english literature a level coursework titles

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AS and A-level English Literature A

• Specification
• Planning resources
• Teaching resources
• Assessment resources
• Introduction
• Specification at a glance
• 3.1 Love through the ages
• 4.1 Love through the ages
• 4.2 Texts in shared contexts
• 4.3 Independent critical study: texts across time

Scheme of assessment

• Non-exam assessment administration (A-level only)
• General administration

Find past papers and mark schemes, and specimen papers for new courses, on our website at aqa.org.uk/pastpapers

The AS specification is designed to be taken over one or two years with all assessments taken at the end of the course. The A-level specification is designed to be taken over two years with all assessments taken at the end of the course.

Assessments and certification for the AS specification are available for the first time in May/June 2016 and then every May/June for the life of the specification.

Assessments and certification for the A-level specification are available for the first time in May/June 2017 and then every May/June for the life of the specification.

These are linear qualifications. In order to achieve the award, students must complete all exams in May/June in a single year. All assessments must be taken in the same series.

Our AS and A-level exams in English include questions that allow students to demonstrate their ability to:

• draw together their knowledge, skills and understanding from across the full course of study
• provide extended responses.

All AS and A-level components offer only extended response questions.

All materials are available in English only.

Courses based on these specifications must encourage students 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.

In addition, A-level specifications must encourage students to develop their interest in and enjoyment of literature and literary studies as they undertake independent and sustained studies to deepen their appreciation and understanding of English literature, including its changing traditions.

Assessment objectives

Assessment objectives (AOs) are set by Ofqual and are the same across all AS and A-level English Literature specifications and all exam boards.

The exams and non-exam assessment will measure to what extent students have achieved the following AOs:

• AO1: Articulate informed, personal and creative responses to literary texts, using associated concepts and terminology, and coherent, accurate written expression.
• AO2: Analyse ways in which meanings are shaped in literary texts.
• AO3: Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and received.
• AO4: Explore connections across literary texts.
• AO5: Explore literary texts informed by different interpretations.

Weighting of assessment objectives for AS English Literature A

The specification reflects the belief that the assessment objectives (AOs) work best together, producing a rounded and holistic view of English literature. Students will need to show coverage of all AOs in all tasks. To be specific:

AO1 essentially requires informed and relevant responses which are accurately written and use appropriate concepts and terminology.

AO2 requires students to analyse ways in which meanings are shaped in literary texts, with particular focus on the structures of texts as a form of shaping.

AO3 relates to the many possible contexts which arise out of the text, the specific task and the period being studied.

This specification treats AOs 1, 2 and 3 as broadly equal, given their relative weightings: AO1 has a weighting of 28% whilst AOs 2 and 3 both have a weighting of 24%.

AO4 involves connections across texts and sees possible meanings and interpretations arising not only out of the contexts of the text itself (AO3 above) but also out of the wider and broader contexts which comes from the study of period. Thus even when an individual text is being investigated it should still be seen as being framed by a wider network of texts and contexts to which it connects.

AO5 completes the picture by acknowledging that if work in AOs 2, 3 and 4 had been included in the response to the question then debate and interpretations will arise out of this work showing that the interpretation of texts is not a fixed process but a dynamic one.

AOs 4 and 5 each have a weighting of 12% in all questions.

Weighting of assessment objectives for A-level English Literature A

This specification reflects the belief that the assessment objectives (AOs) work best together, producing a rounded and holistic view of English literature. Students will need to show coverage of all AOs in all tasks. To be specific:

AO5 completes the picture by acknowledging that if work in AOs 2, 3 and 4 had been included in the response to the question then debate and interpretations will arise out of this work showing that the interpretation of texts is not a fixed process but a dynamic one. In non-exam assessment only, discussion of different interpretations must include, on at least one text, consideration of different interpretations of the text(s) over time.

Assessment weightings

The marks awarded on the papers will be scaled to meet the weighting of the components. Students' final marks will be calculated by adding together the scaled marks for each component. Grade boundaries will be set using this total scaled mark. The scaling and total scaled marks are shown in the table below.

Non-exam assessment marking criteria

Weightings for each question are as follows:

AO1: 7 marks; AO2: 6 marks; AO3: 6 marks; AO4: 3 marks; AO5: 3 marks

International AS and A-level English Literature (9675)

Support your students to approach the reading and study of literature through the lens of genre and theory.

This International AS and A-level English Literature specification encourages the independent study of a range of texts within a shared context, giving logic and meaning to the way that texts are grouped for study.

