GCSE English Language Commentary - For first teaching in 2015 - Assessment objectives

Sep 5, 2026

AQA GCSE English Language commentary explains the aims and structure of the new assessment strategy introduced for first teaching in 2015. It sets out how assessment objectives AO1–AO6 are tested, including the design rationale behind the questioning and the expected student responses. The commentary clarifies requirements through senior examiner guidance and provides examples of how marks align with evidence from specified parts of the source text, with the reading and writing papers weighted equally.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages25

Reading Time1 h 3 min

AccessFree to download

Aims of the commentary

The assessment objectives

AO1 to AO6 overview

Paper 1 - Explorations in creative reading and writing

Reading tasks and writing tasks

Question design rationale

Question 1 - weather in Cornwall

GCSE ENGLISH LANGUAGE COMMENTARY For first teaching in 2015 Aims of the commentary At AQA, we recognise that change to assessment strategies can be a cause of anxiety and uncertainty. To this end, we are keen to make a commitment to support change, both at launch, and in the lead-up to first teaching in 2015. A key part of this is this commentary which seeks to make the new assessment strategy transparent for teachers and students. For each question, it sets out: • the Assessment Objective that is being assessed • how the question has been designed to assess the Objective • clarification from the senior examiners about what is required • how a student has responded to the question and feedback from the examiners. This commentary document will be developed over the life cycle of the new specification. We will make a collection of student responses available, initially from the pilot phase of development, and then from further assessment opportunities in the lead in to first teaching. The assessment objectives | GCSE English Language Assessment Focus | What this means | | --- | --- | | AO1
Identify and interpret explicit and implicit information and ideas. Select and synthesise evidence from different texts. | Identify suggests retrieving data or facts; interpret includes working with more complex material – reading for inference and comprehension. Select and synthesise include bringing material together to create new material and summarising with understanding. | | AO2
Explain, comment on and analyse how writers use language and structure to achieve effects and influence readers, using relevant subject terminology to support their views. | A notional hierarchy – simple descriptive statements, descriptions elaborated with reference to how they work, and linkages between writing and its results. | | AO3 | | | Compare writers’ ideas and perspectives, as well as how these are conveyed, across two or more texts. | Comparison: of content and form. From identification of main similarities and differences through to sustained, detailed, evaluative and interwoven responses. | | AO4
Evaluate texts critically and support this with appropriate textual references. | Requirement for a personal judgement which is informed and evidenced through references to the text. Involves a degree of summation and detachment. Taking an overview from a critical distance. | | AO5
Communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, selecting and adapting tone, style and register for different forms, purposes and audiences. Organise information and ideas, using structural and grammatical features to support coherence and cohesion of texts. | Write in different forms and for a range of purposes and audiences.
Organise information and ideas using structural and grammatical features. | | AO6
Candidates must use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation. | Write accurately without compromising creativity and risk taking. | Paper 1 Explorations in creative reading and writing The aim of this paper is to engage students in a creative text and inspire them to write creatively themselves by: • in section A, reading an extract of text drawn from literature in order to consider how established writers use narrative and descriptive techniques to capture the interest and enjoyment of readers – the genre of the source will be literature prose fiction such as extracts from novels and short stories and focus on openings, endings, narrative perspectives and points of view, narrative or descriptive passages, character developments, atmospheric descriptions and other appropriate narrative and descriptive approaches • in section B, writing their own creative text, inspired by the topic that they have responded to in section A to demonstrate their narrative and descriptive skills in response to a written prompt, scenario or visual image. The paper will

FAQs

What is the purpose of this GCSE English Language commentary for first teaching in 2015?

It makes the new assessment strategy transparent for teachers and students by explaining what is assessed in each question and how questions are designed to assess the relevant objective.

How do AO1, AO2 and AO4 differ in what students are assessed on?

AO1 focuses on identifying and interpreting explicit and implicit information across texts. AO2 assesses how writers use language and structure to achieve effects using subject terminology, while AO4 evaluates texts critically supported by appropriate references.

How is Paper 1 structured and how are the marks weighted?

Paper 1 includes Section A for creative reading and Section B for writing a creative text. Section A is 40 marks and Section B is 40 marks, giving equal weighting to reading and writing tasks.

Sep 5, 2026

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