LITB2: Dramatic Genres – Comedy
Guidance for Teachers on Choosing Texts for study.
Schools and colleges should note that: The title of the Unit remains 'Dramatic Genres' and the study of the texts as stage plays continues to be central. We do not see genre (in this case comedy) as fixed or given to any one definitive interpretation.
Teachers may wish to note that AQA Courses and Events in the change to comedy are now open for booking, and that a new Nelson Thornes textbook on dramatic comedy in AS English Literature B is now available.
See what courses we are running in the Summer term
In the Summer term we are holding courses for:
- A-level English Language B - Getting Started
- A-level English Literature B - Getting Started
- A-level English Literature B - LITB2 Teaching Comedy - Autumn 2012 dates now available!
- A-level English Language and Literature B - ELLB2 and ELLB3: Teaching the new set texts
Book your place now at Courses and Events.
A-level English Podcasts
Over 30 podcasts covering topics for A-level English Language, Literature and Combined units have been produced by academics from Leeds University. The team are inviting comments and this flyer from the English Faculty provides more details about how to view the podcasts and provide feedback.
June 2012 1746/2746 English Literature B (AS and A2)
Unit code | Title | Numbering system | Type of answer book | No |
|---|---|---|---|---|
LITB1 | Aspects of Narrative | New (01, 02 etc) | Separate | 12 |
LITB3 | Texts and Genres | New (01, 02 etc) | Separate | 12 |
General advice
Students should:
- read all instructions on the front cover and at the start of each section of the question paper
- read each question carefully before responding, especially where there are optional question(s)
- remember that questions can appear on all pages of a question paper, including the final page.
Combined question paper answer books
Students should look at the number of marks and the line space allocated to each question and write answers of an appropriate length.
If a student needs more space to answer a question, they must:
either use the white space immediately beneath the lined answer space and before the start of the next question
or ask for an AQA four-page Supplementary answer book.
They should not:
- use the answer space for a different question
- write in the margin
- respond elsewhere in the answer book.
Separate answer books and the two-digit numbering system
Students worked well with the two-digit numbering system and separate answer books in 2011 exams; thank you for ensuring that the guidance was applied successfully. We have updated our guides for students, teachers and exams officers / invigilators to reflect the general advice given above.
A reminder: question paper style and marking answers on screen
Exams with separate question papers and answer books (unconstrained answer books) will use:
- our simplified, two-digit question numbering system
- answer books with spaces for students to write the two-digit question numbers.
For additional guidance see:
- Teacher Guide (revised)
- Exams officer and invigilator Guide (revised)
- Student Guide (revised)
- Question papers and mark schemes:
- Summer 2011 materials are available to schools / colleges in the Secure Key Materials area of e-AQA
- Specimen materials are available from the subject pages of aqa.org.uk
- Examples of students' work:
- AQA Research team papers: Marking answers on screen
- Reliability of on-screen marking of essays
- A concurrent approach to estimating the reliability of electronic marking of long form answers
- Using the Think Aloud Method to investigate electronic marking of long form answers
- The impact of e-marking on Enquiries After Results 2006/2007
- The impact of e-marking on Enquiries After Results 2005/2006
Archive
Web conferences available
A-level feedback web conferences are available for booking now.
Changes to English Literature A Level Specification B Texts and Themes
As part of our ongoing commitment to keep our Specifications fresh and respond to teacher feedback we’re announcing upcoming changes to both our English Literature A Level Specifications. These changes will take effect for January 2013 examinations, for teaching from September 2012.
Genre change to LITB2 – Dramatic Genres
The dramatic genre to be studied will change from Tragedy to Comedy for 2013 coursework submissions (teaching from September 2012).
Set Text Changes:
LITB1 – Aspects of Narrative
Changes to Poetry set texts*
Robert Browning Selection: ‘The Bishop Orders his Tomb’ will be replaced by ‘The Laboratory’
Rossetti Selection: ‘Winter: My Secret’ will be removed. Added will be ‘In the Round Tower at Jhansi’, ‘June 8, 1857’, ‘An Apple Gathering’ and ‘Sister Maude’
Auden Selection: ‘Ode’, ‘O Where Are You Going’ and ‘If I Could Tell You’ will be replaced by ‘Victor’, ‘James Honeyman’, ‘Musée des Beaux Arts’
The Hardy Selection will be removed and will be replaced by the following Robert Frost Selection:
The Wood Pile
The Road Not Taken
Out, Out
The Ax Helve
Stopping by Woods
An Unstamped Letter
The Draft Horse
A Considerable Speck
After Apple-Picking
Changes to Prose Set Texts:
Dubliners will be replaced by the following selection of DH Lawrence short stories (Penguin Classics):
The White Stocking
Odour of Chrysanthemums
Vin Ordinaire
The Prussian Officer
England, My England
The Horse-Dealer’s Daughter
The Blind Man
Adolf
The Rocking-Horse Winner
The Man who Loved Islands
LITB3 - Texts and Genres
Changes to Prose set texts:
Paradise Lost will be replaced by The Changeling, Middleton
Dracula will be replaced by Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen
Huckleberry Finn will be replaced by Arcadia, Tom Stoppard
Blue Remembered Hills will be replaced by Waterland, Graham Swift
*LITB Poetry Anthology
A new version of the LITB Poetry Anthology incorporating these changes will be available for teaching in September 2012.
Teacher Online Standardisation (T-OLS)
This academic year sees the introduction of Teacher Online Standardisation (T-OLS) for each of the A Level English Literature B.
T-OLS has been designed to enable teachers to prepare to mark their students’ coursework without needing to attend a meeting or to spend time away from school. For Literature B, T-OLS will be offered alongside a reduced number of standardisation meetings.
Teachers will be able to view exemplar work online which has been marked and commented upon by the Principal Moderator, and then to assess work themselves whilst receiving feedback as they go along. As T-OLS is web-based, all teachers may access it (via e-AQA, using your centre’s e-AQA login details), it can be accessed anywhere where there is internet connection, and teachers are able to work at their own pace, re-visiting the material as many times as they wish. T-OLS will be available throughout the year, not just for the Autumn.
Changes to LITB1 Set Texts – January 2012
As of January 2012, there will be changes to Set Texts for LITB1.
Texts to be added to the current Set Text list are:
Cormac McCarthy:The Road
Sebastian Barry:The Secret Scripture
Texts to be removed from the current Set Text List are:
Ann Tyler: Digging to America
Mark Haddon: The Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night-time
There will be a final resit opportunity for the removed texts in January 2012.
Tell us YOUR story creative writing competition
Win a creative writing workshop with Diane Samuels and £500 worth of books, for your school. Get your students' creative juices flowing and engage them with modern literature.
NATE A-level English Survey
The National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE) has organised a survey to understand A-level teachers' experience of the new courses. The final report will be used to advise the profession and curricular/assessment authorities of the views and experience of A-level teachers of English.
Secure Key Materials
More materials added 24 January 2011
Secure Key Materials is a new e-AQA service which replaces Recent Exam Materials from 1 September. It provides teachers and Exams Officers with exclusive access to a bank of exam-related material that is:
- secure
- easy to navigate
- quick to use
- intuitive, based on the design of our website.
Please read our new leaflet and look at the following demo to find out more about this new service.
To obtain an e-AQA account and access to Secure Key Materials, please register at e-AQA. For more information about the materials published on Secure Key Materials, please don't hesitate to contact the Subject team.
There will be a final resit opportunity for the removed texts in January 2012.
