to the centre and to the candidates who have shared work to make the document possible.

A level Component 1 Section B has been amended to show that W. B. Yeats: Poems selected by Seamus Heaney (Faber) (prescribed sections: In the Seven Woods, The Green Helmet and Other Poems, Responsibilities, The Wild Swans at Coole, Michael Robartes and the Dancer, The Tower)  & Dannie Abse: Welsh Retrospective (Seren) replaces D H Lawrence: Selected Poems (Penguin Classics, edited by James Fenton) & Gillian Clarke: Making the Beds for the Dead (Carcanet).

CHANGE TO THE WORDING OF QUESTIONS

From summer 2022, where AO3 is assessed, the question will directly refer candidates to the need to refer to contexts. The AS level Sample Assessment Materials and the A level Sample Assessment Materials have been updated to reflect this change.

English Literature Resource Guide - This booklet provides an overview of the support, guidance and resources available to those teaching the Eduqas GCE English Literature specification across our suite of websites.

The Eduqas AS & A level in English literature courses encourage learners to develop their interest in and enjoyment of literature and literary studies as they:

• read widely and independently both set texts and others that they have selected for themselves
• engage critically and creatively with a substantial body of texts and ways of responding to them
• develop and effectively apply their knowledge of literary analysis and evaluation
• explore the contexts of the texts they are reading and others’ interpretations of them
• undertake independent and sustained studies to deepen their appreciation and understanding of English literature, including its changing traditions.

This specification is based on a conviction that the study of literature should encourage enjoyment of literary studies based on an informed personal response to a range of texts.

It provides learners with an introduction to the discipline of advanced literary studies and presents opportunities for reading widely and for making creative and informed responses to each of the major literary genres of poetry, prose and drama.

This specification offers three components in discrete genres of study: poetry, drama and prose to allow learners to focus on the conventions and traditions of each genre in turn. A further component offers unseen prose and poetry to allow learners to focus separately on applying the skills of literary analysis acquired during the course as a whole.

This specification builds on the knowledge, understanding and skills established at GCSE English Literature.

It introduces learners to the discipline of advanced literary studies and requires reading of the major literary genres of poetry, prose and drama. This specification extends these studies in breadth and depth, further developing learners’ ability to analyse, evaluate and make connections. In so doing, this specification provides a suitable foundation for the study of English literature.

Why choose Eduqas?

• A dynamic, integrated approach to linear assessment, sharing skills across the components.
  
  
• Opportunities to develop candidates' independent reading and study.
  
  
• Each component is clearly organised with different papers for poetry, for drama, for unseen texts and for prose.