The text lists have been designed to ensure teachers and students have the right balance of traditional and contemporary prose and poetry. The non-exam assessment (NEA)  component provides opportunities for teachers to tailor the course to their students’ strengths and interests.

• Offering clear progression from International GCSE, this specification allows students to build on the skills and knowledge already gained and prepares them for their next steps.
• The variety of assessment styles used, such as passage-based questions, unseen material, open and closed book approaches, develop a wide range of skills. See more on our approach to Fair Assessment .
• Skills include the ability to read critically, analyse, evaluate and undertake independent research. These skills are all valuable for further study and future employment.

International AS and A-level English Literature contains four units.

• Unit 1, Section A: Elizabethan and Jacobean tragedy
• Unit 1, Section B: Later dramatic tragedies
• Unit 2, Section A: Prose
• Unit 2, Section B: Poetry
• Unit 3,  Selection
• Unit 4,  Unseen Texts or NEA

Assessment Objectives:

The exams and non-exam assessment (NEA) which make up OxfordAQA International AS/A-level English Literature measure how students have achieved the following assessment objectives:

• AO1: Demonstrate understanding of the ways in which readers find meanings in texts, showing an understanding of genre, the significance of contexts, and the ways in which different interpretations can be found.
• AO2: Analyse ways in which meanings are shaped in literary texts with close attention to authorial methods.
• AO3: Express informed, personal and argued responses to literary texts, using appropriate concepts and terminology, and coherent, accurate writing.

Please note that all three assessment objectives are weighted equally in all questions across both International AS and International A-level. We believe that this coherent approach to the study of the subject means that AOs support learning rather than dominate it.

Syllabus summary and text lists

OOxfordAQA International AS/A-level English Literature covers the following topics:

Unit 1, Section A: Elizabethan and Jacobean tragedy – select one from:

• William Shakespeare – Othello
• William Shakespeare – King Lear
• William Shakespeare – Hamlet
• Christopher Marlowe – Doctor Faustus
• John Webster – The Duchess of Malfi

Unit 1, Section B: Later dramatic tragedies – select one from:

• Arthur Miller – Death of a Salesman
• Tennessee Williams – A Streetcar Named Desire
• Henrik Ibsen – Hedda Gabler
• Samuel Beckett – Waiting for Godot
• Brian Friel – Translations

Unit 2, Section A: Prose – select one from:

• Joseph Conrad – Heart of Darkness
• F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby
• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Americanah
• Andrea Levy – Small Island
• Aravind Adiga – Last Man in Tower
• Kazuo Ishiguro – Remains of the Day

Unit 2, Section B: Poetry – select one from:

• William Wordsworth selection
• Robert Frost selection
• Thomas Hardy selection
• Seamus Heaney selection

Unit 3 – Select two from:

• William Shakespeare – Macbeth
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge – The Rime of Ancient Mariner
• Robert Browning – Selected Poems
• Charles Dickens – Oliver Twist
• Edgar Allan Poe – Collected Stories
• Robert Louis Stevenson – Collected Stories
• Agatha Christie – The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
• Qiu Xiaolong – Death of a Red Heroine
• Kate Atkinson – When Will There Be Good News?

Assessment – Unit 4 – select either:

• 4a – An exam paper containing two questions on unseen texts, one prose and one poetry.
• 4b – Non-exam assessment consisting of two essays, one on prose and one on poetry.

Teaching resources available

OxfordAQA provides all the resources and advice you need to teach the International AS and A-level English Literature specification effectively.

• Download the specification
• View our training courses to help you deliver OxfordAQA International AS and A-level English Literature
• Approved textbooks and resources  published by Oxford University Press

We have too many International AS and A-level English Literature resources to list here, so please visit our resources for teachers area  to see them all, including:

• Schemes of work to allow you to plan how to deliver the specification in a way that will best suit you and your students
• Teaching guidance to outline clearly the scope of teaching and learning
• Topic tests and mock exam analysers to allow you to track your students’ progress throughout the teaching year

This is a modular qualification, with four papers over the AS and A-level teaching period and two routes through the course.

