AQA A-Level English Language and Literature (7707): complete guide to the papers and the NEA

AQA A-Level English Language and Literature (specification 7707) is a two-year linear course assessed by two written papers at the end of Year 13 plus a non-exam assessment worth 20%. It is an integrated subject: you analyse texts as both crafted literature and structured language, fusing literary criticism with linguistic method. This page is the index: below is a map of the papers, the methods, the assessment, and how to study each part.

The integrated method

The whole course rests on the integrated language and literature method: analysing a text simultaneously as literature and as language, so that named linguistic features evidence the literary interpretation rather than decorating it. This is sometimes called stylistics, and it is what distinguishes 7707 from literature-only or language-only A-levels. The reliable structure is claim, evidence, analysis: a literary point, the precise feature that creates it, and its effect on the reader. The supporting toolkit is the levels of language analysis, discourse and pragmatics and narratology and point of view.

Paper 1: Telling Stories

Telling Stories studies how narratives are built across text types. It covers a prose set text (analysed as narrative and language), the AQA Anthology: Paris (non-fiction studied for representation of place, with comparison to an unseen extract), imagined worlds and point of view (narration, focalisation, deixis and modality) and narrative and genre (convention and subversion). The unifying idea is narrative as construction, and point of view is the hinge.

Paper 2: Exploring Conflict

Exploring Conflict studies how writers represent conflict and asks you to write about it. It has the Writing about society re-creative task with a critical commentary, and the set play studied through dramatic encounters, with dramatic dialogue analysed as constructed talk (turn-taking, face, implicature) alongside stagecraft. Conflict, external and internal, is analysed as both theme and linguistic construction.

The non-exam assessment: Making Connections

Every student completes Making Connections, the coursework, worth 20%. It is an independent comparative investigation of roughly 2,500 to 3,000 words that compares a literary text with non-literary material around a shared focus, with full referencing. It draws on the skills of comparing texts and genres and writing a critical commentary, and rewards a narrow focus, genuine comparison and integrated, evidenced analysis.

Exam structure

AQA A-Level English Language and Literature is assessed by two written papers and the non-exam assessment.

• Paper 1 Telling Stories - the prose set text, the Paris Anthology (with unseen comparison) and point of view, narrative and genre. 3 hours, 100 marks, 40%.
• Paper 2 Exploring Conflict - the Writing about society re-creative task with commentary, and the set play through dramatic encounters. 3 hours, 100 marks, 40%.
• Making Connections (NEA) - an independent comparative investigation, marked by the school and moderated by AQA. 20%.

The assessment objectives

The papers assess AO1 (apply concepts and methods with terminology and coherent writing), AO2 (analyse how meanings are shaped), AO3 (context), AO4 (connections across texts) and AO5 (creative, crafted writing). Different tasks weight these differently: analysis tasks foreground AO1 to AO3, the re-creative task adds AO5, and the NEA foregrounds AO4 comparison.

How to study English Language and Literature

This integrated subject rewards a fused method, precise metalanguage and deep text knowledge.

1. Master the integrated method. Make every point claim, evidence, analysis, fusing literary idea with named linguistic feature.
2. Build the toolkit. Drill the levels of language analysis, discourse and pragmatics, and narratology until applying them is automatic.
3. Know the set texts deeply. Map narrative, point of view and structure, and build a bank of short references for closed-book conditions.
4. Practise comparison and unseen work. Rehearse the Paris Anthology unseen comparison and build a comparative framework for the NEA.
5. Craft and reflect. For the re-creative task and commentary, make deliberate choices and analyse them with metalanguage.

The course, area by area

Each module has specification-level pages with worked questions and cross-links: Telling Stories, Exploring Conflict, the integrated methods, and the NEA and skills.

For the official specification

AQA publishes the full specification (7707), past papers and mark schemes at aqa.org.uk. Always revise from the current specification and AQA's own past papers, because set texts, the anthology and question style are board-specific.