EMC/GCSE 2010 Blog 6: Non-Fiction in the New Specifications

Over the next few blogs we are going to look at different points of comparison between the new specifications. We’re starting with what’s required for non-fiction reading and writing, as this is often a problematic area of assessment at GCSE. This blog will assume that you are already up-to-speed on the general issues around GCSE 2010. If not, we suggest you read at least Blog 1 before reading this one.

Non-fiction: what the specifications have in common
All the awarding bodies have a non-fiction unit that is shared by English and English Language.

Along with speaking and listening, which is also part of a shared unit in all the specifications, the non-fiction unit thus provides an important piece of ‘co-teachability’ (see Blog 5) to enable you to construct a common core course if you want to have the flexibility to make late decisions on entry for at least some of your students. You could, for example, have all students study for and sit this module in year 10, with the option for those who did not do so well to re-sit it in year 11.

Non-fiction: differences between the specifications
Edexcel is the only awarding body with a radically different approach to non-fiction as it is the only one with non-fiction assessed by controlled assessment: Unit 1, English Today.

The study of non-fiction for this unit is based on pre-release materials with a choice of two themes to choose from (each containing six texts). The themes are common to both the reading and writing elements in this unit.

Siting non-fiction in controlled assessment allows Edexcel to include onscreen digital texts – in fact three of the six pre-released texts will be digital and must be viewed onscreen. This may well be a selling point for departments keen to include a little more media in their course, as long as it survives the scrutiny of QCDA and the difficulties of obtaining copyright permissions for digital texts.

It also allows Edexcel to introduce the possibility of the Centre making their own choice of text for the reading element: students will respond to two pieces, either to two texts from the pre-release material or one from Edexcel and one of the Centre’s choice.

In writing, students will complete one controlled assessment task for a particular purpose and audience.

Something else to note is that each of the non-fiction tasks is worth 10% of the marks, meaning that non-fiction reading and writing accounts for 20% of the marks for Edexcel, rather than 40% for the other awarding bodies. Whether or not this is a selling point will depend on how well your students respond to non-fiction, of course.

The differences between the other boards are in the detail.

OCR’s non-fiction is delivered in the unit Information and Ideas: Unit A644 for English and A653 for Language. In spite of the different unit numbers (for administrative reasons) this is again a shared unit. The exam consists of two unseen pieces – one non-fiction, one media.

Students complete one writing task on a topic broadly linked to the reading material.

In AQA A’s specification, non-fiction reading and writing are assessed in Unit 1: Understanding and Producing Non-fiction. In the reading section of the exam, students respond to unseen texts. Higher tier students will answer four questions on three sources, whereas Foundation tier students will answer six questions on four shorter sources.

The writing section will ask for two tasks: a shorter task worth 16 marks and a longer task worth 24 marks. We assume this is to persuade students to spend longer on the writing tasks, rather than doing what they currently do and spending too long on the reading.

Presumably both the changes to the current Paper 1 exam (more, but shorter reading texts, two writing tasks) have been working well in the pilot phase of the new specifications.

WJEC’s Unit 1: English in the Daily World (reading) looks quite similar to OCR in that students are required to respond to two unseen texts, including media texts.

In Unit 2: English in the Daily World (writing) they complete two equally weighted tasks: transactional and discursive writing with a ‘real-life’ context.

Reading and writing are assessed in separate, one-hour exams – another way to deal with the problem of students spending too long on the reading section.

Don’t forget that we are running courses on ‘Choosing and Planning for the New GCSE Specifications for 2010’ if you’re looking for impartial advice on which spec might suit your department and students, and the chance to begin thinking about how to structure a course with the three GCSEs. 10th December is now full but there are still places on 12th January. See the courses section of our website for details: http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk.