Critical Approaches: overview of the SQA Advanced Higher English literary and critical concepts

Critical Approaches gathers the literary and critical concepts that underpin every component of SQA Advanced Higher English: the conventions of the four genres, literary theory and critical approaches, the four kinds of context, and accurate critical terminology. These are not a separate exam but the conceptual framework you bring to Literary Study, Textual Analysis, the dissertation and the portfolio. This page maps them.

The concepts of the course

Genre conventions of the four genres

The distinctive toolkit of prose fiction, prose non-fiction, poetry and drama, used to analyse any text and write in any form.

Applying critical approaches

Drawing on critical perspectives as tools that open up a reading, judged by the insight they yield, not by being named.

Reading texts in context

Using literary, social, historical and cultural context to deepen interpretation, kept subordinate to close analysis.

Literary terminology and concepts

Naming techniques precisely with accurate critical vocabulary, then analysing their effect.

How to study the concepts

1. Learn the genre toolkits. Know the distinctive conventions of each of the four genres cold.
2. Read criticism actively. Meet critical approaches in real critical reading, especially for the dissertation.
3. Practise weaving context. Tie contextual points to passages rather than offering background slabs.
4. Build precise vocabulary. Learn the exact terms and what each lets you analyse, and always follow a term with its effect.

For the official course specification

The SQA publishes the full Advanced Higher English course specification and supporting materials at sqa.org.uk and on Understanding Standards. Always revise from the current specification.