AQA-2740-W-SP-14

Recommendations

Info

GCE English Literature A for exams from June 2014 onwards (version 1.4)Exploring wider readingExploring wider reading is an essential part of thestudy of Literature within this specification. It is anintegral aspect of the assessment and assures theachievement of six texts at each of AS and A2 levels.At AS, there are three set texts. The other threetexts are chosen from an extensive but focused widerreading list supplied by AQA. For each option thewider reading list is governed by two principles.Principles of wider readingShared contextFor each option, a shared context (AO4) links thelisted texts making connection and comparisonacross genres (AO3) central and fruitful to the studyfrom the outset of the course. The shared contextwithin each option demonstrates a typicality of ideas,era and literary developments. The range and breadthof the context then allows for varied routes througheach option ensuring a high degree of choice forteachers and students alike.Meeting key components of literary studyThe wider reading list is constructed throughgenre. Candidates must, in their wider reading,study three whole texts and cover the compulsorygenres of poetry, drama and prose fiction. They maysupplement this core reading with the reading ofrelevant extracts and shorter pieces of writing.Study by extract increases the opportunities fordevelopment of multiple reading strategies, promotespersonalised learning and facilitates the scope forcandidate-focused responses. This range of readingexperiences promotes the assessment of both keyideas in AO3, comparison across texts and differentinterpretations by other readers. Exposure to morewriters is intended to increase awareness of textualcontrast and similarity, and encourage awareness ofalternative viewpoints from writers and critics alike.Guidance on the use of extracts will be given in theTeacher Resource material which accompaniesthis specification, by AQA’s Teacher Support, in theaccompanying student text book offered on eachoption, and crucially within the specification’s integralconsortium network and adviser structure.Each of these factors contributes to the core demandof close reading.Developing close readingShared contextThe overarching shared context for each optionfacilitates close reading and the development of closereading skills. Candidates are encouraged to respondopenly and pursue different interpretations within andacross their reading, discovering multiple meaningsto text through a process of comparison and contrast(AO3) through the philosophy of reading and meaningoutlined earlier. The framework offered by the sharedcontext gives this exploratory reading a clear focusand direction.Meeting key components of literary studyClose reading is particularly necessary for developingskills to analyse typical and exceptional featureswithin genres and sub genres (AO2). The specificationencourages this development throughout Unit 1:• by open text examination of poetry• and by examination by contextual linking of widerreading texts and extracts within the sharedcontext in response to an unprepared ‘trigger’extract.The study of extracts, in addition to the three coretexts, may encourage a detailed analysis of specificliterary concerns. This could be: exegesis of subjectmatter and ideas; effects of writers’ choices of form,structure and language; expression of a particularaspect of the context in operation; response to orconstruction of a particular interpretation.Advice on the teaching and development of closereading skills is set out in the Teacher Resourcematerial which accompanies this specification, inthe accompanying text book for each option andprovided by the teacher training and support offeredby AQA.The relationship between close and widereadingThe poetry set texts in the open text examinationin Unit 1 of each option and the suggested proseand drama texts in Unit 2 of each option assessclose reading. The question styles for the Unit 1examination and the structure of tasks for Unit 2coursework will be designed to demand a closereading of the chosen text. A thorough and detailedknowledge of the whole text through application ofthe relevant assessment objectives for each Unit isrequired to meet the criteria of the AS course.Examples of the development of close readingthrough the specification’s wider readingphilosophyThe three texts assessed through wider readingare studied with the equal depth that close readingrequires and promotes. Where extracts are chosento supplement the core texts, candidates’ grasp of323
GCE English Literature A for exams from June 2014 onwards (version 1.4)overview will necessarily operate differently when arange of extracts is chosen rather than the specificcontext of a whole text.For example, the way one genre might beapproached in each option could be:• through close reading of extracts, a candidatecan see, for example, how the use of narrativestructure and sub genre can be comparedand contrasted by reading widely fromautobiographical novels, satirical novels, utopiannovels and so on within the shared context of theoption on literature by and about the Victorians.• close reading and comparison and contrast ofpoems by trench poets, non-combatant femalepoets, twenty first century poets looking backand so on can provide an overview of poeticperspective and viewpoint within the sharedcontext of literature from and about World WarOne.• close reading of drama which highlights thestruggles faced by central characters presentedas outsiders within their own society or family,in an ‘adopted’ society or culture and so oncontributes to candidate understanding ofdramatic ideas and structures within the sharedcontext of the Struggle for Identity in ModernLiterature.324
Page 1 and 2: GCEAS and A Level SpecificationEngl
Page 3 and 4: GCE English Literature A for exams
Page 23: GCE English Literature A for exams
Page 41: GCE English Literatur e A (2740) Fo

AQA-2740-W-SP-14

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?