Changes to GCSE English Language – a peek behind the scenes

Most students in England must sit GCSE English Language, with their outcomes helping to shape what they do next. AQA is the leading provider of GCSE English qualifications, and we continually strive to support students and teachers who use them.

We recently announced that a number of small but meaningful changes have been made to AQA’s GCSE English Language papers. These relate specifically to some adjustments to the wording of our exam questions to support students’ understanding of what is being asked of them, alongside additional information integrated into our mark schemes to assist examiners’ decision making during live series. The changes, which will first appear in our summer 2026 papers, have been through a rigorous development process to ensure they are fit for purpose and align with the expectations of teachers, examiners and Ofqual.

Here, we give you a peek behind the scenes at one small element of the work that went into quality assuring these adaptations before announcing them to the public. It was essentially a dress rehearsal, where our AQA examiners trialled the changes by marking real student responses in real time.

Tracking the examiners’ thought process

As part of this development process, graduate researcher Katie Gilmartin and I led a trial session with a sample of AQA English examiners who regularly mark student responses to Paper 1 and Paper 2.

Nearly 200 Year 11 students sat a version of the June 2023 GCSE English Language papers, where the proposed changes to the question wording had been applied. Their responses were then marked in person by the participating examiners.

During the trial, the examiners gave us feedback on the changes and highlighted how they saw the impact of these reflected in students’ answers. They were also invited to take part in a ‘think aloud’ exercise, during which they marked a student’s response using the modified mark scheme while explaining their thought process. This allowed us to assess how the additions to the mark scheme were being applied and to note any difficulties that arose during the marking process.

Supporting decision making

The examiners we spoke to felt that the subtle nature of the changes to the wording of the question papers supported students to more carefully consider what was being asked of them.

"It's led them in the correct direction of what we’re wanting them to." (Examiner I, Paper 2)

The addition of a ‘typical features’ column to the mark scheme for Question 5 on both papers was appreciated, and many of the examiners taking part in the trial made use of it.

"It just backs you up basically if you are stuck between 2 marks." (Examiner D, Paper 1)

The examiners also recognised the benefits for teachers in the classroom, as well as for students and examiners. Several of them felt that the changes made to the papers would make teaching exam preparation to students a smoother experience.

"I think a lot of the changes are really going to help the teachers to better understand and be able to teach the students better." (Examiner B, Paper 2)

Navigating the future

The feedback we received and the data from our ‘think aloud’ study were fed back to the AQA English Language product development team. It helped to inform some final tweaks to the language used in the papers and mark schemes, and to refine the support package that has been created to help teachers understand and navigate the changes.

Capturing the views of examiners and trialling the changes among a real student population reassures us that these adjustments will have a positive impact on both groups.

An overview of the changes, as well as more information on GCSE English Language for 2026, can be found here.

Driving innovation

My role as a research fellow in AQA’s Research and Innovation team continues to be engaging and satisfying, and I regularly get to see the positive impact that my work has on students and teachers.

If you are interested in pursuing a career in educational assessment research, data or psychometrics, why not head over to our LinkedIn page? We frequently post about the opportunities coming up in the Research and Innovation team, as well as other exciting roles across the business!