AS Paper 1 – Aspects of Dramatic Tragedy:

• Section A – Elizabethan and Jacobean Tragedy
• Section B – Later Dramatic Tragedies
• Students answer one question from each section
• Closed-book exam
• 50% of AS-level, 20% of A-level

AS Paper 2 – Place in Literary Texts:

• Section A – Prose
• Section B – Poetry
• Open-book exam

A-level Paper 1 – Elements of Crime and Mystery:

• Students answer two essay questions
• 30% of A-level

A-level Paper 2 – Literary Representations:

• Section A – Unseen Prose
• Section B – Unseen Poetry
• 2 hours 30 minutes

Non-Exam Assessment (NEA):

• Students study two texts, one poetry and one prose, and write two essays of 1,250-1,500 words.
• Assessed by teachers, moderated by AQA
• Candidates may re-sit a unit any number of times.
• The best result for each unit will count towards the final qualification.
• Candidates who wish to repeat a qualification may do so by re-sitting one or more units.

Anthologies for exam use 

Anthologies required for exams will be provided as an insert with the question papers. Registered OxfordAQA teachers can download the International AS/A-level English Literature anthology from the Resources page.

Thinking about switching to OxfordAQA?

Take a look at:

• Example specimen exam paper and mark scheme
• Our taster webinars
• Samples from the poetry anthology 

You must be an approved OxfordAQA centre to enter students for our exams. Make sure you  become an OxfordAQA centre before you start teaching a course.

Questions about this qualification?

Let us know your information below, and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

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A Level English Literature coursework titles

Subject: English

Age range: 16+

Resource type: Other

Last updated

27 July 2019

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Here is a list of coursework titles which I have used over ten years with A Level literature students.

I have found it inspirational and useful at giving them ideas for their own independent coursework.

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Text and task proposal form (h472), literature post-1900 text(s) and task(s) tool.

As of September 2019, this tool is the approved method of submitting texts and tasks for the A Level English Literature H472 non-exam assessment. This is to ensure parity across centres in terms of their access to advice, as well as ensuring this information is logged more carefully.

This three-stage tool is built to check valid combinations of texts, then choose or propose tasks based around these texts, before submitting them for approval by OCR.

• The list of pre-approved texts and tasks is extensive and we would advise choosing from these lists where possible.
• While only teachers may submit tasks on behalf of their cohort, it should be noted that students are welcome to browse what’s already here, seeing if there are tasks suit the approach they’d like to take with their texts.
• Should you wish to propose a new text, please click the ‘Propose new text’ button on the lower right side of the tool. This will open a window within the tool where you will be able to propose new texts.
• Please check the list of pre-approved tasks thoroughly. If you want to submit a new task for your chosen pre-approved text, please click the ‘Propose new task’ button.
• You may submit the task 1 and task 2 titles separately through the tool; you may make your submission in stages. If you're submitting task 2 you will need to select a task 1 text in order to view the pre-approved tasks.
• Do take a look at our NEA guide and task setting documents as they offer lots of tips and examples.

If you have any queries please look at the FAQ guide or contact the subject team on [email protected] .

1. Check text combination

First choose the texts to be used for both task 1 and task 2 from the list of available texts. Then click 'Check' to find out if the combination of texts is valid. If the text a student has chosen is not listed, please click ‘Propose other texts’ and list there.

Task 1 text

To choose a text, first choose the type of text from the dropdown. Then start typing a title in the box and select from the results that display.

Task 2 texts

2. choose tasks.

Second, choose pre-approved tasks from the dropdowns that will appear below once you've chosen a valid combination of texts. When you have chosen your tasks click 'Add texts and tasks' to add them to the list for submission. Please check the list of pre-approved tasks thoroughly. If want to submit a new task for your chosen preapproved text, please click the ‘Propose new task’ button.

Choose either a Close reading or Recreative task.

There are no pre-approved Close reading tasks for this text. If you wish to use this text for this task you will need to propose a task.

There are no pre-approved Recreative tasks for this text. If you wish to use this text for this task you will need to propose a task.

Choose a Comparative essay task.

There are no pre-approved Comparative essay tasks for these texts. If you wish to use these texts for this task you will need to propose a task.

Add your selected texts and tasks to your list for submission.

3. Submit texts and tasks

Repeat steps 1 and 2 until you have added all the texts and tasks you wish to submit to the lists below. Once you have done this, click 'Submit' to submit them.

• Texts will appear here.
• Tasks will appear here.

We will treat your data with care. If you would like more details on how we do this, please read our privacy policy .

Programmes & Qualifications

Cambridge international as & a level english - literature (9695).

• Published resources

Cambridge International AS & A Level Literature in English Student's Book

Endorsed by Cambridge Resources align to the syllabus they support, and have been through a detailed quality assurance process.

Songs of Ourselves (Volumes 1 and 2)

Stories of ourselves (volumes 1 and 2), literature in english for cambridge international as & a level coursebook.

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